Abstract
Where human rights and fundamental rights are concerned, those rights are equal for each human being regardless of his condition, by reason of his humanity and human nature. And for the very reason that they are fundamental they are inalienable and cannot be disposed of: anyone can claim them towards other individuals and assert them in the face of political power. This is the minimum meaning of the doctrine of human rights. The elaboration of the list of the rights that all humans have, has a long history and a slow evolution.
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Notes
- 1.
For a general picture of the history of human rights see Cronin K. (1992) Rights and Christian Ethics. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
- 2.
Pio VI, Quod Aliquantum, 1791; Gregorio XVI, Mirari vos, 1832; Pio IX, Quanta cura, 1864; Leone XIII, Immortale Dei, 1885, Libertas, 1888, Rerum novarum, 1891. See Wackenheim C. (1979) The Theological Meaning of the Rights of Man, in The Church and the Rights of Man, New York, The Seabury Press, p. 52.
- 3.
Lewis V.B., Democracy and Catholic Social Teaching: Continuity, Development, and Challenge, “Studia Gilsoniana”, 2014, 3, pp. 167–190.
- 4.
See Etchegaray R. (1991) Du rejet à l’engagement, in Culture chrétienne et droits de l’homme. Christianity and Human Rights, Bruxelles-Louvain-la-Neuve, Bruylant Academia, pages 3–15.
- 5.
For the historical evolution and the doctrinal position of the Church on the topic see Pontifical Commission Iustitia et Pax, The Church and Human Rights, Vatican City, 1st Edition 1975, 2nd Edition 2011.
- 6.
Driven by the crimes against humanity perpetrated by the totalitarian regimes, coming to a head during the World War II, most of the liberal democratic countries considered it impossible to shirk the moral duty to give national and international protection to man also with regard to any form of power. The rights defined as human received a successive positivization – in the context of the universal declarations and the national constitutions – which transformed them into positive law with protection at institutional level (super-national and national), also by means of judicial protection. It is thanks to these rights that the existence of conditions of life that respect human dignity is guaranteed.
- 7.
This concept is the horizon of thought in Giovanni Paolo II, Evangelium vitae, 1995.
- 8.
Kolakowski L. (1990) Modernity on Endless Trial, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, p. 214.
- 9.
Kasper W. (1990) The Theological Foundation of Human Rights, in “The Jurist”, 50, pp. 153–154; S. Moyn (2015) Christian Human Rights, University of Pennsylvania Press; Witte J., Alexander F.S. Christianity and Human Rights: an Introduction, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
- 10.
In this sense the Protestant path led to the “Christocratic sublimation of law”, to the separation between theology of law and philosophy of law, the taking root of law in one single faith (without the mediation of reason). Because of sin the relationship with God is considered corrupt and it is thought that man can save himself from the corruption of his sinful nature not by means of reason or his works but only through faith and grace. In this sense worldly law is not condemned in itself but for itself: even though it is recognised as the instrument of social order, it is considered irrelevant for salvation. The law has as theological valence in the contents and precepts of God as a way for charity and grace.
- 11.
Maritain J (1942) Les droits de l’homme et la lois naturelle, New York, Editions de la Maison Francaise, Allocution à la première séance pléniere de la deuxième session de la Conférence générale de l’Unesco, Mexico, 6 November 1947, in Droits des peoples, droits de l’homme, edited by the Institut International Jacques Maritain (1984), Paris, Le Centurion; United Nations General Assembly, 183rd session. “Resolution 217 (1948). Universal Declaration of Human Rights” (A/RES/183/217). 10 December 1948. Available online: http:/ /www.un.org/en/documents/udhr. Id. (1951), Man and the State, Chicago, University of Chicago Press.
- 12.
Reason, formulating natural law, transforms the description of the natural inclination into an obligation (setting down action in conformity with the end): the inclination is an empirical tendency, the law is a norm. One therefore passes from the empirical order of the inclinations to the rational and normative order of the precepts. In this sense one goes from being to having to be, starting from being as essence or end.
- 13.
For Maritain natural law and natural rights are closely correlated: natural law expresses the tendencies of human nature at a moral level; they found law, that is, the possibility to be claimed and demanded (natural law).
- 14.
Maritain J., The Man and the State, cit., page 22.
- 15.
Ibid., pages 77–78.
- 16.
Autour de la novelle déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme, Editions du Sagittaire, cit., pp. 14–15.
- 17.
These documents do not coincide with the official position of the Church but constitute a significant contribution to its internal reflection.
- 18.
Quoted in note 7.
- 19.
Expressed to the objection of ‘naturalistic prejudice’ that deduces the having to be from the being, deducing a normative code from the essence.
- 20.
The principle texts of Christian-Catholic bioethics: Sgreccia E. (2007) Manuale di bioetica. Fondamenti ed etica biomedica, Milano, Vita e Pensiero; Pessina A. (1999) Bioetica. L’uomo sperimentale, Milano, Mondadori; Spaemann R., Sind alle Menschen Personen?, in Löw R. (hrg., 1990), Bioethik. Philosophisch-theologische Beiträge zu einem brisanten Thema, Koln, Communio: 48–58.
- 21.
Edward P. Sri. Whose Rights? The Paradox of Moral Relativism, “Lay Witness”, Nov/Dec 2012.
- 22.
This is the main content of John Paul II, Veritatis Splendor (1993) and Evangelium vitae (1995) and Benedict XVI. Pope Benedict XVI (Light of the World: The Pope, The Church and The Signs Of The Times. A Conversation with Peter Seewald, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010, pages 50–54) refers to the “dictatorship of relativism”.
- 23.
Final document of the International Conference ‘Dialogue of Cultures and Inter-Faith Cooperation’ (Volga Forum), Nizhniy Novgorod/Russian Federation, 7–9 September 2006 (available at www.coe.int/dialogue); Final Declaration of the European Conference on ‘The religious dimension of intercultural dialogue’, San Marino, 23 and 24 April 2007 (available at www.coe.int/dialogue).
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Palazzani, L. (2017). The Christian-Catholic Religious Perspective: Human Rights, Cultural Pluralism and Bioethics. In: Tham, J., Kwan, K., Garcia, A. (eds) Religious Perspectives on Bioethics and Human Rights. Advancing Global Bioethics, vol 6. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58431-7_17
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