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ARTICLE 2: The Human Person 1.
The Dignity of the Human Person I. The Dignity of the Human Person 39.
In effect, to teach and to spread her social doctrine pertains to
the Church's evangelizing mission and is an essential part of the
Christian message, since this doctrine points out the direct consequences
of that message in the life of society and situates daily work and
struggles for justice in the context of bearing witness to Christ
the Savior. This doctrine is likewise a source of unity and peace
in dealing with the conflicts which inevitably arise in social and
eco nomic life. Thus it is possible to meet these new situations
without degrading the human person's transcendent dignity, either
in oneself or in one's adversaries, and to direct those situations
toward just solutions. 40.
This is why the Church has something to say today, just as twenty
years ago, and also in the future, about the nature, conditions,
requirements and aims of authentic development, and also about the
obstacles which stand in its way. In doing so the Church fulfills
her mission to evangelize, for she offers her first contribution
to the solution of the urgent problem of development when she proclaims
the truth about Christ, about herself and about man, applying this
truth to a concrete situation (cf. John Paul II, Address to Latin
American Bishops, 1979). As her instrument for reaching this goal,
the Church uses her social doctrine. In today's difficult situation,
a more exact awareness and a wider diffusion of the set of principles
for reflection, criteria for judgment and directives for action
proposed by the Church's teaching (Libertatis Conscientia, n. 72;
Octogesima Adveniens, n. 4) would be of great help in promoting
both the correct definition of the problems being faced and the
best solution to them. It will thus be seen at once that the questions
facing us are above all moral questions; and that neither the analysis
of the problem of development as such nor the means to overcome
the present difficulties can ignore this essential dimension. 41.
In the life of man, God's image shines forth anew and is again revealed
in all its fullness at the coming of the Son of God in human flesh.
Christ is the image of the invisible God (Col 1:15); he reflects
the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature (Heb 1:3).
He is the perfect image of the Father. 42.
The dignity of the person is manifested in all its radiance when
the person's origin and destiny are considered: created by God in
his image and likeness as well as redeemed by the most precious
blood of Christ, the person is called to be a `child in the Son'
and a living temple of the Spirit, destined for eternal life of
blessed communion with God. For this very reason every violation
of the personal dignity of the human being cries out in vengeance
to God and is an offense against the Creator of the individual. 43.
If we look upon the dignity of the human person in the light of
divinely revealed truth, we cannot help but esteem it far more highly;
for men are redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, they are by grace
the children and friends of God and heirs of eternal glory. 44.
Thanks to this belief, the Church can anchor the dignity of human
nature against all tides of opinion, for example, those that undervalue
the human body or idolize it. By no human law can the personal dignity
and liberty of man be so aptly safeguarded as by the Gospel of Christ
that has been entrusted to the Church. For this Gospel announces
and proclaims the freedom of the sons of God, and repudiates all
the bondage that ultimately results from sin (cf. Rom 8:14 17).
It has a sacred reverence for the dignity of conscience and its
freedom of choice, constantly advises that all human talents be
employed in God's service and men's, and, finally, commends all
to the charity of all (cf. Mt 22:39). This agrees with the basic
law of the Christian dispensation. For though the same God is Savior
and Creator, Lord of human history as well as of salvation history,
in the divine arrangement itself, the rightful autonomy of the creature,
and particularly of man is not withdrawn, but is rather reestablished
in its own dignity and strengthened. The Church, therefore, by virtue
of the Gospel committed to her, proclaims the rights of man; she
acknowledges and greatly esteems the dynamic movements of today
by which these rights are everywhere fostered. Yet these movements
must be penetrated by the spirit of the Gospel and protected against
any kind of false autonomy. For we are tempted to think that our
personal rights are fully ensured only when we are exempt from every
requirement of divine law. But in this way lies not the mainte nance
of the dignity of the human person but its annihilation. 45.
At stake is the dignity of the human person, whose defense and promotion
have been entrusted to us by the Creator, and to whom the men and
women at every moment of history are strictly and responsibly in
debt. 46.
The dignity of the human person is a transcendent value, always
recognized as such by those who sincerely search for the truth.
Indeed, the whole of human history should be interpreted in the
light of this certainty. Every person, created in the image and
likeness of God (cf. Gn 1:26 28), is therefore radically oriented
towards the Creator, and is constantly in relationship with those
possessed of the same dignity. To promote the good of the individual
is thus to serve the common good, which is that point where rights
and duties converge and reinforce one another. 47.
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (2 Cor 3:17).
This revelation of freedom and hence of man's true dignity acquires
a particular eloquence for Christians and for the Church in a state
of persecution both in ancient times and in the present because
the witnesses to divine Truth then become a living proof of the
action of the Spirit of truth present in the hearts and minds of
the faithful, and they often mark with their own death by martyrdom
the supreme glorification of human dignity.
48.
The question of morality, to which Christ provides the answer, cannot
prescind from the issue of freedom. Indeed, it considers that issue
central, for there can be no morality without freedom: It is only
in freedom that man can turn to what is good (GS, n. 11). But what
sort of freedom? The Council, considering our contemporaries who
highly regard freedom and assiduously pursue it, but who often cultivate
it in wrong ways as a license to do anything they please, even evil,
speaks of `genuine' freedom: Genuine free dom is an outstanding
manifestation of the divine image in man. For God willed to leave
man `in the power of his own counsel' (cf. Sir 15:14), so that he
would seek his Creator of his own accord and would freely arrive
at full and blessed perfection by cleaving to God (GS, n. 17). Although
each individual has a right to be respected in his own journey in
search of the truth, there exists a prior moral obligation, and
a grave one at that, to seek the truth and to adhere to it once
it is known. 49.
Freedom in its essence is within man, is connatural to the human
person and is the distinctive sign of man's nature. The free dom
of the individual finds its basis in man's transcendent dignity:
a dignity given to him by God, his Creator, and which directs him
to ward God. Because he has been created in God's image (cf. Gn
1:27), man is inseparable from freedom, that freedom which no external
force or constraint can ever take away, and which constitutes his
fundamental right, both as an individual and as a member of society.
Man is free because he possesses the faculty of self determination
with regard to what is true and what is good. 50.
Jesus Christ meets the man of every age, including our own, with
the same words: You will know the truth and the truth will make
you free (Jn 8:32). These words contain both a fundamental requirement
and a warning: the requirement of an honest relation ship with regard
to truth as a condition for authentic freedom, and the warning to
avoid every kind of illusory freedom, every superficial unilateral
freedom, every freedom that fails to enter into the truth about
man and the whole world. 51.
But freedom is not merely a right that one claims for one self.
It is also a duty that one undertakes with regard to others. If
it is really to serve peace, the freedom of each human individual
and each community must respect the freedoms and rights of other
individuals and communities. This respect sets a limit to freedom,
but it also gives it its logic and dignity, since we are by nature
social beings. 52.
The exercise of freedom does not imply a right to say or to do everything.
It is false to maintain that man, the subject of this freedom, is
an individual who is fully self sufficient and whose finality is
the satisfaction of his own interests in the enjoyment of earthly
goods (Libertatis Conscientia,n. 13). Moreover, the economic, social,
political, and cultural conditions that are needed for a just exercise
of freedom are too often disregarded or violated. Such situations
of blindness and injustice injure the moral life and involve the
strong as well as the weak in the temptation to sin against charity.
By deviating from the moral law, man violates his own freedom, becomes
imprisoned within himself, disrupts neighborly fellowship, and rebels
against divine truth. 53.
But the Creator of the world has imprinted in man's heart an order
that his conscience reveals to him and enjoins him to obey: This
shows that the obligations of the law are written in their hearts;
their conscience utters its own testimony (Rm 2:15). And how could
it be otherwise? For whatever God has made shows forth His infinite
wisdom, and it is manifested more clearly in the things that have
greater perfection (cf. Ps 18:8 11). 54.
In the design of God, every man is called upon to develop and fulfill
himself, for every life is a vocation. At birth, everyone is granted,
in germ, a set of aptitudes and qualities for him to bring to fruition.
Their coming to maturity, which will be the result of education
received from the environment and personal efforts, will allow each
man to direct himself toward the destiny intended for him by the
Creator. Endowed with intelligence and freedom, he is responsible
for his fulfillment as he is for his salvation. He is aided, or
sometimes impeded, by those who educate him and those with whom
he lives, but each one remains, whatever these influences affecting
him might be, the principal agent of his own success or failure.
By the unaided effort of his own intelligence and his will, each
man can grow in humanity, can enhance his personal worth, can become
more a person. 55.
In the end, when He completed on the cross the work of redemption
whereby He achieved salvation and true freedom for men, He also
brought his revelation to completion. He bore witness to the truth,
but He refused to impose the truth by force on those who spoke against
it. Not by force of blows does his rule assert its claims. Rather,
it is established by witnessing to the truth and by hearing the
truth, and it extends its dominion by the love whereby Christ, lifted
up on the cross, draws all men to Himself (cf. Jn 12:32). 56.
Finally, true freedom is not advanced in the permissive society,
which confuses freedom with license to do anything whatever, and
which, in the name of freedom, proclaims a kind of general amo rality.
It is a caricature of freedom to claim that people are free to organize
their lives with no reference to moral values, and to say that society
does not have to ensure the protection and advancement of ethical
values. Such an attitude is destructive of freedom and peace. 57.
Nor does the Church close her eyes to the danger of fanaticism or
fundamentalism among those who, in the name of an ideology which
purports to be scientific or religious, claim the right to impose
on others their own concept of what is true and good. Christian
truth is not of this kind. Since it is not an ideology, the Christian
faith does not presume to imprison changing socio political realities
in a rigid schema, and it recognizes that human life is realized
in history in conditions that are diverse and imperfect. Furthermore,
in constantly affirming the transcendent dignity of the person,
the Church's method is always that of respect for freedom. 58.
Democracy cannot be sustained without a shared commitment to certain
moral truths about the human person and the human community. The
basic question before a democratic society is: How ought we live
together? In seeking an answer to this question, can society exclude
moral truth and moral reasoning?.... Every generation ... needs
to know that freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in
having the right to do what we ought. Christ asks us to guard the
truth because, as he promised us: You will know the truth and the
truth will make you free. Depositum custodi! We must guard the truth
that is the authentic condition of freedom, the truth that allows
freedom to be fulfilled in goodness. We must guard the deposit of
divine truth handed down to us in the Church, especially in view
of the challenges posed by a materialistic culture and by a permissive
society that reduces free dom to license. 59.
While these [conditions] certainly have an influence on free dom,
they do not determine it; they make the exercise of freedom more
difficult or less difficult, but they cannot destroy it. Not only
is it wrong from the ethical point of view to disregard human nature,
which is made for freedom, but in practice it is impossible to do
so. Where society is so organized as to reduce arbitrarily or even
suppress the sphere in which freedom is legitimately exercised,
the result is that the life of society becomes progressively disorganized
and goes into decline.
60.
God, Who has fatherly concern for everyone, has willed that all
men should constitute one family and treat one another in a spirit
of brotherhood. For having been created in the image of God, Who
from one man has created the whole human race and made them live
all over the face of the earth (Acts 17:26), all men are called
to one and the same goal, namely God Himself. For this reason, love
for God and neighbor is the first and greatest commandment. Sacred
Scripture, however, teaches us that the love of God cannot be separated
from the love of neighbor: If there is any other command ment, it
is summed up in this saying: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself....
Love therefore is the fulfillment of the Law (Rom 13:9 10; cf. 1
Jn 4:20). To men growing daily more dependent on one another, and
to a world becoming more unified every day, this truth proves to
be of paramount importance. Indeed, the Lord Jesus, when He prayed
to the Father, that all may be one as we are one (Jn 17:21 22),
opened up vistas closed to human reason, for He implied a certain
likeness between the union of the divine Persons, and the unity
of God's sons in truth and charity. This likeness reveals that man,
who is the only creature on earth that God willed for itself, cannot
fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself. Man's
social nature makes it evident that the progress of the human person
and the advance of society itself hinge on one another. For the
beginning, the subject and the goal of all social institutions is
and must be the human person that for its part and by its very nature
stands completely in need of social life. Since this social life
is not something added on to man, through his dealings with others,
through reciprocal duties, and through fraternal dialogue he develops
all his gifts and is able to rise to his destiny. 61.
The cardinal point of this teaching is that individual men are necessarily
the foundation, cause, and end of all social institutions. We are
referring to human beings, insofar as they are naturally social,
and raised to an order of existence that transcends and subdues
nature. 62.
Certain societies, such as the family and the state, correspond
more directly to the nature of man; they are necessary to him. To
promote the participation of the greatest number in the life of
a society, the creation of voluntary associations and institutions
must be encouraged on both national and international levels, which
relate to economic and social goals, to cultural and recreational
activities, to sport, to various professions, and to political affairs
(MM, n. 60). This `socialization' also expresses the natural tendency
for human beings to associate with one another for the sake of attaining
objectives that exceed individual capacities. It develops the qualities
of the person, especially the sense of initiative and responsibility,
and helps guarantee his rights (GS, n. 25; CA, n. 12). 63.
But each man is a member of society. He is part of the whole of
mankind. It is not just certain individuals, but all men who are
called to this fullness of development. Civilizations are born,
deve lop, and die. But humanity is advancing along the path of history
like the waves of a rising tide encroaching gradually on the shore.
We have inherited from past generations, and we have benefited from
the work of our contemporaries: for this reason we have obligations
toward all, and we cannot refuse to interest ourselves in those
who will come after us to enlarge the human family. The reality
of human solidarity, which is a benefit for us, also imposes a duty. 64.
Apart from the family, other intermediate communities exercise primary
functions and give life to specific networks of solidarity. These
develop as real communities of persons and strengthen the social
fabric, preventing society from becoming an anonymous and impersonal
mass, as unfortunately often happens today. It is in interrelationships
on many levels that a person lives, and that society be comes more
`personalized.' The individual today is often suffocated between
two poles represented by the State and the marketplace. At times
it seems as though he exists only as a producer and consumer of
goods, or as an object of state administration. People lose sight
of the fact that life in society has neither the market nor the
State as its final purpose, since life itself has a unique value
that the State and the market must serve. Man remains above all
a being who seeks the truth and strives to live in that truth, deepening
his understanding of it through a dialogue involving past and future
generations. 65.
In contrast, from the Christian vision of the human person there
necessarily follows a correct picture of society. According to Rerum
Novarum and the whole social doctrine of the Church, the social
nature of man is not completely fulfilled in the State, but is realized
in various intermediary groups, beginning with the family and including
economic, social, political and cultural groups which stem from
human nature itself and have their own autonomy, always with a view
to the common good. This is what I have called the sub jectivity
of society which, together with the subjectivity of the individual,
was cancelled out by Real Socialism (SRS, nn. 15, 28).
66.
Beginning our discussion of the rights of man, we see that every
man has the right to life, to bodily integrity, and to the means
suitable for the proper development of life; these are primarily
food, clothing, shelter, rest, medical care, and, finally, the necessary
social services. Therefore, a human being also has the right to
security in cases of sickness, inability to work, widowhood, old
age, unemploy ment, or in any other case in which he is deprived
of the means of subsistence through no fault of his own. 67.
Following the collapse of Communist totalitarianism and of many
other totalitarian and `national security' regimes, today we are
witnessing a predominance, not without signs of opposition, of the
democratic ideal, together with lively attention to and concern
for human rights. But for this very reason it is necessary for peoples
in the process of reforming their systems to give democracy an authentic
and solid foundation through the explicit recognition of those rights
(cf. Redemptor Hominis , n. 17). 68.
Any human society, if it is to be well ordered and productive, must
lay down as a foundation this principle, namely, that every human
being is a person, that is, his nature is endowed with intelligence
and free will. Indeed, precisely because he is a person, he has
rights and obligations flowing directly and simultaneously from
his very nature. And as these rights and obligations are universal
and inviolable, so they cannot in any way be surrendered. 69.
After all, peace comes down to respect for man's inviolable rights
... while war springs from the violation of these rights and brings
with it still graver violations of them. If human rights are vio
lated in a time of peace, this is particularly painful and, from
the point of view of progress, it represents an incomprehensible
manifestation of activity directed against man, which can in no
way be reconciled with any program that describes itself as humanistic. 70.
The human person is also entitled to a juridical protection of his
rights, a protection that should be efficacious, impartial, and
in spired by the true norms of justice. As Our Predecessor Pius
XII teaches: That perpetual privilege proper to man, by which every
individual has a claim to the protection of his rights, and by which
there is assigned to each a definite and particular sphere of rights
immune from all arbitrary attacks, is the logical consequence of
the order of justice willed by God (Pius XII, Christmas Eve Radio
Message, 1942). 71.
Respect for the human person entails respect for the rights that
flow from his dignity as a creature. These rights are prior to society
and must be recognized by it. They are the basis of the moral legitimacy
of every authority: by flouting them, or refusing to recog nize
them in its positive legislation, a society undermines its own moral
legitimacy (cf. PT, n. 65). If it does not respect them, authority
can rely only on force or violence to obtain obedience from its
subjects. It is the Church's role to remind men of good will of
these rights and to distinguish them from unwarranted or false claims. 72.
When the relations of human society are expressed in terms of rights
and duties, men become conscious of spiritual values, un derstand
the meaning and significance of truth, justice, charity, free dom,
and become deeply aware that they belong to this world of values.
Moreover, when moved by such concerns, they are brought to a better
knowledge of the true God Who is personal and transcendent, and
thus they make the ties that bind them to God the solid foundation
and supreme criterion of their lives, both of that life which they
live interiorly in the depths of their own souls and of that in
which they are united to other men in society. 73.
Although private societies exist within the State and are, as it
were, so many parts of it, still it is not within the authority
of the State universally and per se to forbid them to exist as such.
For man is permitted by a right of nature to form private societies;
the State, on the other hand, has been instituted to protect and
not to destroy natural right, and if it should forbid its citizens
to enter into associations, it would clearly do something contradictory
to itself because both the State itself and private associations
are begotten of one and the same principle, namely, that men are
by nature inclined to associate. 74.
In human society, to one man's right, there corresponds a duty in
all other persons: the duty, namely, of acknowledging and respecting
the right in question. For every fundamental human right draws its
indestructible moral force from the natural law, which, in granting
it, imposes a corresponding obligation. Those, therefore, who claim
their own rights, yet altogether forget or neglect to carry out
their respective duties, are people who build with one hand and
destroy with the other. 75.
On the contrary, the conviction that all men are equal by reason
of their natural dignity has been generally accepted. Hence, racial
discrimination can in no way be justified, at least doctrinally
or in theory. And this is of fundamental importance and significance
for the formation of human society according to those principles
that we have outlined above. For, if a man becomes conscious of
his rights, he must become equally aware of his duties. Thus, he
who possesses certain rights has likewise the duty to claim those
rights as marks of his dignity, while all others have the obligation
to acknowledge those rights and respect them. 76.
Since all men possess a rational soul and are created in God's likeness,
since they have the same nature and origin, have been re deemed
by Christ and enjoy the same divine calling and destiny, the basic
equality of all must receive increasingly greater recognition. True,
all men are not alike from the point of view of varying physical
power and the diversity of intellectual and moral resources. Nevertheless,
with respect to the fundamental rights of the person, every type
of discrimination, whether social or cultural, whether based on
sex, race, color, social condition, language, or religion, is to
be overcome and eradicated as contrary to God's intent. For in truth
it must be regretted that fundamental personal rights are still
not being universally honored. Such is the case of a woman who is
denied the right to choose a husband freely, to embrace a state
of life, or to acquire an education or cultural benefits equal to
those recognized for men. Therefore, although rightful differences
exist between men, the equal dignity of persons demands that a more
humane and just condition of life be brought about. For excessive
economic and social differences between the members of the one human
family or population groups cause scandal, and militate against
social justice, equity, the dignity of the human person, as well
as social and international peace. Human institutions, both private
and public, must labor to minister to the dignity and purpose of
man. At the same time, let them put up a stubborn fight against
any kind of slavery, whether social or political, and safeguard
the basic rights of man under every political system. Indeed, human
institutions themselves must be accommo dated by degrees to the
highest of all realities, spiritual ones, even though meanwhile,
a long enough time will be required before they arrive at the desired
goal. 77.
The necessity of ensuring fundamental human rights cannot be separated
from this just liberation which is bound up with evangelization
and which endeavors to secure structures safeguarding human freedoms.
Among these fundamental human rights, religious liberty occupies
a place of primary importance.
78.
This Vatican synod declares that the human person has a right to
religious freedom. This freedom means that all men are to be immune
from coercion on the part of individuals or social groups and of
any human power, in such wise that in matters religious no one is
to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs. Nor
is anyone to be restrained from acting in accordance with his own
beliefs, whether privately or publicly, whether alone or in association
with others, within due limits. 79.
Certainly the curtailment of religious freedom of individu als and
communities is not only a painful experience, but it is above all
an attack on man's very dignity, independently of the religion professed
or the concept of the world which these individuals and communities
have. The curtailment and violation of religious free dom are in
contrast with man's dignity and his objective rights.... In this
case we are undoubtedly confronted with a radical injustice with
regard to what is particularly deep within man, what is authentically
human. 80.
No human authority has the right to interfere with a person's conscience.
Conscience bears witness to the transcendence of the person, also
in regard to society at large, and, as such, is inviolable. Conscience,
however, is not an absolute placed above truth and error. Rather,
by its very nature, it implies a relation to objective truth, a
truth which is universal, the same for all, which all can and must
seek. It is in relation to objective truth that freedom of conscience
finds its justification, inasmuch as it is a necessary condition
for seek ing truth worthy of man, and for adhering to that truth
once it is sufficiently known. 81.
Hence, although the truth we have to proclaim is certain and the
salvation necessary, we dare not entertain any thoughts of external
coercion. Instead we will use the legitimate means of human friendliness,
interior persuasion, and ordinary conversation. We will offer the
gift of salvation while respecting the personal and civic rights
of the individual. 82.
In the first place, religious freedom, an essential require ment
of the dignity of every person, is a cornerstone of the structure
of human rights, and for this reason an irreplaceable factor in
the good of individuals and of the whole society, as well as the
personal fulfillment of each individual. It follows that the freedom
of individuals and communities to profess and practice their religion
is an essential element for peaceful human coexistence. Peace, which
is built up and consolidated at all levels of human association,
puts down its roots in the freedom and openness of conscience to
truth. 83.
The human issues most frequently debated and differently resolved
in contemporary moral reflection are all closely related, al beit
in various ways, to a crucial issue: human freedom. Certainly, people
today have a particularly strong sense of free dom. As the Council's
Declaration on Religious Freedom Dignitatis Humanae had already
observed, the dignity of the human person is a concern of which
people of our time are becoming increasingly more aware (Dignitatis
Humanae, n. 1). Hence, the insistent de mand that people be permitted
to enjoy the use of their own responsible judgment and freedom,
and decide on their actions on grounds of duty and conscience, without
external pressure or coercion (Dignitatis Humanae, n. 1). In particular,
the right to religious free dom and to respect for conscience on
its journey towards the truth is increasingly perceived as the foundation
of the cumulative rights of the person (cf. Redemptor Hominis ,
n. 17; Libertatis Conscientia , n. 19).
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