Persons may foolishly lose their dignity through sinning. The light-fingered store clerk, the unfaithful spouse, the dishonest professional, and, yes, the negligent clergyman have only themselves to blame for their loss of moral dignity in the public eye. Persons may also seem to lose their dignity through many adverse social circumstances. Poverty, homelessness, unemployment, illiteracy, war and migration often lead to a seeming loss of dignity in the eyes of the rest of the world. And a loss of dignity may be revealed within persons whose existential lives seem joyless and hopeless due to serious illness, family strife, physical addictions, or internal conflict. Their frowns hide their dignity.
Although sin and hard times and tough going might rob a person of the external trappings of dignity making them appear “undignified,” a recent Vatican document — Dignitas Infinita — reminds the faithful of the supreme importance of the real dignity that belongs to every person simply because he or she exists and is willed, created, and loved by God. This real or ontological dignity is indelible and remains valid beyond any circumstances in which persons may find themselves. This innate dignity is to be perceived in every one and perhaps especially within the dishonest, the disenfranchised and the disturbed persons in this world. This ontological dignity, this innate dignity, is the prime focus of Divine compassion and Christian charity.
The Vatican document, composed in part to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, first outlines the Bible’s references to human dignity, then the writings of the Church fathers and medieval scholars, next even Descartes and Kant are considered, and then the Vatican II document Dignitatis Humanae which happily but perhaps naively taught that “contemporary man is becoming increasingly conscious of the dignity of the human person.” Such human dignity, the document broadly insists, is “known through the revealed Word of God and by reason itself.”
Recent scholars at the Vatican are certainly not the first godly thinkers to understand that God values the innate dignity of every individual even when their outward circumstances seem to lack dignity. Ponder Psalm 146 to be heard at Mass this coming Sunday: “The God of Jacob keeps faith forever, secures justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets captives free. The LORD gives sight to the blind; the LORD raises up those who were bowed down. The LORD loves the just; the LORD protects strangers. The fatherless and the widow the LORD sustains, but the way of the wicked he thwarts.” And again, consider this thought from St. James, also to be heard on Sunday: “Did not God choose those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom (Jm2:5).” And finally, Jesus himself is certainly not to be outdone in the attention that he accords to those some might consider less dignified: “They were exceedingly astonished and they said, “He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
Like her Master, the modern Church is concerned about specific assaults on human dignity. The recent document’s list of abuses is both lengthy and familiar. Poverty, war, migration, and abortion are worldwide challenges to human dignity. Women especially but men as well can have their self-worth endangered through human trafficking, sexual abuse, violence, surrogacy, gender theory, and sex change. Euthanasia, assisted suicide, and marginalization of the disabled all fail to appreciate human dignity. The Vatican instruction wisely denounces digital violence as well, prudently noting that the digital environment can indeed be one of loneliness, manipulation, exploitation, and violence, greatly lowering human dignity.
The document happily recalls Pope Paul III’s declaration on the dignity of those people found in the lands of the “New World” in the Bull Pastorale Officium issued in 1537 (!) where that Holy Father established—under penalty of excommunication—that the inhabitants of those territories, “even if outside the bosom of the Church, are not to be deprived, of their freedom or the ownership of their goods, for they are men and, therefore, capable of faith and salvation” Pope Francis, quite in accord with the document’s theme and Church tradition, recently taught in Fratelli Tutti, “In political activity, we should remember that, appearances notwithstanding, every person is immensely holy and deserves our love and dedication.” So concern for self-respect and human dignity and personal worth is a Divine mandate found in the Scriptures, in Church history and again in modern times.
