Life And The Dignity Of The Human Person.

Themes of Catholic Social Teachings - #1 Life and Dignity of the Human Person

The foundation of the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church is the sacredness and dignity of human life. Every other teaching begins with this principle. From abortion and euthanasia to capital punishment and war, this foundational principle is under attack in our society.  Abortion is always wrong and a grave attack against the sacredness of life.  Euthanasia, too, represents a denial of the sacredness of human life. ( we will deal with end of life issues in a future blog)  As Pope John Paul II says, "As explicitly formulated, the precept 'You shall not kill' is strongly negative: it indicates the extreme limit which can never be exceeded. Implicitly, however, it encourages a positive attitude of absolute respect for life; it leads to the promotion of life and to progress along the way of love which gives, receives and serves." (Evangelium vitae #54) The Catechism of the Catholic Church allows for legitimate self-defense, even if a life is taken in that defense, however, the intent must be defense of life and not the taking of life. (CCC#2263) On the issue of capital punishment the Catechism rules out the death penalty in virtually all cases  stating: "Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibility which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm - without definitively taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself - the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity are very rare, if not practically non-existent." (CCC #2267) In the case of national defense, war must be avoided if at all possible, however, the legitimate defense against an unjust aggressor is allowed under the restrictions of the Just War principles. Terrorist attacks and the targeting of noncombatants is always wrong.

This  respect for the life goes beyond the issues of life and death to issues that affect the  dignity of human life. "Whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children; as well as disgraceful working conditions, where men are treated as mere tools for profit, rather than as free and responsible persons; all these things and others of their like are infamies indeed. They poison human society, but they do more harm to those who practice them than those who suffer from the injury. (Gaudium et Spes #27, Second Vatican Council)