2. The Church Proclaims, Promotes, and Guarantees Human Dignity
17. The Church proclaims the equal dignity of all people, regardless of their living conditions or qualities. This proclamation rests on a threefold conviction, which—in the light of Christian faith—gives human dignity an immeasurable value and reinforces its intrinsic demands.
The Indelible Image of God
18. The first conviction, drawn from Revelation, holds that the dignity of the human person comes from the love of the Creator, who has imprinted the indelible features of his image on every person (cf. Gen. 1:26). The Creator calls each person to know him, to love him, and to live in a covenantal relationship with him, while calling the person also to live in fraternity, justice, and peace with all others. In this perspective, dignity refers not only to the soul but also to the person as an inseparable unity of body and soul. Accordingly, dignity is also inherent in each person’s body, which participates in its own way in being in imago Dei (in the image of God) and is also called to share in the soul’s glory in the divine beatitude.
Christ Elevates Human Dignity
19. The second conviction follows from the fact that the dignity of the human person was revealed in its fullness when the Father sent his Son, who assumed human existence to the full: “In the mystery of the Incarnation, the Son of God confirmed the dignity of the body and soul which constitute the human being.”[: Cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction Dignitas Personae (8 September 2008), no. 7: AAS 100 (2008), 863. Cf. also Irenaeus of Lyons, Adv. Haer. V, 16, 2: PG 7, 1167-1168.] By uniting himself with every human being through his Incarnation, Jesus Christ confirmed that each person possesses an immeasurable dignity simply by belonging to the human community; moreover, he affirmed that this dignity can never be lost.[: Since “by his Incarnation, the Son of God has united himself in a certain way with every man,” the dignity of every man is revealed to us by Christ in its fullness (Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes [7 December 1965], no. 22: AAS 58 [1966], 1042).] By proclaiming that the Kingdom of God belongs to the poor, the humble, the despised, and those who suffer in body and spirit; by healing all sorts of illnesses and infirmities, even the most dramatic ones, such as leprosy; by affirming that whatever is done to these individuals is also done to him because he is present in them: in all these ways, Jesus brought the great novelty of recognizing the dignity of every person, especially those who were considered “unworthy.” This new principle in human history—which emphasizes that individuals are even more “worthy” of our respect and love when they are weak, scorned, or suffering, even to the point of losing the human “figure”—has changed the face of the world. It has given life to institutions that take care of those who find themselves in disadvantaged conditions, such as abandoned infants, orphans, the elderly who are left without assistance, the mentally ill, people with incurable diseases or severe deformities, and those living on the streets.
A Vocation to the Fullness of Dignity
20. The third conviction concerns the ultimate destiny of human beings. After the Creation and the Incarnation, Christ’s Resurrection reveals a further aspect of human dignity. Indeed, “the dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he is called to communion with God,”[: Second Vatican Ecumenical Concil, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes (7 December 1965), no. 19: AAS 58 (1966), 1038.] destined to last forever. Thus, “the dignity of this life is linked not only to its beginning, to the fact that it comes from God, but also to its final end, to its destiny of fellowship with God in knowledge and love of him. In the light of this truth, Saint Irenaeus qualifies and completes his praise of man: ‘the glory of God’ is indeed, ‘man, living man,’ but ‘the life of man consists in the vision of God.’”[: John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Evangelium Vitae (25 March 1995), no. 38: AAS 87 (1995), 443, quoting Irenaeus of Lyons, Adv. Haer. IV, 20, 7: PG 7, 1037-1038.]
21. Consequently, the Church believes and affirms that all human beings—created in the image and likeness of God and recreated[: Indeed, Christ has given the baptized a new dignity, that of being “sons of God”: cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, nos. 1213, 1265, 1270, 1279.] in the Son, who became man, was crucified, and rose again—are called to grow under the action of the Holy Spirit to reflect the glory of the Father in that same image and to share in eternal life (cf. Jn. 10:15-16, 17:22-24; 2 Cor. 3:18; Eph. 1:3-14). Indeed, “Revelation […] shows forth the dignity of the human person in all its fullness.”[: Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Declaration Dignitatis Humanae (7 December 1965), no. 9: AAS 58 (1966), 935.]
22. Every individual possesses an inalienable and intrinsic dignity from the beginning of his or her existence as an irrevocable gift. However, the choice to express that dignity and manifest it to the full or to obscure it depends on each person’s free and responsible decision. Some Church Fathers, such as St. Irenaeus and St. John Damascene, distinguished between the “image” and “likeness” mentioned in Genesis (cf. 1:26). This allowed for a dynamic perspective on human dignity that understands that the image of God is entrusted to human freedom so that—under the guidance and action of the Spirit—the person’s likeness to God may grow and each person may attain their highest dignity.[: Cf. Irenaeus of Lyons, Adv. Haer. V, 6, 1. V, 8, 1. V, 16, 2: PG 7, 1136-1138. 1141-1142. 1167-1168; John Damascene, De fide orth. 2, 12: PG 94, 917-930.] All people are called to manifest the ontological scope of their dignity on an existential and moral level as they, by their freedom, orient themselves toward the true good in response to God’s love. Thus, as one who is created in the image of God, the human person never loses his or her dignity and never ceases to be called to embrace the good freely. At the same time, to the extent that the person responds to the good, the individual’s dignity can manifest itself freely, dynamically, and progressively; with that, it can also grow and mature. Consequently, each person must also strive to live up to the full measure of their dignity. In light of this, one can understand how sin can wound and obscure human dignity, as it is an act contrary to that dignity; yet, sin can never cancel the fact that the human being is created in the image and likeness of God. In this way, faith plays a decisive role in helping reason perceive human dignity and in accepting, consolidating, and clarifying its essential features, as Benedict XVI pointed out: “Without the corrective supplied by religion, though, reason too can fall prey to distortions, as when it is manipulated by ideology, or applied in a partial way that fails to take full account of the dignity of the human person. Such misuse of reason, after all, was what gave rise to the slave trade in the first place and to many other social evils, not least the totalitarian ideologies of the twentieth century.”[: Benedict XVI, Address at Westminster Hall (17 September 2010): Insegnamenti VI/2 (2011), 240.]
