{"id":7922,"date":"2024-04-13T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-13T00:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/?p=7922"},"modified":"2024-04-12T19:48:27","modified_gmt":"2024-04-12T19:48:27","slug":"dignitas-infinita-infinite-dignity-a-very-quick-look","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/dignitas-infinita-infinite-dignity-a-very-quick-look\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Dignitas Infinita&#8221;, &#8220;Infinite Dignity&#8221;: a Very Quick Look"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20240129ff\/20240408-1160-MondayMorningHeadlines658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Selected Google News Feed Headlines, reacting to Declaration of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith 'Dignitas Infinita' on Human Dignity. Monday morning. (April 8, 2024)\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Monday morning headlines. (April 8, 2024)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>There&#8217;s more than sex change and gender theory in the Vatican&#8217;s new &#8220;ethics document&#8221;: assuming that what hit the fan this week is the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith&#8217;s &#8220;Dignitas Infinita&#8221;, on Human Dignity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Dignitas Infinita&#8221;, &#8220;Infinite Dignity&#8221;, runs to a little over 12,600 words in my language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20220117-Documents\/20240410-rc_ddf_doc_20240402_dignitas-infinita_en.html.pdf\">Dignitas Infinita<\/a>&#8221; on Human Dignity (&#8220;Infinite Dignity&#8221;)<br>Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (April 2, 2024)<br>(<span style=\"font-size: x-small;\">from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vatican.va\/roman_curia\/congregations\/cfaith\/documents\/rc_ddf_doc_20240402_dignitas-infinita_en.html\">https:\/\/www.vatican.va\/roman_curia\/&#8230;\/rc_ddf_doc_20240402_dignitas-infinita_en.html<\/a> (April 10, 2024)<\/span>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ll be taking a very, <strong>very<\/strong> quick look at it. But I&#8217;ll get started with something Pope Francis said a month ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/dignitas-infinita-infinite-dignity-a-very-quick-look\/#pope\"><strong>Pope Francis, Gender Ideology, and Being Human<\/strong><\/a>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/dignitas-infinita-infinite-dignity-a-very-quick-look\/#rules\">Rules I Live With, and an Explanation<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/dignitas-infinita-infinite-dignity-a-very-quick-look\/#new\"><strong>New &#8220;Ethics Document&#8221;, Old Ideas<\/strong><\/a>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/dignitas-infinita-infinite-dignity-a-very-quick-look\/#dignitas\">&#8220;Dignitas Infinita&#8221;: &#8220;Balanced, Challenging&#8221;<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-black-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-black-background-color has-background is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a name=\"pope\"><\/a>Pope Francis, Gender Ideology, and Being Human<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vaticannews.va\/en\/pope\/news\/2024-03\/pope-francis-gender-ideology-is-the-ugliest-danger-of-our-time.html\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20240129ff\/20240410-cq5dam-thumbnail-cropped-750-422-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"VATICAN MEDIA Divisione Foto's photograph: Pope Francis addressing international Symposium 'Man-Woman: Image of God. Towards an Anthropology of Vocations' in the Vatican. (March 1, 2024)\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Pope Francis at the &#8220;&#8230;Towards an Anthropology of Vocations&#8221; international Symposium. (March 1, 2024)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vaticannews.va\/en\/pope\/news\/2024-03\/pope-francis-gender-ideology-is-the-ugliest-danger-of-our-time.html\">Pope Francis: Gender ideology is the ugliest danger of our time<\/a>&#8220;<br>Lisa Zengarini, Vatican News (March 1, 2024)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Pope Francis on Friday again spoke out against gender theory describing it as an &#8216;ugly ideology of our time&#8217;, because it erases all distinctions between men and women. To ceancel [!] this difference &#8216;is to erase humanity. Man and woman, instead, exist in a fruitful &#8220;tension&#8221;&#8216;, he said&#8230;.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>The Vatican News piece didn&#8217;t link to the pope&#8217;s speech, but knowing when he made it made finding it easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vatican.va\/content\/francesco\/en\/speeches\/2024\/march\/documents\/20240301-convegno-uomo-donna.html\">Man-Woman: Image of God. Towards an Anthropology of Vocations<\/a>&#8220;<br>To participants in the International Conference [English translation]<br>Pope Francis (March 1, 2024)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Good morning! I will ask for my address to be read, so I don&#8217;t get too tired; I still have a cold and I get tired reading for a while. But I would like to highlight something: it is very important for there to be this encounter, this encounter between men and women, because today the worst danger is gender ideology, which cancels out differences. I asked for studies to be made on this ugly ideology of our time, which erases differences and makes everything the same; to erase difference is to erase humanity. Man and woman, on the other hand, stand in fruitful &#8216;tension&#8217;. I remember reading a novel from the early 1900s, written by the son of the Archbishop of Canterbury: &#8216;The Lord of the World&#8217;&#8230;.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>I wouldn&#8217;t have expressed myself the way Pope Francis did. But I don&#8217;t have a problem with what he said about vocations and being human.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a name=\"rules\"><\/a>Rules I Live With, and an Explanation<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/advent-remembering-being-vigilant-doing-my-job\/#sin\"><img decoding=\"async\" align=\"right\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20130220ff\/20150211-800px-Wydrome2000-trim329.jpg\" alt=\"Sporki~commonswiki's (?) photo taken during World Youth Day, Rome. (2000) via Wikimedia Commons, used w\/o permission\"><\/a>That&#8217;s partly because I think people matter: each of us, all of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;&#8230;The life of each one of us, no-one excluded, is not incidental; our being in the world is not merely the fruit of chance, but rather we are part of a plan of love and are invited to come out of ourselves and fulfill it, for ourselves and for others&#8230;.&#8221;<br>(&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vatican.va\/content\/francesco\/en\/speeches\/2024\/march\/documents\/20240301-convegno-uomo-donna.html\">Man-Woman: Image of God. Towards an Anthropology of Vocations<\/a>&#8220;, [English translation] Pope Francis (March 1, 2024))<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>And that in turn comes from &#8216;the greatest commandment&#8217;. I should love God, love my neighbor, and see everyone as my neighbor. (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/matthew\/5#48005043\">Matthew 5:43<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/matthew\/5#48005044\">44<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/matthew\/22#48022036\">22:36<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/matthew\/22#48022040\">40<\/a>; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/mark\/12#49012028\">Mark 12:28<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/mark\/12#49012031\">31<\/a>; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/luke\/6#50006031\">Luke 6:31<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/luke\/10#50010025\">10:25<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/luke\/10#50010037\">37<\/a>; Catechism of the Catholic Church 2052-2055, 2067, 2196)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I don&#8217;t see a conflict between loving my neighbor and seeing some behaviors as bad ideas, because I think &#8220;love&#8221; doesn&#8217;t necessarily mean &#8220;approval&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, an explanation for why this post is so much shorter than most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s been an \u2014 interesting \u2014 week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Along with the rest of this household, I&#8217;m still sick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/covid-19-its-back\/\">COVID-19: It&#8217;s Back<\/a>&#8220;<br>(April 2, 2024)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Monday and Tuesday were largely taken up with something I may talk about next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Monday evening I hurt my left shoulder, which made using a keyboard harder than I like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I slept through much of Wednesday and Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The point of this reminiscence is that I had precious little time left over for writing this post, and wasn&#8217;t nearly as awake as I&#8217;d have liked. So discussions of vocations, and why I&#8217;m not upset over this latest &#8220;ethics document&#8221;, will wait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-black-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-black-background-color has-background is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a name=\"new\"><\/a>New &#8220;Ethics Document&#8221;, Old Ideas<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20240129ff\/20240408-1618-MondayAfternoonHeadlines-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Selected Google News Feed Headlines, reacting to Declaration of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith 'Dignitas Infinita' on Human Dignity. Monday afternoon. (April 8, 2024)\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Monday afternoon headlines. (April 8, 2024)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m assuming the Vatican&#8217;s new &#8220;ethics document&#8221; is &#8220;Dignitas Infinita&#8221;. It&#8217;s the only recent one that&#8217;s likely to have struck so many nerves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I suspect part of the problem folks have with &#8220;Dignitas Infinita&#8221; is its insistence that human beings are people: <strong>all<\/strong> human beings. And that we shouldn&#8217;t pick and choose who we see as really-real people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That, and getting specific about &#8220;grave violations of human dignity&#8221; which are &#8220;particularly relevant&#8221; these days:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Drama of Poverty<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>War<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Travail of Migrants<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Human Trafficking<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sexual Abuse<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Violence Against Women<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Abortion<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Surrogacy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Marginalization of People with Disabilities<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gender Theory<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sex Change<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Digital Violence<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Dignitas Infinita&#8221;, on Human Dignity, also outlines how the idea of human dignity has developed: from Genesis and classical antiquity, through St. Thomas Aquinas, to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (December 10, 1948).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As an extremely brief summary, I think it&#8217;s an accurate picture of that particular idea&#8217;s background. On the other hand, I can see how it might offend folks who cherish various &#8216;not invented here&#8217; attitudes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cherry-picking from the thirteen-point list, I could say that &#8220;Dignitas Infinita&#8221; is part of a right-wing conspiracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Choosing another subset, I might imagine that it&#8217;s documentary proof of a leftist plot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since I&#8217;m a Catholic, and prioritize what the Church actually says over what spokespersons for assorted contemporary viewpoints say the Church says \u2014 I think it explains why ethics matter. Even when they don&#8217;t support someone&#8217;s politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a name=\"dignitas\"><\/a>&#8220;Dignitas Infinita&#8221;: &#8220;Balanced, Challenging&#8221;<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20240129ff\/20240411-cq5dam-thumbnail-cropped-750-422-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Vatican News photograph: 'Wilton Cardinal Gregory, Archbishop of Washington, D.C. (Arcidiocesi di Washington)' (April 11, 2024)\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Wilton Cardinal Gregory, Archbishop of Washington, D.C. via Vatican News (April 11, 2024)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;Cardinal Gregory sees \u2018Dignitas infinita&#8217; as balanced, challenging document&#8221;<br>Christopher Wells, Vatican News (April 11, 2024)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Dignitas infinita (DI), the Vatican&#8217;s new Declaration on human dignity, is &#8216;probably the most comprehensive summary&#8217; of Church teaching on the topic &#8216;that could be issued at this time,&#8217; says Cardinal Wilton Gregory&#8230;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;&#8230;Asked about the issues raised by DI, Cardinal Gregory acknowledged that the document touched on a number of &#8216;hot-button&#8217; issues and has sparked controversy on various sides. &#8216;But if you take the document as a whole,&#8217; he says, &#8216;it&#8217;s not a document about one specific issue beyond the fact that it treats human individuals, human people, as dignified in a way that is irreplaceable, that we never lose the dignity that God entrusts to us as He creates us.&#8217;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;He notes that the Declaration is &#8216;humble in its context, but also very, very deeply rooted in Catholic moral and anthropological teachings[&#8216;]&#8230;.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Some issues mentioned in &#8220;Dignitas Infinita&#8221;, like extreme poverty and human trafficking, have plagued humanity for millennia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Others, like &#8220;digital violence&#8221;, are new wrinkles on ancient vices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I see value in identifying &#8220;grave violations of human dignity&#8221; that have become &#8220;particularly relevant&#8221; in the here and now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I also think there&#8217;s value in remembering that, although details of our daily lives change, the &#8216;greatest commandment&#8217; hasn&#8217;t. And won&#8217;t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If I was a Christian living in the first century, I&#8217;d have been expected to love God, love my neighbor, and see everyone as my neighbor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since I am a Christian living in the 21st century, I&#8217;m expected to love God, love my neighbor, and see everyone as my neighbor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If I was living in the 41st century, I would be expected to love God, love my neighbor, and see everyone as my neighbor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ve talked about this sort of thing before:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/capital-punishment-it-could-be-worse\/\">Capital Punishment: It Could be Worse<\/a>&#8220;<br>(February 3, 2024)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/the-pope-same-sex-couples-an-informative-link-and-headlines\/\">The Pope, Same-Sex Couples, an Informative Link: and Headlines<\/a>&#8220;<br>(December 19, 2023)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/free-to-agree-with-me-cancel-culture-and-freedom-of-expression\/\">Free to Agree With Me: Cancel Culture and Freedom of Expression<\/a>&#8220;<br>(November 18, 2023)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/hamas-harvard-ukraine-and-alaska-air-looking-for-a-bright-side\/\">Hamas, Harvard, Ukraine and Alaska Air: Looking for a Bright Side<\/a>&#8220;<br>(October 28, 2023)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/pax-romana-good-times-remembered\/\">Pax Romana: Good Times, Remembered<\/a>&#8220;<br>(April 22, 2023)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There&#8217;s more than sex change and gender theory in the Vatican&#8217;s new &#8220;ethics document&#8221;: assuming that what hit the fan this week is the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith&#8217;s &#8220;Dignitas Infinita&#8221;, on Human Dignity. &#8220;Dignitas Infinita&#8221;, &#8220;Infinite Dignity&#8221;, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/dignitas-infinita-infinite-dignity-a-very-quick-look\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"Why a new ethics document, and what the pope said about ideology, does not upset me. Plus a 13-point list: grave violations of human dignity.","jetpack_seo_html_title":"\"Dignitas Infinita\", \"Infinite Dignity\": a Very Quick Look","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[215,192],"tags":[21,8,15,17,54],"class_list":["post-7922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-being-catholic","category-journal","tag-ethics","tag-health","tag-life-issues","tag-love","tag-social-justice"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7Dwtw-23M","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7922"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7926,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7922\/revisions\/7926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}