The life of the unborn must be "promoted and defended with great determination and given an effective priority," the archbishop told Catholic News Service April 17.

"At the same time," he said, "we must keep in mind that the dignity of every human being is equal and inviolable at every stage throughout his or her life."

In "Rejoice and Be Glad," his apostolic exhortation on holiness, Pope Francis wrote that living a Christian life involves the defense of both the unborn and the poor, and he criticized what he termed the "harmful ideological error" of thinking one's own cause is the only important one.

"Our defense of the innocent unborn, for example, needs to be clear, firm and passionate, for at stake is the dignity of a human life, which is always sacred,"

Pope Francis wrote. "Equally sacred, however, are the lives of the poor, those already born, the destitute, the abandoned and the underprivileged, the vulnerable infirm and elderly exposed to covert euthanasia, the victims of human trafficking, new forms of slavery, and every form of rejection."

Pope Francis' words reminded many people of the "seamless garment" approach to life issues promoted by the late Cardinal Joseph L. Bernardin of Chicago.

While applauding its recognition of the sacredness of all human life, some people criticized the approach, saying it could give people a mistaken impression that, for example, the church teaches abortion and capital punishment are equally serious sins.

Others worried that some Catholics would claim their defense of life in one area meant that they did not have to pursue the protection of life in other areas.

"We must keep in mind that the dignity of every human being is equal and inviolable at every stage throughout his or her life."

But "Pope Francis has reaffirmed that abortion is evil without mincing words," Archbishop Paglia said. At the same time, he asks that "the pro-life commitment be enlarged." Continue reading

• Image: The Papist

He served the archdiocese and the church with singular distinction and is perhaps most remembered for his consistent-ethic-of-life approach to critical issues of the day.

He was guided by three convictions: that there was a need to read the signs of the times; that the church's social teaching had a role not just in deciding issues, but also in shaping and defining them; and that the church was uniquely positioned institutionally to promote the common good in society.

In pressing these convictions he was revolutionary - and so it's no surprise that, even to this day, he has his critics.

But, nearly four decades after the 1983 address at Fordham University in which he introduced this framework, Bernardin deserves a fresh hearing.

He would want us to build on what he did by reading the signs of our times, which I will propose here, makes it clear that the church's social teaching on solidarity, consistently applied across a full range of issues that impact our human interactions, is required.

He understood that the urging of the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council to read the signs of the times required the church to be fully engaged in the world by being attentive to what was really happening in the lives of real people, the trends and forces influencing policies and public opinion.

Only in this way could the church be viewed as a credible and authentic voice for speaking about human affairs. I suspect he would have liked how Pope Francis has captured that sentiment in his pithy phrase "realities are greater than ideas".

In reading the signs of his times, Bernardin was concerned about the futility of treating issues like abortion, capital punishment, nuclear proliferation, and the use of military force as discrete topics.

He understood how these issues were divisive in themselves. Continue reading

• Cardinal Blase J. Cupich is the ninth archbishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago.