John Paul II’s charter of the rights of the family : the social dimension of human rights in light of natural law

Abstract

Abstract: John Paul II’s charter of the rights of the family : the social dimension of human rights in light of natural law On October 23, 1978, when becoming the Bishop of Rome, Saint John Paul II addressed a letter to the Polish people. This letter is not a diplomatic letter; instead, it reveals the joy of a man touched by the mission awaiting him and by having to leave his homeland. In the letter he wrote: “Love of our country unites us and must unite us above all divergences. . . . [It] springs from the law of the human heart. It is a measure of man’s nobility: a measure that has been put to the test

many times during our difficult history.” And he urged his fellow countrymen to “oppose everything that conflicts with human dignity and degrades the morals of a healthy society, that may sometimes threaten its very existence and the common good, that may diminish our contribution to the common heritage of humanity, of Christian nations, of the Church of Christ” (John Paul II, 1978). I would like to focus on two issues resulting from this fragment. The first is that the love for the homeland results from the “law of the human heart,” which is another way of saying “natural law.” The second is that respect for the human person is aimed at the common good and the health of society. The teachings of Saint John Paul II in connection with the family in general and the Charter of the Rights of the Family in particular focus on the social dimension of human rights in the hermeneutic key of natural law and the common good. The Charter starts with a preamble containing this assertion: “The rights of the person, even though they are expressed as rights of the individual, have a fundamental social dimension which finds an innate and vital expression in the family” (Pontifical Council for the Family, 1983). I will now elaborate on why this approach is necessary and what its importance is for an appropriate philosophy of human rights.