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1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. A Meeting Point
1. We, a group of experts and other persons committed to the
cause of the family and life,1 have met at the invitation of
the Pontifical Council for the Family, to reflect for three days (December
14-16, 1998) on the theme: "Human Rights and the Rights of the
Family". We join with great hope in the celebration of the fiftieth
anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, promulgated by
the United Nations on December 10, 1948. 2
2. With the present document (that is limited to some
considerations of particular importance and which we are pleased to offer as
the basis for further, deeper considerations), we wish to recognize the Declaration's
significance and force, and go forth in the perspective both of its true
universality and its complete application. We recognize the Declaration's
value and on-going capacity to inspire because we share elements of the one
same truth. Sharing the truth is a necessary condition for human coexistence.
We certainly do not ignore the reservations to which the Declaration may
have given rise: it could favor individualism and subjectivism. In this sense,
various critiques have been made of it. However, it is good to stress the great
convergence between this Declaration and Christian anthropology
and ethics, 3 despite the fact that the document makes no
reference to God. There is also a conceptual proximity regarding the points
admitted as being natural in that they are based on the common conscience of
humanity. For this reason, it is certainly not a question of rights created by
the Declaration but rather of rights which it recognizes and codifies.
"The Universal Declaration is very clear: it recognizes the rights it
proclaims, it does not grant them".4 Moreover, the Declaration
recognizes "the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights
of all the members of the human family",5 and this
constitutes a "meeting point" for joint reflection and action.
3. Out of the sufferings of war, with the deep wounds and
lacerations it inflicted, and the grave attacks on the dignity of persons and
peoples, humanity united to affirm "the value of the human
person",6 together with the due respect and protection.
From all places and cultures, the nations of the world proclaimed universal
truths, universal rights and universal values. Although the nations of the
world are different, their delegates listened to the prompting of the spirit,
the call of reason, the lessons of history, and the inclinations of the heart.
Representing the peoples of the world, 7 the nations agreed
to forego ideologies and go beyond utilitarianism in order to recognize the
ends grounded in the nature of each and every person. This brings in universal
dynamics so that around the truth about man, many more nations than the
original signers could adhere to the Declaration and, hopefully in the
near future, all the nations of the world will do so.
4. We are aware that the "cold war" impeded
application of the Declaration, but we are also aware of the great
possibilities that the present era can derive from the so-called
"globalization". This means a globalization that is not limited to
purely economic aspects but involves other realities and dimensions that have
to converge in recognition of the dignity of the human person and pass through
a whole body of ethical values that have a binding force. This will all become
a reality if we discover the way to encourage the recognition and application
of human rights.
5. In his message of November 30, 1998, John Paul II paid
explicit homage to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights when he
described it as "one of the most valuable and significant documents in the
history of law".8 The rights articulated in the Declaration
constitute an integrated whole with the affirmation of the dignity
of every person as its common basis. The curtailment of any right violates a
person's humanity. John Paul II has also stated—and this is a warning of great
importance—that the selective use of the principles of the Declaration threatens
"the organic structure of the Declaration which associates each
right with other rights, duties and limits necessary for a just social order".9
6. For this reason, the present document is not just an
"anniversary celebration" of the document published in 1948, but a call
to all those who recognize the centrality of the human person and the
family as the fundamental and irreplaceable nucleus capable of generating the
society which will respond to the world we are hoping for. The building up of
that society is a noble and difficult task of humanity.
7. We focused on two inseparable areas: the family and life
in relation to the historic Declaration. In these areas, the document
maintains all its importance and force and all the more at this time when
attacks on the family's identity, which does not allow for any alternatives or
substitutes, are spreading in an alarming way, and when threats against life
are multiplying, brandishing a vocabulary of apparent justice that presumes to
cover over a distortion of the reality and meaning of this sacred gift.
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