Dignitas Infinita: The Good
Part 2 | Clarity CAN be found
Many points in this document are actually very clear and solid.
In a Church…scratch that…WORLD, that is truly starved for clarity today, some of our culture’s most questioned moral topics are addressed quite bluntly. Vatican documents are a bit, shall we say, dry? So I’ve picked out some of the stronger lines on those topics for you below!
Abortion.
In this section, they speak not only to the evil of abortion, but the progression in the modern mind that has dulled our consciences to its horror. They write:
“Today, in many people’s consciences, the perception of its gravity has become progressively obscured. The acceptance of abortion in the popular mind, in behavior, and even in law itself is a telling sign of an extremely dangerous crisis of the moral sense, which is becoming more and more incapable of distinguishing between good and evil, even when the fundamental right to life is at stake.”
Beyond that, it is strongly stated that we must call abortion exactly what it is. (Citation is from John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Evangelium Vitae)
“In the case of abortion, there is a widespread use of ambiguous terminology, such as ‘interruption of pregnancy,’ which tends to hide abortion’s true nature and to attenuate its seriousness in public opinion…no word has the power to change the reality of things: procured abortion is 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.”[89]
And finally in this section, I appreciate their appeal to reason as well as religion. (Citation is from Pope Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium)
Reason alone is sufficient to recognize the inviolable value of each single human life, but if we also look at the issue from the standpoint of faith, ‘every violation of the personal dignity of the human being cries out in vengeance to God and is an offense against the Creator of the individual.’”[91]
Surrogacy.
In this section, I believe they do a good job of walking the line between reassuring us of the dignity of the woman and child, and the objectifying of both through this exploitative process. (Direct quote from Pope Francis:)
“The path to peace calls for respect for life, for every human life, starting with the life of the unborn child in the mother’s womb, which cannot be suppressed or turned into an object of trafficking. In this regard, I deem deplorable the practice of so-called surrogate motherhood, which represents a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child, based on the exploitation of situations of the mother’s material needs. A child is always a gift and never the basis of a commercial contract.”
They also speak to the rights of the child, and that having a child both cannot be separated from conjugal union, nor are they a right at any cost.
“The child has the right to have a fully human (and not artificially induced) origin and to receive the gift of a life that manifests both the dignity of the giver and that of the receiver. Moreover, acknowledging the dignity of the human person also entails recognizing every dimension of the dignity of the conjugal union and of human procreation. Considering this, the legitimate desire to have a child cannot be transformed into a “right to a child” that fails to respect the dignity of that child as the recipient of the gift of life.”
Euthanasia & Assisted Suicide.
This practice is often turned on its head, and called things like “death with dignity,” when in fact, it is anything but. In this section emphasis is placed on the value of suffering, which is a bit of an unusual concept to those outside the Church.
“Even in its sorrowful state, human life carries a dignity that must always be upheld, that can never be lost, and that calls for unconditional respect. Indeed, there are no circumstances under which human life would cease from being dignified and could, as a result, be put to an end…Life is a right, not death, which must be welcomed, not administered.”
Gender Theory & Sex Change.
If you happen to see a headline about this document in the mainstream media, this is probably the part you’ve seen highlighted. You’ll see it again in next week’s analysis of “the bad” because quite frankly, I think it leaves something to be desired. However, they do close with this thought, which I believe is strong. (Footnote from the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia by Pope Francis.)
“All attempts to obscure reference to the ineliminable sexual difference between man and woman are to be rejected: “We cannot separate the masculine and the feminine from God’s work of creation, which is prior to all our decisions and experiences, and where biological elements exist which are impossible to ignore.”[105]
Quite honestly, the sex change section is even weaker, but the following is reiterated after quoting the Catechism, and is a truth that seems to have been lost.
“Humans are inseparably composed of both body and soul.”
Is the good enough to outweigh the bad and the ugly?
Next week we’ll dive into the “bad” or more ambiguous notes in the document, and the week after that we’ll dive into the ugly...aka, the X wars. Until we do so, I think it’s worth reserving judgement on whether this is an overall win or loss.