PopeWatch: A Summary of “Dignitas Infinita”: Part Four

31.  Moreover, it would be unrealistic to posit an abstract freedom devoid of any influence, context, or limitation. Instead, “the proper exercise of personal freedom requires specific conditions of an economic, social, juridic, political and cultural order,”^[48] which often remain unfulfilled. In this sense, we can say that some individuals enjoy more “freedom” than others. Pope Francis has given special attention to this point: “Some people are born into economically stable families, receive a fine education, grow up well nourished, or naturally possess great talent. They will certainly not need a proactive state; they need only claim their freedom. Yet, the same rule clearly does not apply to a disabled person, to someone born in dire poverty, to those lacking a good education and with little access to adequate health care. If a society is governed primarily by the criteria of market freedom and efficiency, there is no place for such persons, and fraternity will remain just another vague ideal.”

In other words, you can’t be free unless you have a Mommy State, which establishes that neither the Cardinal nor the Pope have the foggiest understanding of freedom.

32.  At the same time, human history shows clear progress in understanding human dignity and freedom, albeit not without shadows and risks of regression.

Really?  History shows no such thing.  What history does show is that freedom was almost annihilated in the last century, courtesy of the Third Reich and the Soviet Union.  Today, freedom is increasingly restricted by the woke madness.  Freedom has had its victories, 1776 comes blazingly to mind, but the only pattern I can discern is a constant fight to gain freedom and to maintain it.

33.  In light of the previous reflections on the centrality of human dignity, the final section of this Declaration addresses some specific and grave violations of that dignity.

I have no problem with that as a general proposition, although a debate on what constitutes such a violation by twenty centuries of popes would be a sight to see.  The pope of the moment of course is a prisoner of his times, as we all are, but he should understand that he is the Vicar of Christ and should seek, always imperfectly, to follow the Gospel and to transcend his times, when those times are contrary to the Gospel.

34.  In addressing some of the many grave violations of human dignity today, we can draw upon the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, which emphasized that “all offenses against life itself, such as murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, and willful suicide” must be recognized as contrary to human dignity.^[53] Furthermore, the Council affirmed that “all violations of the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, physical and mental torture, undue psychological pressures,” also infringe upon our dignity.^[54] Finally, it denounced “all offenses against human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children, degrading working conditions where individuals are treated as mere tools for profit rather than free and responsible persons.”^[55] Here, one should also mention the death penalty, for this also violates the inalienable dignity of every person, regardless of the circumstances.^[56] In this regard, we must recognize that “the firm rejection of the death penalty shows to what extent it is possible to recognize the inalienable dignity of every human being and to accept that he or she has a place in this universe. 

And here we see the havoc wreaked by presentism.  The Church always taught that the death penalty was morally licit until the day before yesterday in historical terms.  Popes as rulers of the Papal States had executioners in their employ.  The laundry list thrown together by Vatican II, subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children, degrading working conditions where individuals are treated as mere tools for profit rather than free and responsible persons., is notable for vagueness, define subhuman living conditions, and silliness, deportation.  When we move away from the Gospel, we are reliant upon the wisdom, or lack thereof, of clerics, a prospect that  the last six decades does not demonstrate as one in which to inspire confidence.

35.  While not claiming to be exhaustive, the following paragraphs draw attention to some grave violations of human dignity that are particularly relevant.

36.  One of the phenomena that contributes significantly to denying the dignity of so many human beings is extreme poverty, linked as it is to the unequal distribution of wealth. 

Christ of course said that we would always have the poor with us.  That does not allow for indifference to the plight of the poor, as Christ also called for charity to help the poor, but it does recognize that poverty is subjective, and that some people will always have less possessions and resources than other.  The rapid abandonment of a pooling of resources by the Church, the epistles of Saint Paul already showing the breaking down of this experiment, demonstrates the limits of solving the problem of poverty by pretending that humans do not have differences in regard to their ability to work, drive to succeed, shrewdness in managing money, etc.  Our clerics these days wish to “solve” poverty by screaming for Caesar to dispense ever more government largesse, something that Christ did not utter a syllable in support of.

37.  The claim that the modern world has reduced poverty is made by measuring poverty with criteria from the past that do not correspond to present-day realities.”

Can’t give capitalism any credit for radically improving the living conditions of the vast majority of the people on the planet.

38.  Another tragedy that denies human dignity, both in the past and today, is war: “War, terrorist attacks, racial or religious persecution, and many other affronts to human dignity ^[…] ‘have become so common as to constitute a real ‘third world war’ fought piecemeal.’”^[64] With its trail of destruction and suffering, war attacks human dignity in both the short and long term: “While reaffirming the inalienable right to self-defense and the responsibility to protect those whose lives are threatened, we must acknowledge that war is always a ‘defeat of humanity.’ No war is worth the tears of a mother who has seen her child mutilated or killed; no war is worth the loss of the life of even one human being, a sacred being created in the image and likeness of the Creator; no war is worth the poisoning of our common home; and no war is worth the despair of those who are forced to leave their homeland and are deprived, from one moment to the next, of their home and all the family, friendship, social and cultural ties that have been built up, sometimes over generations.”^[65] 

War is rarely a cause but rather a symptom.  In the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939, for example, the evil was not the War, but the Nazi intent to conquer Poland, murder most of the Poles, and enslave the rest.  The pacifism that Cardinal Fernandez and the Pope embrace, would leave humanity ruled by the worst among us.

39.  Therefore, even today, the Church cannot but make her own the words of the Pontiffs, repeating with Pope St. Paul VI: “jamais plus la guerre, jamais plus la guerre!” [“never again war, never again war!”].^[67]

John Paul II of course doubtless would have ended up in a Nazi extermination camp, but for the Allies winning the War.

40.  Migrants are among the first victims of multiple forms of poverty.

And the hobby horse of this Pope trots in.  The Pope’s unyielding support of mass illegal Islamic immigration into Europe might well be the most pernicious legacy of this kidney stone of a pontificate.

More on Monday, April 15, 2024.  Go here to read the passages summarized.