Friend of all the wounded

Abortion is in the French Constitution, it will be in the European one. A civil right: after all, what will it be like, eliminating a lump of cells? “What we all know is that if human nature were not fully and completely inscribed in the fertilized egg from the beginning, the embryo could never become this ever-renewed and forever irreplaceable wonder: a new son of men.” Word of Jerome Lejeune (1926-1994). He is also French, a doctor, geneticist, paediatrician, discoverer of the chromosome causing Down syndrome, friend of John Paul II who appointed him the first president of the Pontifical Academy for Life - and one day sent him to Moscow to deliver a message against weapons nuclear – staunch, passionate defender of nascent life.

"It is said that abortion has become part of customs and now there is no turning back. (…) But change can happen in the other direction and even without being a prophet you can be sure that it will happen. Health through death is a paltry triumph. It is only life that can win." He insists: as a doctor «I fight on the side of life and not on the side of death». He knows well how unequal the fight is. But he will never lose his courage and smile. He, a scientist, claims that science cannot save the world without the light of faith. One day he will say to the bishops of the synod: «You who are for the family will be laughed at. The specter of science will wave against you, apparently gagged by an outdated morality, the tyrannical flag of endless experimentation will wave against you... Bishops, do not be afraid. You have the words of life".

he repeats that «an expression of Saint Irenaeus summarizes everything: Gloria Dei est homo vivens, The glory of God is the living man». So what to do? The answer «I would borrow from Monsieur Vincent (Saint Vincent de Paul). Simply: more." At his funeral it will be said of him: «Hope, faith and charity were inscribed on the forehead of the immense scholar, of the doctor, of the Christian doctor of the most defenseless who are also the closest to God, of the friend like any they are few, of the friend of all the wounded on the side of the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, of the Samaritan who meets almighty God asking for his help for this panting wounded man..., of the friend, of the saint, who preceded us". Since 2021 Jerome Lejeune is Venerable.


Renzo Agasso
NP May 2024