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See Pope John Paul II's Address
to Pontifical Academy for Life
Natural moral law is the light of reason given to us
by God. Every human being finds in his conscience first principle of
good and evil
From 25 to 27 February the Pontifical Academy for Life held its 8th
General Assembly on the theme: "The nature and dignity of
the human person as the foundation of the right to life. The challenges
of the contemporary cultural context". The purpose of the Academy
is to study, to form and to inform on the life issues. Here is a press
release that sums up the themes of the meeting.
Natural law in morality, law and ethics for pro-life issues
1. No one can ignore the fact that today we face many currents of
thought that rather explicitly deny the existence of what we mean by
human nature and the ability to know it. As a result, they do not admit
that there is an unconditional and non-negotiable value to the dignity
of the person in the first and last stages of human life when we find
the greatest need for care and protection. Indeed, as the Pope recalled
in his address, "For many contemporary thinkers, the concepts of
'nature' and of 'natural law' appear to apply only to the physical
and biological world, or as a way of expressing the order of the cosmos,
in scientific research and in the field of ecology.
Unfortunately, in such a view, it becomes difficult to use natural law
to mean human nature in a metaphysical sense, and to use natural law in
the moral order" (n. 2). While recognizing the change in the
culture, the Academy for Life has felt the need to confront the new ways
of thinking, in order to maintain continuity with the centuries-old
Tradition of the Church, and with the substance of classical
philosophical thought, while discerning new ways of presenting natural
law that will foster dialogue with the contemporary world. Today the
members of the Church have to explore the results of what has taken
place in a certain number of legal systems and legislation to see how
they incarnate essential human goods.
To this end, the General Assembly took up three areas related to the
main theme: the anthropological issue; natural moral law, its existence,
and the extent to which it can be known; human rights and, especially,
the right to life.
Unity of the human person basis for a permanent human nature
2. On the anthropological question, the assembly reaffirmed the
vision of the unity of the human person, "corpore et anima unus"
(one in body and soul), rejecting any dualism or reductionism, either of
the spiritualist or materialist type. Genuine respect for every human
subject is based on his corporeal and spiritual identity, where
corporeality is a component of the person who, through it, manifests and
expresses himself (cf. Donum vitae, n. 3) along with the
spiritual dimension in which the human person opens himself to God,
finding in him the ultimate foundation for his dignity.
The problem becomes how to recognize the existence of a universal
human nature for the purpose of understanding the natural moral law.
Members reported on contemporary currents of thought that insist
exclusively on the historical and evolutionary dimension of man, and
deny the existence of a universal human nature. Yet, the substance of
what we mean by a "rational nature" the Academicians concluded—in
continuity with Church teaching—has to be an
indispensable principle for understanding natural moral law. In fact,
where else can we find the basis for the dignity of the human person
than in his distinctive dimensions and necessities, that is, in his
nature?
The Holy Father himself addressing the members of the Academy
emphasized that "the human person, with his reason, is capable of
recognizing both this profound and objective dignity of his
own being, and the ethical requirements that derive from it. In other
words, man can discern in himself the value and the moral requirements
of his own dignity. It is a discernment that entails a discovery open to
further refinement following the coordinates of the ‘historicity’
that are typical of human knowledge" (John Paul II, Address to
the General Assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life, n. 3, 27
February).
Natural moral law: the light of human reason at work
3. On the basis of this anthropological vision, the academicians
reflected on the theme of natural moral law. This is "nothing other
than the light of understanding infused in us by God, whereby we
understand what must be done and what must be avoided. God gave this
light and this law to man at creation" (Veritatis splendor,
nn. 12 and 40). The existence of the natural law is the direct result of
the existence of human nature.
By recalling the teaching of St Thomas Aquinas on natural moral law,
the Academicians stressed the fact that every human being is naturally
capable of clearly discerning in his conscience the fundamental dictates
(first principles) of this law, that prompt him to do good and to avoid
evil (cf. Gaudium et spes, n. 16). He has the capacity to
recognize the moral norms deriving from what human nature requires—such
are the ethical norms that concern the protection of human life—even
if their determination, in some cases, seems more difficult because of
the inevitable cultural and personal conditioning that mark the history
of every person.
The practice of the moral virtues, understood as the acquired habit
of doing a specific good act, is of great help in knowing and living the
natural law while, on the contrary, the vices are a further obstacle to
the good to be done.
Necessary foundation of natural rights in human nature
4. Natural rights codify and protect the indispensable necessities of
human nature, such as the search for moral truth. One can speak of legal
systems that codify "natural rights" since their foundations
do not coincide with a mere act of human will, but indeed are inherent
in the nature and dignity of the person himself.
In the history of human rights, this is the reason why almost
constantly until the end of the 18th century, fundamental human rights
were considered inviolable and non-negotiable, hence removed
from the arbitrariness of social agreement and the consensus of the
majority.
Later on, public opinion gradually shifted to an exaggerated emphasis
on the right to personal freedom, that has produced the attacks on
unborn and terminal life. The attacks on human beings "present
new characteristics with respect to the past and which
raise questions of extraordinary seriousness. It is not only that
in generalized opinion these attacks tend no longer to be considered as
'crimes', paradoxically they assume the nature of 'rights’" (Evangelium
vitae, n. 11). Public opinion can go with this premise to the point
of concluding that the State should not only give up punishing such acts
but indeed should guarantee their free exercise through the support
given by its own structures.
"The Catholic Church claims for every human being the right to
life as the primary right. She does so in the name of the truth about
man and to protect his freedom that cannot be sustained without respect
for the right to life. The Church affirms the right to life of every
innocent human being at every moment of his existence. The distinction
sometimes implied in several international documents between 'human
being' and 'human person', so as to limit the right to life and to
physical integrity to persons already born is an artificial distinction,
without any scientific or philosophical foundation."
Then the Academicians appealed to legislators everywhere to formulate
juridical norms consistent with the genuine truth about man and the
primacy of the right to life.
5. The Holy Father encouraged the participants to continue their "reflection
on the natural moral law and natural rights with the hope that from your
discussions will come fresh zeal for establishing the true good of the
human being and of a just and peaceful social order. It is always by
returning to the deep roots of human dignity and of the true good of the
human being, and by building on the foundation of what exists as
everlasting and essential in man, that a fruitful dialogue can take
place with men of every culture in order to build a society inspired by
the values of justice and brotherhood" (Address to
participants..., n. 7).
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