The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has published a new doctrinal statement on the respect due to the person “beyond any circumstance.” “No” to any attempt to weaken the human rights of the most fragile, but also to any attempt to obscure the sexual difference between men and women. Cardenal Fernández: a comprehensive look at humanity.
Vatican City () – For the Catholic Church, each person “created in the image and likeness of God and redeemed in Christ Jesus” is the bearer of his or her own “inalienable dignity.” This principle “is valid in any state or situation” and does not allow that society can consider some of its violations less serious than others. The new declaration is based on this fundamental principle. Infinite Dignitas which was published today by the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith with the approval of Pope Francis and was presented this morning at a press conference in the Vatican by the prefect of the doctrinal body, Card. Víctor Manuel Fernández, who signs this document together with the secretary Mons. Armando Mateo.
In 2019, the then Congregation began working on a text focused on the essentiality of the concept of dignity of the human person in Christian anthropology. The topic is deeply linked to the current debate on human rights, whose Universal Declaration – promulgated 75 years ago – was already defined by John Paul II as a “milestone” in the path of the human race. Today, however – the document observes – there is a risk of “mistakes” and partial readings of this important text, which can even limit the scope of the idea that every person is by their own nature the bearer of a dignity that in no case can be annulled.
That is why the Dignitas Infinita declaration insists on the need for truly unconditional respect for the dignity of each person. “Some propose that it is better to use the expression “personal dignity” (and rights “of the person”) instead of “human dignity” (and rights “of man”), because they understand by person only “a being capable of reasoning.” – observe the text -. Consequently, they maintain that dignity and rights are inferred from the capacity for knowledge and freedom, with which not all human beings are endowed. In that case, the unborn child, the non-self-sufficient elderly, or those with mental disabilities would have no personal dignity.” “The Church, on the contrary, insists on the fact that the dignity of every human person, precisely because it is intrinsic, it remains 'beyond any circumstance', and its recognition cannot in any way depend on judgment about a person's ability to understand and act freely. Otherwise, dignity would not be inherent to the person as such, independent of the person's conditioning and, therefore, deserving of unconditional respect.”
Based on this premise, the document points out in its final part some “serious violations of human dignity” in the current context. There are 13 areas in which Pope Francis himself expressly asked the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith “to highlight in the text some themes closely related to the theme of dignity, such as the drama of poverty, the situation of emigrants, violence against women, human trafficking, war and others”. “If some are born in a country or in a family where they have fewer opportunities for development – says the declaration – we must recognize that this is at odds with their dignity, which is exactly the same as that of those who are born in a family or in a country rich.” But this same view leads the Church to reiterate that abortion is also a violation of the dignity of the person, as is euthanasia, because “there are no conditions in the absence of which human life ceases to be worthy.” such and can, therefore, be suppressed.” Just as the “throwaway culture” is also a serious violation of human dignity, which marginalizes “those who are in a condition of physical or mental deficit.”
Another possible mistake that the document addresses is the “gender theory.” On the one hand, the Vatican text maintains that “the fact that in some places many people are imprisoned, tortured and even deprived of the good of life, solely because of their sexual orientation, must be denounced as contrary to human dignity.” At the same time, however, it rejects “the demands for new rights” raised from the obscuration of the “reference to the ineliminable sexual difference between men and women.” Just as it affirms that the safeguarding of human dignity also involves respect for the dignity of one's own body. And, by virtue of this, it affirms that any sex change operation constitutes a threat to the “unique dignity that the person has received from the moment of conception.”
“Dignitatis Infinita is an invitation to consider the issue of the dignity of the person as a whole, not stopping at one issue or another, as if one aspect could be considered less important than the others,” explained Card. Fernández during the presentation press conference. In fact, as the document recalls, the very idea of human dignity helps “to overcome the reductive perspective of a self-referential and individualistic freedom, which seeks to create one's own values regardless of the objective standards of goodness and the relationship with other living beings.” “.
