Scanning recent Church history, one comes across notable exaggerations and corruptions of this theory which have caused no end of problems. The clearest description of human dignity is contained in paragraph 1700 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: ‘The dignity of the human person is rooted in his creation in the image and likeness of God’. This is the traditional view which the Church has always taught and, in any case, it’s common sense as it forms the basis of most of its moral teaching. In other places we have been taught that the human body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which amounts to the same thing.
This concept had already been enlarged in Vatican II (Dignitatis Humanae 1965) which stated that, although Man was created by God to love and serve him, he was under no compulsion to do so, and our human dignity allows us the freedom to obey or to disobey. This appears to side-step our duty towards God, and so is regarded as controversial. Long before Vatican II was even thought of, Pope Pius X in Our Apostolic Mandate (1910) wrote to the French bishops about the dangers of human dignity and condemned the concept as a novelty.
If our Church leaders do not step up to the plate, then when, and over what issue, will they eventually make a stand on purely theological grounds?
The modern notion of human dignity was amplified and widened by Pope Francis in his letter: Dignitas Infinita, published in April 2024. In it, the Holy Father enlarges the concept of human dignity to the level of ‘infinite’ and by doing so, extends the principle to almost every single area of human activity. He says in the introduction: ‘Every human person possesses an infinite dignity, inalienably grounded in his or her very being, which prevails in and beyond every circumstance, state, or situation the person may ever encounter.’ The danger here is that people may be sidetracked into putting human considerations before divine laws, such as ‘Thou shalt not kill.’
There is no doubt that ideas have consequences and that in the case of human dignity, it is literally a matter of life and death here, in the United Kingdom. There is currently a bill going through parliament which, if passed, will permit doctors to prescribe suicide drugs to a patient who is terminally ill and has less than 6 months to live. There must be a green light from two doctors and, finally, the consent of a senior judge.
We have now arrived at the point where most Catholics, even senior clergy, probably know that assisted suicide is wrong, yet they have forgotten why. I refer particularly to the short statement put out by the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, in which he encouraged Catholics to write to their Members of Parliament in order to persuade them to oppose the bill. He mentions God once but commits a logistical error by introducing the 'thin edge of the wedge' argument. This could imply that, so long as adequate safeguards are in place, then we can have no objection. As Catholics we have this unique and infallible belief that the taking of a life is murder and is a sin crying out to Heaven for vengeance. But for the justice and mercy of God, which we cannot speculate on, this could result in the damnation of not only the patient, but also anyone assisting him or her in the suicide process. The Cardinal fails to even hint at this and is keener on this idea of human dignity, an ill-defined and subjective notion which is a novelty in Catholic teaching. He informs us that human life is a gift from God and the right to life is a human right based on the dignity of every human person. According to human dignity, people are free to disagree with him, and this is probably what is going to happen. Many people, including Catholics, will speed read the Cardinal’s statement and ignore it. He is, after all, only stating his opinions which one can ignore if one wishes to. In no sense is the Cardinal engaging his authority as a prince of the Church, a transmitter of the authority of Christ.
The human mind needs truth in the same way as the human body needs oxygen. Assisted suicide is murder – that’s the truth which has been sacrificed on the altar of Human Dignity.
Devoid of authoritative Catholic doctrinal teaching, this issue will turn on whether it can command enough support in the House of Commons. We have reached a pitiful stage in our history where serious moral issues are resolved by mob rule, rather than the binding authority of Our Lord. As our religious leaders fail to pass on Catholic doctrine which binds everyone, even non-Catholics, then it is inevitable that Assisted Dying will become commonplace.
If our members of parliament are either atheists or agnostics, then the debate about assisted dying is going to be one-sided. That is because the arguments in favour of the change in the law are overwhelming. The only arguments against the proposition are not really arguments at all but more concerns. For example, the ‘thin edge of the wedge’ argument, mentioned by the Cardinal, is in danger of being interpreted as: ‘if there were safeguards, I would be in favour of assisted dying.’ Very few people are against suicide in principle whether assisted or otherwise, and those who are against it have kept a dignified silence in order, presumably, to escape public humiliation.
Thus, the issue of human dignity, so beloved of the modern Churchmen, raises its ugly head in the following way: every human being has the inalienable right to express opinions which may even be against the teachings of Christ. Many argue that assisted suicide avoids undignified suffering, so doesn’t that protect the dignity of the human being? Everything now turns on human reason and majority rule to the exclusion of revealed truth. So, who, out of our 635 members of parliament, is going to publicly make a heroic stand against suicide in principle and declare himself as an enemy of progress? There are over 300 brand new MPs, and it is unlikely that many of them would risk their political careers over such an issue.
If our Church leaders do not step up to the plate, then when, and over what issue, will they eventually make a stand on purely theological grounds? The human mind needs truth in the same way as the human body needs oxygen. Assisted suicide is murder – that’s the truth which has been sacrificed on the altar of Human Dignity.
Joseph Bevan has just published his memoirs, Two Families: A Memoir of English Life During and After the Council (Os Justi Press, 2024), available from the publisher or from Amazon.
Latest from RTV — CHRISTIANS in the CROSSHAIRS: Bombs over Bethlehem, Assad flees Syria
