Caritas in Veritate [75]: Are we addressing the real human issues? How can a society that
kill systematically unborns be ready to deal with global human development?
"What is astonishing is the arbitrary and selective determination of what to put forward today as
worthy of respect. Insignificant matters are considered shocking, yet unprecedented injustices seem to be widely tolerated.
While the poor of the world continue knocking on the doors of the rich, the world of affluence runs the risk of no longer
hearing those knocks, on account of a conscience that can no longer distinguish what is human."
Caritas in Veritate [51]: Let's put Human Ecology before Environmental Ecology.
"If there is a lack of respect for the right to life and to a natural death, if human conception,
gestation and birth are made artificial, if human embryos are sacrificed to research, the conscience of society ends up losing
the concept of human ecology and, along with it, that of environmental ecology. It is contradictory to insist that future
generations respect the natural environment when our educational systems and laws do not help them to respect themselves.
The book of nature is one and indivisible: it takes in not only the environment but also life, sexuality, marriage, the family,
social relations: in a word, integral human development. Our duties towards the environment are linked to our duties towards
the human person, considered in himself and in relation to others. It would be wrong to uphold one set of duties while trampling
on the other. Herein lies a grave contradiction in our mentality and practice today: one which demeans the person, disrupts
the environment and damages society."
Caritas in Veritate [48]: Life and sustainability.
Nature expresses a design of love and truth. It is prior to us, and it has been given to us by God
as the setting for our life … But it should also be stressed that it is contrary to authentic development to view nature
as something more important than the human person … This having been said, it is also necessary to reject the opposite
position, which aims at total technical dominion over nature, because the natural environment is more than raw material to
be manipulated at our pleasure … Consequently, projects for integral human development cannot ignore coming generations,
but need to be marked by solidarity and inter-generational justice, while taking into account a variety of contexts: ecological,
juridical, economic, political and cultural.
Caritas in Veritate [15]: The link between life ethics and social ethics
"Locating at the foundation of society [is] the married couple, man and woman, who accept one another mutually, in distinction
and in complementarity: a couple, therefore, that is open to life.
This is not a question of purely individual morality: Humanae Vitae indicates the strong links between life ethics and
social ethics, ushering in a new area of magisterial teaching that has gradually been articulated in a series of documents,
most recently John Paul II's Encyclical Evangelium Vitae.
The Church forcefully maintains this link between life ethics and social ethics, fully aware that “a society lacks
solid foundations when, on the one hand, it asserts values such as the dignity of the person, justice and peace, but then,
on the other hand, radically acts to the contrary by allowing or tolerating a variety of ways in which human life is devalued
and violated, especially where it is weak or marginalized.”
Caritas in Veritate [75]: The link between life ethics and social ethics
"We need to affirm today that the social question has become a radically anthropological question, in the sense that
it concerns not just how life is conceived but also how it is manipulated, as bio-technology places it increasingly under
man's control."
Caritas in Veritate [44]: The economic need to support population growth over the replacement
levels
"The decline in births, falling at times beneath the so-called “replacement level”, also puts a strain on
social welfare systems, increases their cost, eats into savings and hence the financial resources needed for investment, reduces
the availability of qualified labourers, and narrows the “brain pool” upon which nations can draw for their needs."
Caritas in Veritate [44]: Population increase is not a cause for underdevelopment if it's
done responsibly
"To consider population increase as the primary cause of underdevelopment is mistaken … Morally responsible openness
to life represents a rich social and economic resource."
Caritas in Veritate [28]: Openness to Life and Human development.
"Openness to life is at the centre of true development"
Caritas in Veritate [26]: Openness to Life and peace.
"As a sign of respect for life - despite all the temptations to destroy it by abortion and euthanasia
- is a concomitant concern for peace, together with an awareness that peace is indivisible. It is either for all or for none.
It demands an ever greater degree of rigorous respect for justice and consequently a fair distribution of the results of true
development."
Caritas in Veritate [44]: Family and Social justice.
"It is thus becoming a social and even economic necessity once more to hold up to future generations
the beauty of marriage and the family, and the fact that these institutions correspond to the deepest needs and dignity of
the person. In view of this, States are called to enact policies promoting the centrality and the integrity of the family
founded on marriage between a man and a woman, the primary vital cell of society[, and to assume responsibility for its economic
and fiscal needs, while respecting its essentially relational character."
