But the Church insists that there’s no such thing as a “them.” There are no classes of people; every person is born with the same dignity and is deserving of respect and equal treatment. The dignity of the human person is often cited in reference to so-called “right-to-life issues,” such as abortion, euthanasia, and the death penalty, but this principle of Catholic social teaching is foundational to all moral decision-making.
The God-given sacredness of every human life goes back to the teachings of Jesus and has been affirmed by modern popes from John Paul II to Francis. “Differences of color, religion, talent, place of birth or residence, and so many others, cannot be used to justify the privileges of some over the rights of others,” the late Pope Francis explained in his 2020 encyclical Fratelli tutti.
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