In 2008 the Vatican issued Dignitas Personae, which explains that “dignity belongs equally to every single human being, irrespective of his parents’ desires.”1
This is not a new teaching but rather a restatement of the fundamental reason why the Fifth Commandment says “Thou shalt not kill.”
Simple truth has become twisted, if not tossed away, during the past several decades as people have become more and more desensitized toward those who are viewed as less than human. This occurs whether we are talking about the preborn child, the elderly person, or those who have conditions that make them incompatible with someone else’s lifestyle.
How often have we heard it said that an abortion is the only choice available because someone’s life has been planned ahead of time and pregnancy is simply not acceptable? It makes us think, If that is so, why did you involve yourself with someone else and get pregnant in the first place?
The common response may be that the baby’s creation was an accident or simply unplanned, but at this point we are dealing with a tiny human being. What if that were your life? Would you want someone choosing to kill you because you were in their way?
That is exactly what happens when an elderly person is prematurely killed or a prenatal diagnosis troubles a parent because the baby could be born with a challenging problem.
Scenarios like this pave the way for directly killing a human being whose dignity has been denied or was never even considered.
It would be easy to suggest that the law is the greatest enemy when it comes to defending the innocent, but there are so many additional factors at play that we cannot simplify this complex set of problems. Surely books could be written about this, but let’s talk about the root of our cultural denial that every human being is equally valuable and possesses dignity from the existence of her first cell. It is called egoism.
In his book Three to Get Married, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen gives us the best explanation of egoism, writing, “How can one love self without being selfish? How can one love others without losing self? The answer is: By loving both self and neighbor in God. It is His love that makes us love both self and neighbor rightly.”2
Sheen’s words are a simple reiteration of the Lord’s command to love thy neighbor as thyself for love of God. His beautiful teaching affirms the dignity of every human being. This is so because without love of God, human dignity becomes negotiable, deniable, and discardable.
The dignity of each person is a gift from God. We respect this gift in word and action when we protect, defend, and appreciate it within ourselves and within the very identity of every person from the first moment of his existence onward.
That is why there are no exceptions, no equivocation, and certainly no what ifs in our yes to defending God’s children.
- Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Dignitas Personae, September 8, 2008, vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20081208_dignitas-personae_en.html.
- Fulton J. Sheen. Three to Get Married. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts. January 1, 1951.
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