By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY — Christians can help overcome the many distortions and lies about the true dignity of every human person and, in doing so, promote and defend human life, Pope Leo XIV said.
“Created in God’s image, through Christ and for his sake, we have received a unique and indelible dignity. Let us commit ourselves to promoting and defending it always, with the light and strength of the Gospel,” he said during his weekly general audience talk in St. Peter’s Square Sept. 9.
“This dignity is entrusted to the responsibility of each person: at the same time, it also demands solidarity and mutual care, overcoming the many falsifications and manipulations that still disfigure our perception of it and hinder its realization,” he said, continuing his series of talks on documents from the Second Vatican Council.
The first chapter of the conciliar constitution, “Gaudium et Spes,” underlined that the foundation and condition for the world’s most cherished values are rooted in the inherent and indelible dignity of the human person, Pope Leo said.
However, throughout history, choices have been made “that have run counter to this dignity” and “all of human life, whether individual or collective, shows itself to be a dramatic struggle between good and evil.”
“It is sin, above all, that disfigures God’s image in the human being,” the pope said in his summary to Portuguese speakers.
For example, when the body is reduced to being “an object” that can be “disposed of arbitrarily,” that is “always a denial of the dignity of the person,” he said in his main catechesis.
Only by recognizing that the human being is both body and soul together and that human dignity has a divine source can humanity “avoid possible distortions” and “address the contradictions, both old and new,” he said.
The Catholic Church teaches that human dignity never depends on “a person’s abilities, wealth or position in life, nor on the right or wrong choices made; instead, it is a gift that precedes and transcends each person, endowed by God as an expression of His unfailing love,” he said, quoting from his recent encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas.”
The infinite dignity of the human being flows from being a child of God, created in His image and likeness, Pope Leo added.
The human person is made for relationship, communion and participation, the pope said, not isolation. Humanity is called to cultivate a “filial relationship with God the Father and a fraternal relationship with Christ and with all humankind.”
“To be a person means to perceive oneself as a gift to be shared, growing and maturing through acceptance, reciprocity and service,” he said.
Each person, he said, is “endowed with the gifts of intelligence, for seeking truth; conscience, for recognizing our ultimate calling; and freedom, for choosing the good.”
“The Holy Spirit, who gives life in Christ, makes us free and constantly assures us of our dignity as children of God, delivering us from fear and guiding us towards the ultimate goal, that life in its fullness beyond death which Christ has promised us,” he said.
“May we therefore help each other to guard and defend our God-given dignity and journey together toward our heavenly homeland,” Pope Leo said in his English summary.
Cutline for featured image: Pope Leo XIV smiles as he greets visitors and pilgrims from the popemobile while riding around St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican before his weekly general audience Sept. 9. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
