The Catholic Church and Human Rights

The church is concerned about human rights because:

  • God has endowed every human person with an inherent and inalienable dignity which entails basic rights.

  • Respect for human rights is the requisite for peace.

  • The church is mandated to protect human rights and to educate its members about the dignity, liberty and equality of all humans.
    Human Rights pg 5

In his "Address to the 34th General Assembly of the United Nations"
John Paul II provided an updated roster of
“some of the most important” human rights
which the church endorses:

the right to life, liberty and security of the person;
the right to food, clothing, housing, sufficient health care,
rest, and leisure;
the right to freedom of expression, education and culture;
the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion;
the right to manifest one’s religion either individually
or in community, in public or in private;
the right to choose a state of life, to found a family and to enjoy all conditions necessary for family life;
the right to property and work,
to adequate working conditions and a just wage;
the right of assembly and association;
the right to freedom of movement, to internal and external migration;
the right to nationality and residence;
the right to political participation and
the right to participate in the free choice of the political system of the people to which one belongs (#13).