1. A Growing Awareness of the Centrality of Human Dignity
10. Already in classical antiquity,[: Since it is not the purpose of this Declaration to draw up an exhaustive treatise on the notion of dignity, for the sake of brevity, only the so-called classical Greek and Roman culture is mentioned here as an example, as the point of reference for early Christian philosophical and theological reflection.] an intuition about human dignity emerged from a social perspective that viewed each person as invested with a particular dignity based on their rank and status within an established order. From its origins in the social sphere, the word “dignity” then was used to describe the differentiated dignity of beings in the cosmos. In this view, all beings possess their own “dignity” according to their place within the harmony of the whole. Some high points of ancient thought did begin to acknowledge a unique place for humans as beings endowed with reason, able to take responsibility for themselves and others in the world.[: For example, see Cicero, De Officiis I, 105-106: “Sed pertinet ad omnem officii quaestionem semper in promptu habere, quantum natura hominis pecudibus reliquisque beluis antecedat […] Atque etiam si considerare volumus, quae sit in natura excellentia et dignitas, intellegemus, quam sit turpe diffluere luxuria et delicate ac molliter vivere quamque honestum parce, continenter, severe, sobrie” (Id., Scriptorum Latinorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis, ed. M. Winterbottom, Oxford 1994, 43). In English translation: “But it is essential to every inquiry about duty that we keep before our eyes how far superior man is by nature to cattle and other beasts […] And if we will only bear in mind the superiority and dignity of our nature, we shall realize how wrong it is to abandon ourselves to excess and to live in luxury and voluptuousness, and how right it is to live in thrift, self-denial, simplicity, and sobriety” (Id., On Duties, tr. W. Miller, Loeb Classical Library 30, Harvard University Press, Cambridge 1913, 107-109).] Nevertheless, a way of thinking that would be able to ground our respect for the dignity of every human person in every circumstance was still a long way away.
Biblical Perspectives
11. Biblical Revelation teaches that all human beings possess inherent dignity because they are created in the image and likeness of God: “God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness’ […] So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:26-27). With this, humanity has a specific quality that means it is not reducible to purely material elements. Moreover, the “image” does not define the soul or its intellectual abilities but the dignity of man and woman. In their relationship of equality and mutual love, both the man and the woman represent God in the world and are also called to cherish and nurture the world. Because of this, to be created in the image of God means to possess a sacred value that transcends every distinction of a sexual, social, political, cultural, and religious nature. Our dignity is bestowed upon us by God; it is neither claimed nor deserved. Every human being is loved and willed by God and, thus, has an inviolable dignity. In Exodus, at the heart of the Old Testament, God shows himself to be the one who hears the cry of the poor, sees the misery of his people, and cares for those who are least and for the oppressed (cf. Ex. 3:7; 22:20-26). The same teaching can be found in the Deuteronomic Code (cf. Dt. 12-26); here, the teaching on rights is transformed into a manifesto of human dignity, particularly in favor of the threefold category of the orphan, the widow, and the stranger (cf. Dt. 24:17). The ancient precepts of Exodus are recalled and applied to the moment in the preaching of the prophets, who represent the critical conscience of Israel. The prophets Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, and Jeremiah have entire chapters denouncing injustice. Amos bitterly decries the oppression of the poor and his listeners’ failure to recognize any fundamental human dignity in the destitute (cf. Am. 2:6-7; 4:1; 5:11-12). Isaiah pronounces a curse against those who trample on the rights of the poor, denying them all justice: “Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression, to turn aside the needy from justice” (Is. 10:1-2). This prophetic teaching is echoed in Wisdom Literature. For example, Sirach equates the oppression of the poor with murder: “To take away a neighbor’s living is to murder him; to deprive an employee of his wages is to shed blood” (Sir. 34:22). In the Psalms, the religious relationship with God comes through the defense of the weak and needy: “Do justice for the weak and the orphan; give justice to the poor and afflicted. Rescue the weak and the needy; set them free from the hand of the wicked” (Ps. 82:3-4).
12. Born and raised in humble conditions, Jesus reveals the dignity of the needy and those who labor.[: Cf. Paul VI, Address to the Pilgrimage to the Holy Land: Visit to the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth (5 January 1964): AAS 56 (1964), 166-170.] Then, throughout his public ministry, he affirms the value and dignity of all who bear the image of God, regardless of their social status and external circumstances. Jesus broke down cultural and cultic barriers, restoring dignity to those who were “rejected” or were considered to be on the margins of society, such as tax collectors (cf. Mt. 9:10-11), women (cf. Jn. 4:1-42), children (cf. Mk. 10:14-15), lepers (cf. Mt. 8:2-3), the sick (cf. Mk. 1:29-34), strangers (cf. Mt. 25:35), and widows (cf. Lk. 7:11-15). He heals, feeds, defends, liberates, and saves. He is described as a shepherd who is concerned about the one sheep that was lost (cf. Mt. 18:12-14). He identifies with the least of his brethren: “As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt. 25:40). In biblical language, the “little ones” are not only the children, but are also the vulnerable, the most insignificant, the outcast, the oppressed, the discarded, the poor, the marginalized, the unlearned, the sick, and those who are downtrodden by the powerful. The glorious Christ will judge by the love of neighbor that consists in ministering to the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned, with whom he identifies (cf. Mt. 25:34-36). For Jesus, the good done to every human being, regardless of the ties of blood or religion, is the single criterion of judgment. The apostle Paul affirms that every Christian must live according to the requirements of dignity and respect for the rights of all people (cf. Rom. 13:8-10) according to the new commandment of love (cf. 1 Cor. 13:1-13).
Developments in Christian Thought
13. As Christian thought developed, it also prompted and accompanied the progress of humanity’s reflection on the concept of dignity. Drawing from the rich tradition of the Church Fathers, classical Christian anthropology emphasized the doctrine of the human being as created in the image and likeness of God and the unique role of the human person in creation.[: For example, see Clement of Rome, 1 Clem. 33, 4f: PG 1, 273; Theophilus of Antioch, Ad Aut. I, 4: PG 6, 1029; Clement of Alexandria, Strom. III, 42, 5-6: PG 8, 1145; Ibid., VI, 72, 2: PG 9, 293; Irenaeus of Lyons, Adv. Haer. V, 6, 1: PG 7, 1137-1138; Origen, De princ. III, 6, 1: PG 11, 333; Augustine, De Gen. ad litt. VI, 12: PL 34, 348; De Trinitate XIV, 8, 11: PL 42, 1044-1045.] By critically sifting through the inheritance it had received from ancient philosophy, Medieval Christian thought arrived at a synthesis of the notion of the “person” that recognized the metaphysical foundation of human dignity. St. Thomas Aquinas attested to this when he affirmed that “‘person’ signifies what is most perfect in all nature—that is, a subsistent individual of a rational nature.”[: Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I, q. 29, a. 3, resp.: «persona significat id, quod est perfectissimum in tota natura, scilicet subsistens in rationali natura».] The Christian humanism of the Renaissance later emphasized this ontological dignity and its preeminent manifestation in free human action.[: Cf. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and his well-known text, Orartio de Hominis Dignitate (1486).] Even in the writings of such modern thinkers as Descartes and Kant, who challenged some of the foundations of traditional Christian anthropology, one can still strongly perceive echoes of Revelation. Building upon some recent philosophical reflections about the status of theoretical and practical subjectivity, Christian reflection then came to emphasize even more the depths of the concept of dignity. In the twentieth century, this reached an original perspective (as seen in Personalism) that reconsidered the question of subjectivity and expanded it to encompass intersubjectivity and the relationships that bind people together.[: For a Jewish thinker, such as E. Levinas (1906-1995), the human being is qualified by his freedom insofar as he discovers himself as infinitely responsible for another human being.] The thinking flowing from this view has enriched contemporary Christian anthropology.[: Some great Christian thinkers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries—such as St. J.H. Newman, Bl. A. Rosmini, J. Maritain, E. Mounier, K. Rahner, H.‑U. von Balthasar, and others—have succeeded in proposing a vision of the human person that can validly dialogue with all the currents of thought present in the early twenty-first century, whatever their inspiration, even Postmodernism.]
The Present Era
14. Today, the term “dignity” is mainly used to emphasize the uniqueness of the human person, incomparable to all other entities in the universe. From this perspective, we can understand how the word “dignity” was used in the 1948 United Nations Declaration, which speaks about “the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family.” Only this inalienable character of human dignity makes it possible to speak about human rights.[: This is why the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights […] implicitly suggests that the source of inalienable human rights is found in the dignity of every human person” (International Theological Commission, In Search of a Universal Ethics: A New Look at the Natural Law [2009], no. 115).]
15. To clarify the concept of dignity even further, it is essential to point out that dignity is not something granted to the person by others based on their gifts or qualities, such that it could be withdrawn. Were it so bestowed, it would be given in a conditional and alienable way, and then the very meaning of dignity (however worthy of great respect) would remain exposed to the risk of being abolished. Instead, dignity is intrinsic to the person: it is not conferred subsequently (a posteriori), it is prior to any recognition, and it cannot be lost. All human beings possess this same intrinsic dignity, regardless of whether or not they can express it in a suitable manner.
16. For this reason, the Second Vatican Council speaks of the “sublime dignity of the human person, who stands above all things and whose rights and duties are universal and inviolable.”[: Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes (7 December 1965), no. 26: AAS 58 (1966), 1046. The entire first chapter of the first part of the Pastoral Constitution (nos. 11-22) is devoted to the “Dignity of the Human Person.”] As the opening line of the conciliar Declaration Dignitatis Humanae recalls, “contemporary man is becoming increasingly conscious of the dignity of the human person; more and more people are demanding that men should exercise fully their own judgment and a responsible freedom in their actions and should not be subject to the pressure of coercion but be inspired by a sense of duty.”[: Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Declaration Dignitatis Humanae (7 December 1965), no. 1: AAS 58 (1966), 929.] Such freedom of thought and conscience, both individual and communal, is based on the recognition of human dignity “as known through the revealed Word of God and by reason itself.”[: Ibid., no. 2: AAS 58 (1966), 931.] The Church’s Magisterium progressively developed an ever-greater understanding of the meaning of human dignity, along with its demands and consequences, until it arrived at the recognition that the dignity of every human being prevails beyond all circumstances.
