Respect for Life and Human Dignity

What are the Catholic social principles that are to be accepted as an essential part of our faith? Respect for human life and respect for human dignity are two principles woven deeply into the fabric of Catholic social teaching.

According to the USCCB in its report, Sharing Catholic Social Teaching: Challenges and Directions—Reflections of the U.S. Catholic Bishops, “Every human being is created in the image of God and redeemed by Jesus Christ, and therefore is invaluable and worthy of respect as a member of the human family.” That respect is due to the hungry, the homeless, the unemployed, the illiterate, the unborn, and those who are mentally or physically ill.

Fr. William J. Byron, SJ, writes that as Catholics, “we have to access to what extent we are—by our direct actions or inaction, our indirect participation, or our complacency with the actions of others—part of the problem.”