Moralny walor Powszechnej Deklaracji Praw Człowieka a encyklika Pacem in terris

Abstract

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights has been grafted into ecclesiastical soil thanks to the Encyclical Pacem in terris of Pope John XXIII. This Encyclical affirms the inherent dignity on which the Declaration bases its conception of the basic rights of the individual. More clearly than the Declaration when speaking of inherent dignity, the Encyclical emphasizes its character in natural law. Thus the human rights contained in the Declaration and codified in Encyclical are based on natural law and thence their binding force derives. Therefore the Declaration, although it is only a recommendation, has a greater force than other recommendations adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations. Its moral value and the great authority which it has achieved in laws in force, both national and international, is fully approved in the Encyclical Pacem in terris, which is the first Catholic Declaration of Human Rights on such a scale in the history of the Church. The following conclusions suggest themselves: The Church as a whole and its various organizations and institutions of canon law, are by natural law, bound strictly and fully to observe fundamental human rights without differentiation and discrimination. Natural law and the fundamental human rights and freedoms based upon it are supported by Divine authority, since God is the Creator of human nature and the laws resulting from it. Therefore human rights are sacred and inalienable in every society, including the community of the Church. By the affirmation of the dignity and rights of man, the Church has been brought nearer to the Organization of the United Nations in common concern for the good of the whole human family and its various members. This means that the two universalistic organizations of the present day, the Church and the United Nations are uniting their efforts and engaging their authority in the name of humanitarian and universal human values, affirmed in agreement in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Encyclical Pacem in terris.