Prawa człowieka w świetle nauczania Jana Pawła II

Abstract

The process of strengthening human rights has gathered momentum. Today it can be said that the process aims at encompassing all nations of the world. A consensus on a few rules that define social, national and international operation is within reach and can already be seen on the horizon. A belief, or maybe just an intuition, that every person as such has innate dignity which endows him with rights and duties in relations with others lies at its basis. It may be said that today human rights bridge the gap between a concept, well-known in Christianity, of the natural law and the development of democracy in modern times. Human rights constitute a common value of the entire mankind since every person, regardless of his/her personal beliefs, has within him/her the image of God, and thus deserves respect. Pope John Paul II, for whom dignity of a human being was an indication of a conception of absolute and integral human rights and, as a result, their normative basis, often expressed this conviction. As dignity of a person is not a result of a social contract, development of social relations throughout the history or a dictate of any authorities, human rights, which are every person's due, are the rights whose existence does not depend on any legislature or social ruling, either. They are primary to society and state and prior to them at the same time.