Dear Judy,

I agree that there is a real difference with regard to certain actions. However, when Pope John Paul II lists intrinsically evil acts in Veritatis Splendor, #80 he includes specifically certain economics situations, for example, "subhuman living conditions" "degrading conditions of work which treat labourers as mere instruments of profit, and not as free responsible persons". These are included in the list with abortion and euthanasia and the Holy Father says that "all these" should be included as intrinsically evil acts.

Thank you for your work.

Dear Asking too:

Here is the text of #80:

80. Reason attests that there are objects of the human act which are by their nature "incapable of being ordered" to God, because they radically contradict the good of the person made in his image. These are the acts which, in the Church's moral tradition, have been termed "intrinsically evil" (intrinsece malum): they are such always and per se, in other words, on account of their very object, and quite apart from the ulterior intentions of the one acting and the circumstances. Consequently, without in the least denying the influence on morality exercised by circumstances and especially by intentions, the Church teaches that "there exist acts which per se and in themselves, independently of circumstances, are always seriously wrong by reason of their object".131 The Second Vatican Council itself, in discussing the respect due to the human person, gives a number of examples of such acts: "Whatever is hostile to life itself, such as any kind of homicide, genocide, abortion, euthanasia and voluntary suicide; whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, physical and mental torture and attempts to coerce the spirit; whatever is offensive to human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution and trafficking in women and children; degrading conditions of work which treat labourers as mere instruments of profit, and not as free responsible persons: all these and the like are a disgrace, and so long as they infect human civilization they contaminate those who inflict them more than those who suffer injustice, and they are a negation of the honour due to the Creator".132

With regard to intrinsically evil acts, and in reference to contraceptive practices whereby the conjugal act is intentionally rendered infertile, Pope Paul VI teaches: "Though it is true that sometimes it is lawful to tolerate a lesser moral evil in order to avoid a greater evil or in order to promote a greater good, it is never lawful, even for the gravest reasons, to do evil that good may come of it (cf. Rom 3:8) — in other words, to intend directly something which of its very nature contradicts the moral order, and which must therefore be judged unworthy of man, even though the intention is to protect or promote the welfare of an individual, of a family or of society in general".133

You will note that the intrinsically evil act is the act of the individual or government power that degrades the dignity of the human person per se and what the Holy Father is teaching is morally what we should all understand when dealing with the question if what an intrinsically evil act consists of. Any act of degradation by another person is indeed intrinsically evil as it is intended to deny him or her his innate human dignity.

There is no conflict between what the Holy Father sets forth and my response to the question dealing with the seamless garment. I think perhaps you need to compare the two word for word, and for your benefit, here is my response to the previous question:

Abortion is an intrinsically evil act.

Capital punishment should be rarely used,but is not condemned by the Church as an intrinsically evil act.

Assisted Suicide is murder, therefore an intrisnically evil act.

Unjust war vs. just war can be debated.

Economic justice is not in itself anything other than a principal to strive toward in a just society

Euthanasia is murder and therefore intrinsically evil

I think you can see why there are a hierarchy of questions here, and they should never be lumped together and presented as equally important because they are not.

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