In Evangelium Vitae (1995) Pope John Paul contrasts the "conspiracy against life" found in contemporary culture with the Church’s proclamation of a Gospel of Life, which the Pope identifies as "at the heart of Jesus’ message"(#1). The encyclical letter discusses the many different factors at work which have contributed to the "violence against life" which he says is done to millions of human beings (#10). He identifies the "profound crisis in culture, which generates scepticism in relation to the very foundations of knowledge and ethics, and which makes it increasingly difficult to grasp clearly the meaning of what man is, the meaning of his rights and his duties" (#11).

Critical to this crisis in culture is the loss of faith in the existence and in the nature of God. Human life loses its true context when the reality of the Divine is removed. Moral thinking is limited to a humanism which, despite its claims of having noble ideals, degenerates rapidly into the pursuit of self interest. The Christian declaration of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ not only proclaims the reality and power of the divine, but gives a whole new perspective to the nature of human existence and the dignity of every human life. Moral thinking has now an eternal dimension.

Speaking just before Easter to the members of the Scandinavian Bishops’ Conference Pope John Paul said, "Indeed, modern societies and cultures are often marked by a secularism that easily leads to a loss of the sense of God, and without God the proper sense of man is soon lost as well".

The Pope goes on to argue that a true humanism "always includes God". He speaks, as he so often does, of the need for a "new evangelisation" which is needed to transform contemporary culture. At the heart of the new evangelisation is the clear proclamation of the first and essential Christian message declared with boldness by St Peter on Pentecost morning: "God raised [Jesus] up having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held by its power" (Acts 2, 24).

The Christian gospel is not just a statement about the existence of a supreme being, it is more about God’s salvific action in Jesus Christ, ultimately determined in the resurrection of the Lord. St Peter proclaimed to the crowd gathered around the Upper Room on Pentecost morning: "Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified" (Acts 2, 36)

The Christian Gospel has at its heart a message of life. A "new evangelisation’ proclaiming this message can transform the conspiracy against life in contemporary culture to one that is a culture enshrining the values of life and the essential dignity of each human person.