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MANY ASPECTS OF THE HUMAN PERSON
- 124.
- “Prizing highly the marvellous biblical message, the Church’s social doctrine stops to dwell above all on the principal and indispensable dimensions of the human person. Thus it is able to grasp the most significant facets of the mystery and dignity of human beings.”
- 125.
- “The human person may never be thought of only as an absolute individual being built up by himself and on himself, as if his characteristic traits depended on no one else but himself. Nor can the person be thought of as a mere cell of an organism that is inclined at most to grant it recognition in its functional role within the overall system.”
- 126.
- “Christian faith, while inviting that whatever is good and worthy of man should be sought out wherever it may be found, ‘is above and is sometimes opposed to the ideologies, in that it recognizes God, who is transcendent and the Creator, and who, through all the levels of creation, calls on man as endowed with responsibility and freedom.”
THE UNITY OF THE PERSON
- 127.
- “Man was created by God in unity of body and soul.”
- Fourth Lateran Ecumenical Council, Chapter 1, De Fide Catholica: DS 800, p. 259.
- First Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dei Filius, c. 1: De Deo rerum omnium Creatore: DS 3002, p. 587.
- First Vatican Ecumenical Council, canons 2, 5: DS 3022, 3025, pp. 592, 593.
- “The person, including the body, is completely entrusted to himself, and it is in the unity of body and soul that the person is the subject of his own moral acts.”
- 128.
- “Through his corporeality man unites in himself elements of the material world.”
- “Through his spirituality man moves beyond the realm of mere things and plunges into the innermost structure of reality.”
- 129.
- “Therefore, man has two different characteristics: he is a material being, linked to this world by his body, and he is a spiritual being, open to transcendence.”
OPENING TO TRANSCENDENCE AND UNIQUENESS OF THE PERSON - OPEN TO TRANSCENDENCE
- 130.
- “Openness to transcendence belongs to the human person: man is open to the infinite and to all created beings.”
- “The human person is open to the fullness of being, to the unlimited horizon of being.”
- Saint Thomas Aquinas, Commentum in tertium librum Sententiarum, d. 27, q. 1, a. 4: “Ex utraque autem parte res immateriales infinitatem habent quodammodo, quia sunt quodammodo omnia, sive inquantum essentia rei immaterialis est exemplar et similitudo omnium, sicut in Deo accidit, sive quia habet similitudinem omnium vel actu vel potentia, sicut accidit in Angelis et animabus.”
- Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I, q. 75, a. 5: Ed. Leon. 5, 201-203.
OPENING TO TRANSCENDENCE AND UNIQUENESS OF THE PERSON - UNIQUE AND UNREPEATABLE
- 131.
- “Man exists as a unique and unrepeatable being, he exists as an ‘I’ capable of self-understanding, self-possession and self-determination.”
- “The human person, must always be understood in his unrepeatable and inviolable uniqueness.”
OPENING TO TRANSCENDENCE AND UNIQUENESS OF THE PERSON - RESPECT FOR HUMAN DIGNITY
- 132.
- “A just society can become a reality only when it is based on the respect of the transcendent dignity of the human person. The person represents the ultimate end of society, by which it is ordered to the person.”
- 133.
- “In no case, therefore, is the human person to be manipulated for ends that are foreign to his own development.”
- “The person cannot be a means for carrying out economic, social or political projects imposed by some authority.”
- 134.
- “Authentic social changes are effective and lasting only to the extent that they are based on resolute changes in personal conduct.”
THE FREEDOM OF THE HUMAN PERSON - THE VALUE AND LIMITS OF FREEDOM
- 135.
- “Man can turn to good only in freedom, which God has given to him as one of the highest signs of his image.”
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1705.
- Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 17: AAS 58 (1966), 1037.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1730-1732.
- John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor, 34: AAS 85 (1993), 1160- 1161.
- Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 17: AAS 58 (1966), 1038.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1733.
- Gregory of Nyssa, De Vita Moysis, II, 2-3: PG 44, 327B-328B: “unde fit, ut nos ipsi patres quodammodo simus nostri ... vitii ac virtutis ratione fingentes.”
- John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 13: AAS 83 (1991), 809-810.
- 136.
- “Freedom is not contrary to man’s dependence as a creature on God. Revelation teaches that the power to decide good and evil does not belong to man but to God alone.”
- 137.
- “The proper exercise of personal freedom requires specific conditions of an economical, social, juridic, political and cultural order.”
- “Removing injustices promotes human freedom and dignity.”
THE FREEDOM OF THE HUMAN PERSON - THE BOND UNITING FREEDOM WITH TRUTH AND THE NATURAL LAW
- 138.
- “In the exercise of their freedom, men and women perform morally good acts that are constructive for the person and for society when they are obedient to truth, that is, when they do not presume to be the creators and absolute masters of truth or of ethical norms.”
- 139.
- “The truth concerning good and evil is recognized in a practical and concrete manner by the judgment of conscience, which leads to the acceptance of responsibility for the good accomplished and the evil committed.”
- 140.
- “The exercise of freedom implies a reference to a natural moral law, of a universal character, that precedes and unites all rights and duties.”
- John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor, 50: AAS 85 (1993), 1173-1174.
- Saint Thomas Aquinas, In Duo Praecepta Caritatis et in Decem Legis Praecepta Expositio, c. 1: “Nunc autem de scientia operandorum intendimus: ad quam tractandan quadruplex lex invenitur. Prima dicitur lex naturae; et haec nihil aliud est nisi lumen intellectus insitum nobis a Deo, per quod cognoscimus quid agendum et quid vitandum. Hoc lumen et hanc legem dedit Deus homini in creatione”: Divi Thomae Aquinatis, Doctoris Angelici, Opuscola Theologica, vol. II: De re spirituali, cura et studio P. Fr. Raymundi Spiazzi, O.P., Marietti ed., Taurini - Romae 1954, p. 245.
- Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I-II, q. 91, a. 2, c: Ed. Leon. 7, 154: “partecipatio legis aeternae in rationali creatura lex naturalis dicitur”.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1955.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1956.
- 141.
- “In the diversity of cultures, the natural law unites peoples, enjoining common principles.”
- 142.
- “The natural law, which is the law of God, cannot be annulled by human sinfulness.”
- Saint Augustine, Confessions, 2, 4, 9: PL 32, 678: “Furtum certe punit lex tua, Domine, et lex scripta in cordibus hominum, quam ne ipsa quidem delet iniquitas.”
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1959.
- John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor, 51: AAS 85 (1993), 1175.
- John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Evangelium Vitae, 19-20: AAS 87 (1995), 421-424.
- 143.
- “Freedom mysteriously tends to betray the openness to truth and human goodness, and too often it prefers evil and being selfishly closed off, raising itself to the status of a divinity that creates good and evil.”
THE EQUAL DIGNITY OF ALL PEOPLE
- 144.
- “‘God shows no partiality,’ since all people have the same dignity as creatures made in his image and likeness.”
- “Since something of the glory of God shines on the face of every person, the dignity of every person before God is the basis of the dignity of man before other men.”
- 145.
- “Only the recognition of human dignity can make possible the common and personal growth of everyone.”
- “Also in relations between peoples and States, conditions of equality and parity are prerequisites for the authentic progress of the international community.”
- John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris, 47-48: AAS 55 (1963), 279- 281.
- Paul VI, Address to the General Assembly of the United Nations (4 October 1965), 5: AAS 57 (1965), 881.
- John Paul II, Address to the Fiftieth General Assembly of the United Nations (5 October 1995), 13: L'Osservatore Romano, English edition, 11 October 1995, p. 9-10.
- Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 84: AAS 58 (1966), 1107-1108.
- “Together with equality in the recognition of the dignity of each person and of every people there must also be an awareness that it will be possible to safeguard and promote human dignity only if this is done as a community, by the whole of humanity.”
- 146.
- “‘Male’ and ‘female’ differentiate two individuals of equal dignity, which does not however reflect a static equality, because the specificity of the female is different from the specificity of the male, and this difference in equality is enriching and indispensable for the harmony of life in society.”
- 147.
- “Woman is the complement of man, as man is the complement of woman: man and woman complete each other mutually, not only from a physical and psychological point of view, but also ontologically.”
- John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem, 11: AAS 80 (1988), 1678.
- John Paul II, Letter to Women, 8: AAS 87 (1995), 808.
- John Paul II, Sunday Angelus (9 July 1995): L'Osservatore Romano, English edition, 12 July 1995, p. 1.
- Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Collaboration of Men and Women in the Church and in the World: L'Osservatore Romano, English edition, 11/18 August 2004, pp. 5-8.
- 148.
- “Persons with disabilities are fully human subjects, with rights and duties.”
- “The rights of persons with disabilities need to be promoted with effective and appropriate measures.”
THE SOCIAL NATURE OF HUMAN BEINGS
- 149.
- “The human person is essentially a social being because God, who created humanity, willed it so.”
- Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 12: AAS 58 (1966), 1034.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1879.
- Pius XII, Radio Message of 24 December 1942, 6: AAS 35 (1943), 11-12.
- John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris: AAS 55 (1963), 264-265.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1880.
- “It is therefore necessary to stress that community life is a natural characteristic that distinguishes man from the rest of earthly creatures.”
- 150.
- “The social nature of human beings does not automatically lead to communion among persons, to the gift of self.”
- 151.
- “The social nature of human beings is not uniform but is expressed in many different ways.”
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