PopeWatch: A Summary of “Dignitas Infinita”-Part Six

51.  There is a special case of human dignity violation that is quieter but is swiftly gaining ground. It is unique in how it utilizes a mistaken understanding of human dignity to turn the concept of dignity against life itself. This confusion is particularly evident today in discussions surrounding euthanasia.

Good.

52.  Certainly, the dignity of those who are critically or terminally ill calls for all suitable and necessary efforts to alleviate their suffering through appropriate palliative care and by avoiding aggressive treatments or disproportionate medical procedures. This approach corresponds with the “enduring responsibility to appreciate the needs of the sick person: care needs, pain relief, and affective and spiritual needs.”^[94] However, an effort of this nature is entirely different from—and is indeed contrary to—a decision to end one’s own life or that of another person who is burdened by suffering.

Correct.

53.  One criterion for verifying whether real attention is given to the dignity of every individual in society is the help given to the most disadvantaged. Regrettably, our time is not known for such care; rather, a “throwaway culture” is increasingly imposing itself.^[97]

Nations like Canada using assisted suicide to “solve” problems of poverty, depression, mental illness, etc.  The search and destroy missions that are completely eradicating Down children in some nations, Denmark and Iceland for example.

54.  In a broader perspective, it must be remembered that “this charity, which is the spiritual heart of politics, is always a preferential love shown to those in greatest need; it undergirds everything we do on their behalf. […]

Those who depend upon Caesar for charity will ultimately go away empty at best, dead at worst.

55.  The Church wishes, first of all, “to reaffirm that every person, regardless of sexual orientation, ought to be respected in his or her dignity and treated with consideration, while ‘every sign of unjust discrimination’ is to be carefully avoided, particularly any form of aggression and violence.”^[101] For this reason, it should be denounced as contrary to human dignity the fact that, in some places, not a few people are imprisoned, tortured, and even deprived of the good of life solely because of their sexual orientation.

The buzz word used to be “sexual preference” until the advantages of claiming “gay from birth” was recognized.  Such sexual perversion was called, “the crime that dare not speak its name”, under Common Law.  Until the last century, such perversion was a criminal offense around the globe.  In World War II, in the US military, homosexual acts were often punished by life imprisonment, with the sentences commuted and the offenders released and dishonorably discharged by the end of the War if not before.   The attitude of the Church, traditionally, was to condemn sodomy root and branch.

56.  At the same time, the Church highlights the definite critical issues present in gender theory.

The Pope condemns gender theory and transgenderism.  (One can rarely be wrong all the time.)

57.  Regarding gender theory, whose scientific coherence is the subject of considerable debate among experts, the Church recalls that human life in all its dimensions, both physical and spiritual, is a gift from God. This gift is to be accepted with gratitude and placed at the service of the good. Desiring a personal self-determination, as gender theory prescribes, apart from this fundamental truth that human life is a gift, amounts to a concession to the age-old temptation to make oneself God, entering into competition with the true God of love revealed to us in the Gospel.

In an age of junk science, it would be best to avoid citing science, especially in regard to morality, where even accurate science is of very limited utility.

58.  Another prominent aspect of gender theory is that it intends to deny the greatest possible difference that exists between living beings: sexual difference. This foundational difference is not only the greatest imaginable difference but is also the most beautiful and most powerful of them. In the male-female couple, this difference achieves the most marvelous of reciprocities. It thus becomes the source of that miracle that never ceases to surprise us: the arrival of new human beings in the world.

Male and Female He made them.  Of course homosexuality inverts the sexual attraction between the sexes and transforms a necessary and natural attraction and imperative into a fetish.

59.  It needs to be emphasized that ‘biological sex and the socio-cultural role of sex (gender) can be distinguished but not separated.’”^[104] Therefore, all attempts to obscure reference to the ineliminable sexual difference between man and woman are to be rejected: “We cannot separate the masculine and the feminine from God’s work of creation, which is prior to all our decisions and experiences, and where biological elements exist which are impossible to ignore.”^[105] Only by acknowledging and accepting this difference in reciprocity can each person fully discover themselves, their dignity, and their identity.

We have the misfortune to live in time where the most basic concepts of the human condition are constantly under siege by the forces of the Left.

60.  It follows that any sex-change intervention, as a rule, risks threatening the unique dignity the person has received from the moment of conception. This is not to exclude the possibility that a person with genital abnormalities that are already evident at birth or that develop later may choose to receive the assistance of healthcare professionals to resolve these abnormalities. However, in this case, such a medical procedure would not constitute a sex change in the sense intended here.

The exception can swallow up the rule in this area.

61.  Although the advancement of digital technologies may offer many possibilities for promoting human dignity, it also increasingly tends toward the creation of a world in which exploitation, exclusion, and violence grow, extending even to the point of harming the dignity of the human person. 

I used to think that alien historians might catalogue civilizations with the frequent observation:  This civilization discovered nuclear weapons and went extinct ____ years after that discovery.

Now I wonder if that formulation might mention the internet rather than nuclear weapons.

62.  In this perspective, if technology is to serve human dignity and not harm it, and if it is to promote peace rather than violence, then the human community must be proactive in addressing these trends with respect to human dignity and the promotion of the good:

Like we did the printing press?

63.  On the 75th anniversary of the promulgation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), Pope Francis reaffirmed that this document “is like a master plan, from which many steps have been taken, but many still need to be made, and unfortunately, at times, steps backward have been taken.

Fruit of the rotten tree.  Christ never quoted Caesar.

64.  In this spirit, the Church, with the present Declaration, ardently urges that respect for the dignity of the human person beyond all circumstances be placed at the center of the commitment to the common good and at the center of every legal system. 

Like the Chinese government does which the Vatican has bent over backwards.  I am not interested in what you say but what you do.

65.  Each individual and also every human community is responsible for the concrete and actual realization of human dignity. Meanwhile, it is incumbent on States not only to protect human dignity but also to guarantee the conditions necessary for it to flourish in the integral promotion of the human person: “In political activity, we should remember that ‘appearances notwithstanding, every person is immensely holy and deserves our love and dedication.’”^[115]

Expecting much from Caesar other than trouble is usually a fool’s wager.

66.  Even today, in the face of so many violations of human dignity that seriously threaten the future of the human family, the Church encourages the promotion of the dignity of every human person, regardless of their physical, mental, cultural, social, and religious characteristics.

The end.

Go here to read the passages summarized.