Excerpt below, for the full transcript click on the picture link above

Brothers and sisters, good morning and welcome!

The Conciliar Constitution Gaudium et Spes (GS), by dedicating the first chapter to the dignity of the human person, emphasizes that it is the foundation and condition for “those values which are most highly prized today”, but these must not lose sight of their “divine source”, in order to avoid possible distortions arising from the “taint in man’s human heart” (GS, 11).

The journey that made it possible to highlight the fundamental characteristics and rights of human dignity certainly represents one of the most significant chapters in human history. However, the path ahead is not yet complete and must address the contradictions, both old and new, which prevent its full realization.

The Church clearly offers her contribution, reminding us that human dignity arises from the very being of the person. I had the opportunity to reiterate this also in my recent Encyclical Magnifica Humanitas: “Every human person is planned and willed by God to enter into communion with Him, with others and with creation. Human dignity does not depend on a person’s abilities, wealth or position in life, nor on the right or wrong choices made; instead, it is a gift that precedes and transcends each person, endowed by God as an expression of His unfailing love” (no. 50). The infinite dignity of the human being, then, is rooted in his identity as a creature made “‘to God’s image’ … capable of knowing and loving his Creator”, a plan and gift of love that transcends other created realities, which are entrusted to his care to “subdue them and use them to God’s glory” (GS, 12).

In faith we can understand the ultimate foundation for the dignity of the person, inasmuch as the Son, “by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear” (no. 22).

The person always implies relationship, communion and participation in relation to God and to others; hence, a filial relationship with God the Father and a fraternal relationship with Christ and with all humankind. It excludes self-centred isolation. To be a person means to perceive oneself as a gift to be shared, growing and maturing through acceptance, reciprocity and service.

This dignity is entrusted to the responsibility of each person: at the same time, it also demands solidarity and mutual care, overcoming the many falsifications and manipulations that still disfigure our perception of it and hinder its realization. Indeed, as a result of the choices made throughout history that have run counter to this dignity, even today “man is split within himself”, and “all of human life, whether individual or collective, shows itself to be a dramatic struggle between good and evil between light and darkness”. This fragile and limited condition, however, can be regarded with hope, because “the Lord Himself came to free and strengthen man, renewing him inwardly and casting out that ‘prince of this world’ (John 12:31) who held him in the bondage of sin” (GS, 13).

Furthermore, the Constitution Gaudium et Spes affirms that human dignity concerns the whole person and, therefore, dualistic views must be overcome: the human being “though made of body and soul, is one”. Reducing the body to an “object” to be disposed of arbitrarily is always a denial of the dignity of the person: “man is not allowed to despise his bodily life” and “is obliged to regard his body as good and honourable since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day”, while ensuring that it does not become enslaved by “the evil inclinations of his heart” (GS, 14), since we are all wounded by sin.

Finally, there Gaudium et Spes recalls the three most significant expressions of the dignity of the person: intelligence, which makes the human being an insatiable seeker of the truth (no. 15); conscience, through which he gives unity and meaning to his life (no. 16), and freedom, which makes him the responsible agent of his own decisions (no. 17). These dimensions are closely connected to one another: it is in conscience that truth is recognized as such, and freedom can experience it as its foundation and possibility. The Holy Spirit, who gives life in Christ, makes us free and constantly assures us of our dignity as children of God, delivering us from fear and guiding us towards the ultimate goal, that life in its fullness beyond death which Christ has promised us. It is only in Him that the mystery of the human person finds true light; from Him we receive light on the enigma of suffering and death; and with Him we journey towards the Resurrection.

Dear brothers and sisters, created in God’s image, through Christ and for His sake, we have received a unique and indelible dignity. Let us commit ourselves to promoting and defending it always, with the light and strength of the Gospel.

I extend a warm welcome to all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, especially those from Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, South Africa, Australia, China, Japan, Lebanon, the Philippines, and the United States of America.  In a particular way, I gladly renew my welcome to the members of the Steering Committee of the Interreligious Platform for Dialogue and Cooperation in the Arab World, who are present today.  

09.09.26

Excerpt below, for the full transcript click on the picture link above

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning and welcome!

With today’s meeting, we will begin to reflect on the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, with which the Second Vatican Council intended to focus on a fundamental theme, namely the relationship between the Church and the contemporary world. Saint John XXIII, as early as his inaugural address of 11 October 1962, had sought to take issue with the “prophets of doom” who, “though burning with zeal for religion […] go about saying that our times, when compared with past centuries, are entirely worse; and go so far as to behave as if they had nothing to learn from history” (Address Gaudet Mater Ecclesia, 11 October 1962, 4.2). Hence the task entrusted to the Council Fathers: “In the present state of human events, in which humanity appears to be entering a new order of things, one must rather see the mysterious plans of Divine Providence, which are brought to fulfilment in due course through the work of men, and often beyond their expectations, and which, with wisdom, arrange everything, even adverse human affairs, for the good of the Church” (Gaudet Mater Ecclesia, 4.4).

Three years later, the promulgation of Gaudium et Spes recognized in this discernment an essential element of the nature of the Church, describing her pastoral character as constitutive; hence the definition of “pastoral Constitution”. It is not a question of naïve optimism, but rather a renewed fidelity to the Mystery of Christ who, by becoming incarnate, chooses to share our life: He made Himself “like His brethren in every respect” (Heb 2:17; cf. 4:15) and took upon Himself the consequences of sin, dying “as a ransom for all” (1 Tim 2:6). This sharing in our humanity is the path that Christ calls the Church to follow; hence, the Conciliar Constitution Gaudium et Spes begins by declaring that the Church makes her own “the joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted” (GS 1).

It is a sharing that calls on us to leave behind all passivity and indifference in the face of current events, history and people’s lives, especially in the face of the rapid and profound changes we are experiencing today. We cannot remain as unengaged spectators; rather, we must listen with our hearts, allow ourselves to be challenged, and become involved. With Christ and sustained by the power of His Spirit, believers are called to take on the burdens of their brothers and sisters, especially those who are crushed by injustice, discrimination, and violence. Indeed, only in sharing and commitment is it possible to arrive at adequate responses, always supported by the certainty that “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rm 8:18).

In this regard, proximity towards humanity opens the way to a deeper understanding of events and of Revelation itself; and, in the same vein, Gaudium et Spes recalls that “the Church has always had the duty of scrutinizing the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel” (GS 4). This Conciliar Constitution therefore recalled the Church to an ongoing commitment to conversion, to bear witness that she is not motivated by “earthly ambition”, but seeks “a solitary goal: to carry forward the work of Christ under the lead of the befriending Spirit. And Christ entered this world to give witness to the truth, to rescue and not to sit in judgment, to serve and not be served” (GS, 3).

This is not, in fact, merely a moral imperative. Pope Francis reminded us that for the Church, “the option for the poor is primarily a theological category rather than a cultural, sociological, political or philosophical one… We are called to find Christ in them, to lend our voice to their causes, but also to be their friends, to listen to them, to speak for them and to embrace the mysterious wisdom which God wishes to share with us through them” (Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 198).

Christian solidarity commits us to engaging with reality and also to unmasking the contradictions that characterize personal and social life in the contemporary world: for example, scientific and technological progress, which constantly offers new possibilities, but only to some, and which human beings do not always succeed in “subjecting .. to [their] own welfare”; or a clearer understanding of the “laws of society”, accompanied, however, by uncertainties “about the direction to give” them; or, again, a greater abundance of “wealth, resources and economic power”, which, unfortunately, today as in the days of the Council, leaves “a huge proportion of the world’s citizens … still tormented by hunger and poverty” (GS 4); or a shared awareness that the future of the planet is at stake, coupled with an inability to renounce selfish consumption and the illusion that war is an effective means of building peace.

02.09.26