Catholic Dictionary

Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Random Term from the Dictionary:

RIGHT TO LIFE MOVEMENT

Organized effort in countries where direct abortion has been legalized. The movement takes on different forms in different places; from the strictly political efforts to change the existing laws of a nation that permit killing the unborn, to the exclusively spiritual promotion of crusades of prayer and penance to obtain divine assistance. The movement is not only Catholic, nor only Christian, although the Catholic Church is outstanding in her defense of the right to life of the unborn child. In the words of Pope John Paul II, "We can speak of the rights of the child from the moment of conception, and particularly of the right to life" (Address on the Rights of the Child, January 13, 1979).