From a large collection. Tight, clean, flat, square sharp book with lightly toned pages. First printing (thus) with full numberline. This encyclical is a call to each person to respect, protect, love and serve life--every human life. Every human life is sacred because from its very beginning, it is the gift of the creative action of God who has a plan for each individual. In context of salvation history, threats to human life, such as abortion and euthanasia, are explored. Other topics include civil and moral law, proclaiming and celebrating the Gospel of Life, the family as the sanctuary of life, and transforming culture. It was promulgated in Latin, and translated into Spanish, French, German, English and Portugese in 1995, to re-affirm the Church's stance on murder, capital punishment, abortion, euthanasia. and related issues. This is the First American edition. It was issued in the UK by a different publisher.