Soul and Guardian Angel

Soul and Guardian Angel Question from on 05-28-2007:

Dear Judie Brown--Is my understanding correct that the very moment the male sperm enters the female egg God creates the human soul from nothing (ex nihilo) and at the same time conjoins that soul with its body, that is to say, the fertilized egg? Furthermore, is it true that this person's guardian angel, then, is not assigned to him or her and does not assume its duties until the baby actually leaves the birth canal and is born nine months later? Most humbly, Warren.

Answer by Judie Brown on 05-30-2007:

Dear Warren Even Pope Benedict XVI would hesitate to provide a concrete response to your question, and so what I am going to tell you is that we can rely on the Church teaching on this subject, and believe that God wants us to preserve and protect every innocent person from his life's beginning. As the Vatican Declaration on Abortion states: 12. Any discrimination based on the various stages of life is no more justified than any other discrimination. The right to life remains complete in an old person, even one greatly weakened; it is not lost by one who is incurably sick. The right to life is no less to be respected in the small infant just born than in the mature person. In reality, respect for human life is called for from the time that the process of generation begins. From the time that the ovum is fertilized, a life is begun which is neither that of the father nor of the mother, it is rather the life of a new human being with his own growth. It would never be made human if it were not human already. 13. To this perpetual evidence - perfectly independent of the discussions on the moment of animation[19] - modern genetic science brings valuable confirmation. It has demonstrated that, from the first instant, there is established the program of what this living being will be: a man, this individual man with his characteristic aspects already well determined. Right from fertilization is begun the adventure of a human life, and each of its capacities requires time- a rather lengthy time- to find its place and to be in a position to act. The least that can be said is that present science, in its most evolved state, does not give any substantial support to those who defend abortion. Moreover, it is not up to biological sciences to make a definitive judgment on questions which are properly philosophical and moral such as the moment when a human person is constituted or the legitimacy of abortion. From a moral point of view this is certain: even if a doubt existed concerning whether the fruit of conception is already a human person, it is objectively a grave sin to dare to risk murder. "The one who will be a man is already one."[20] As far as our Guardian Angel is concerned, one can only presume that when God creates a person he also assigns the guardian angel. Judie Brown