Declaration “Dignitas Infinita” on Human Dignity
On Monday, April 8, the Vatican published a new document from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) on the topic of human dignity, Declaration Dignitas Infinita on Human Dignity. The document offers a clear definition of human dignity in the eyes of the Church and stresses the Church’s teaching on upholding human dignity from conception to natural death. It is timely and welcomed, given the assaults on human dignity so pervasive in our society today.
The document, approved by Pope Francis last month, quotes not only the current pope, but also his predecessors Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI at length, weaving together their social and moral agendas.
An important aspect of this document is the definition of Church teaching on human dignity. The Declaration points out that the concept of human dignity and its meaning is misunderstood by much of secular society. We hear of the push for “personal dignity” over “human dignity,” in which the rights of the person are prioritized over the rights of the whole of humanity, putting unborn children, the terminally ill, and others at risk. The document also points out that human dignity has at times been misused “to justify an arbitrary proliferation of new rights, many of which are at odds with those originally defined and often are set in opposition to the fundamental right to life.”
The document emphasizes that dignity is based on God-given human nature, not “individual arbitrariness or social recognition.” The document also stresses the communal nature of human dignity, which implies a concern for the dignity of others, and therefore, a responsibility toward others and to the community.
Dignity “belongs to the person as such simply because he or she exists and is willed, created, and loved by God,” and does not depend on external factors, meaning it can never be taken away. “Dignity is not something granted to the person by others based on their gifts or qualities, such that it could be withdrawn…it is prior to any recognition, and it cannot be lost. All human beings possess this same intrinsic dignity…” the Declaration states.
In a section outlining what the document calls “grave violations of human dignity” in the modern social context, the Declaration lists poverty, war, migration, human trafficking, euthanasia and assisted suicide, and violence in the digital sphere as areas where dignity is at risk and stresses the need to protect and uphold human dignity in these circumstances.
While underlining the importance of the right to religious freedom, the Declaration applauds increased efforts to educate on the dangers of racism, slavery, and the marginalization of women, children, the sick, and people with disabilities. The Declaration condemns violence against women as “a global scandal that is gaining increasing recognition.”
The document takes a hard stand on abortion, surrogacy, gender theory and sex change, saying they disregard humanity’s natural God-given dignity.
The Declaration condemns abortion as “the deliberate and direct killing, by whatever means it is carried out, of a human being in the initial phase of his or her existence, extending from conception to birth,” calling unborn children “the most defenseless and innocent among us.”
On the topic of surrogacy, the Declaration quotes Pope Francis from a speech he gave in January in which he condemned the practice, saying a mother’s womb “cannot be suppressed or turned into an object of trafficking,” calling surrogate motherhood “deplorable” and a “grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child, based on the exploitation of situations of the mother’s material needs.”
The document closes by imploring that respect for human dignity and the common good be placed at the center of “every legal system,” and that states not only protect this dignity, but guarantee “the conditions necessary for it to flourish in the integral promotion of the human person.”
You can read more about the Declaration as reported by Angelus News at https://angelusnews.com/news/vatican/vatican-human-dignity-document/ and https://angelusnews.com/news/nation/us-catholics-human-dignity/.
“Even today, in the face of so many violations of human dignity that seriously threaten the future of the human family, the Church encourages the promotion of the dignity of every human person, regardless of their physical, mental, cultural, social, and religious characteristics.”
-Declaration “Dignitas Infinita” on Human Dignity
~St. Luke Life, Justice and Peace Ministry
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