Human Rights Require Natural Law, Pope Tells UN

In a morning address to the United Nations General Assembly, Pope Benedict XVI stressed the importance of human rights based on natural law and the God-given dignity of the human person. He alluded to pervasive secular threats to the foundational principles of the UN’s 1948 Universal Declaration on Human Rights, which bases relations among the world’s nations and cultures on transcendent values and universal moral truths.

The pope defended strongly the role of religion in forming and informing civic life, and the right of peoples to religious freedom, while at the same time warning against a relationship between a government and a single religion that would allow only one religion to operate freely.

He also underlined the unbreakable connection between rights and responsibilities, freedom and truth, religion and reason and science and ethics.

Referring indirectly to such practices as abortion, destructive embryonic research, cloning and same-sex marriage, the pope said that progress in all fields must be in keeping with ethical reason. Apparent progress in some instances “represents a clear violation of the order of creation, to the point where not only is the sacred character of human life contradicted, but the human person and the family are robbed of their natural identity.”

Technology “never requires a choice to be made between science and ethics: rather it is a question of a scientific method that is truly respectful of ethical imperatives,” Benedict stated.

Universal Declaration at 60

Pope Benedict noted that the promotion of universal human principles is especially vital as the UN celebrates the 60th anniversary of Universal Declaration on Human Rights. Secular trends today tend to undermine the Declaration’s support for “the natural law inscribed on human hearts and present in different cultures and civilizations.”

Repeating a constant theme of his papacy regarding the “dictatorship of relativism,” the Holy Father continued, “Removing human rights in this context would mean restricting their range and yielding to a relativistic conception, according to which the meaning and interpretation of rights could vary, and their universality would be denied in the name of different cultural, political, social and even religious outlooks. This great variety of viewpoints must not be allowed to obscure the fact that not only rights are universal, but so too is the human person, the subject of those rights.”

Citing Dominican Friar Francisco de Vitoria, considered the father of modern natural law theory as it pertains to nation-states, the pope said that the government’s obligation to protect and serve its population is “an aspect of natural reason shared by all nations, and the result of an international order whose task it was to regulate relations between peoples.”

He also quoted from his preferred theologian, St. Augustine, stating, “Do not do to others what you would not want done to you cannot in any way vary according to the different understandings that have arisen in the world. Human rights, then, must be respected as an expression of justice, and not merely because they are enforceable through the will of legislators.”

It was the fourth time that a pope has addressed the United Nations. In 1965 Pope Paul VI spoke at the UN when he became the first pontiff to visit the United States, and Pope John Paul II addressed the international body twice, in 1979 and 1995. The Holy See has been a member of the United Nations since its founding and enjoys the status of Permanent Observer, by which it may participate in all debates and propose content and amendments for UN documents and agreements.

Religious Freedom

Religious freedom is an indispensible aspect of human rights, the pontiff declared. “It is inconceivable that believers should have to suppress a part of themselves – their faith – in order to be active citizens, it should never be necessary to deny God to enjoy one’s rights.”

In conclusion, the pope quoted from his encyclical Spe Salvi (On Christian Hope) that “’every generation has the task of engaging anew in the arduous search for the right way to order human affairs.’ For Christians, this task is motivated by the hope drawn from the saving work of Jesus Christ.”

After he offered greeting in six languages – English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese and Russian – the members of the General Assembly gave the Holy Father a standing ovation.

Knights of Columbus Relevance

Responding to the pope’s address, Patrick Kelly, vice president for public policy for the Knights of Columbus Supreme Council, said that the Holy Father is referring the United Nations back to its foundational principles.

“The UN is a place of a cacophony of voices and different special interests,” he said. “What the Holy Father is trying to do is to call the UN back to its original objectives expressed in the Universal Declaration. That is, the dignity of the human person must be at the center of any discussion of human rights. We must always have rights related to responsibilities for a free and just society.”

Kelly added, “The pope said that the UN should see the Holy See, the Catholic Church, as an expert in humanity based on her experience over 2,000 years. The Church is willing to serve the UN, and all of humanity, by fostering healthy international relations and to make a difference.

“For Knights of Columbus this means that everyone can help build a better society – what the Church has called a civilization of love – because it begins at the local level with our charitable efforts and active faith.”