On December 8th I was invited to the fifth aniversary of the Foundation of the Dignitatis Humanae Institute (DHI). The DHI has as main aim to promote the Universal Declaration of Human Dignity. In this declaration the fact that we are created in the image and likeness of God, therefore life is sacred and should be protected from conception to natural death. The fifth anniversary was marked by a private audience with His Holiness Pope Francisc. Please find here the press release of the DHI
On the eve of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, marking the
fifth anniversary of the foundation of the Dignitatis Humanae Institute,
members and supporters from across the world’s legislatures were
honoured by a private audience with His Holiness Pope Francis, to renew
their commitment to defending the most vulnerable in society, to
promoting human dignity, and to preserving Christian principles in the
public square.
Calling on the politicians assembled, Pope Francis warned of a modern-day “throwaway culture“ that threatens “to
become the dominant mentality. The victims of such a culture are
precisely the weakest and most fragile human beings – the unborn, the
poorest people, sick elderly people, gravely disabled people… who are in
danger of being “thrown out,” expelled from a machine that must be
efficient at all costs. This false model of man and society embodies a
practical atheism, de facto negating the Word of God that says: ‘Let us
make man in our image, according to our likeness.’ “
Since its creation five years ago, the Dignitatis Humanae Institute
has forged a network of parliamentary working groups towards this
purpose, promoting human dignity based on the recognition that man is
made in the image and likeness of God, as codified in the Universal Declaration of Human Dignity. Addressing all those present, Honorary President Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino opened the Audience attesting to
this steadfast commitment “to return our society to the belief that man
is made in the image and likeness of God, and that because of this, he
has an infinite human dignity which demands to be respected.”
The consequences of failure in this duty were envisioned by Luca Volontè, Chairman of the Dignitatis Humanae Institute, when he addressed the Holy Father on behalf of the Institute: “The
false idols of gender ideology that want to eliminate man and the
family. Consumerism and individualism that seduces humanity to cling to
the ephemeral. The new statism and the temptation of a new irresponsible
collectivism. A culture of heathcare that transforms itself into
external perfection or into eugenics. The rebirth of an economic and
speculative elite. The new Malthusianism and euthanasia that imposes
abortion and the sacrifice of millions of children, the elderly and the
poor. Our days are characterised by the desire to ignore and eliminate
God from the hearts of men and the life of the people.”
“The Dignitatis Humanae Institute proposes with joy, courage and a
generous heart, the truth of the dignity of the human person, and
decisively rejects these teachings and furious ideologies. They are
borne of moral relativism, imposing a true and real tyranny based on the
supremacy of the strong against the weak, where forms of slavery are
taking hold in the context of a resigned silence. We cannot resign
ourselves, because we are Christians.”
Following the Papal Audience, the Dignitatis Humanae Institute
announced the impending creation of the latest Parliamentary Working
Group, in Hungary. President of the International Committee on Human
Dignity, Nirj Deva MEP, cited a further need to focus on Scandinavian
nations, where a culture of death risks pervading national legislation
in the form of ever liberal abortion and euthanasia measures.
Pope Francis concluded the Audience by congratulating the Institute on its work“to assist
the lay faithful of every walk of life, and especially those who work
in politics, to think according to the Gospel and the Church’s social
doctrine and to act consistently, dialoguing and collaborating with
those who, with sincerity and intellectual honesty, at least share – if
not the faith – a similar vision of man and society and its ethical
consequences. There are not a few Christians and non-believers, who are
convinced that the human person must always be an end and never a means.
In wishing you every good in your work, I invoke the Lord’s blessing
for you and your loved ones.”
[Translation into English of the Holy Father’s remarks courtesy of Innovative Media Inc.]
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