Vatican City (kath.net/KAP) From the perspective of former Pope Benedict XVI. faith in God is the best foundation for the concept of human rights. At the same time, however, he also qualifies these so that man can not and should not reverse them.
These are the essential statements of a previously unpublished text by
Benedict XVI, which will appear recently in a new book with selected
contributions and speeches of the emeritus Pope on the subject of faith
and politics. [And a forward by Pope Francis.]
The essay "The Multiplication of Rights and the Destruction of the Legal Concept" was a response Benedict XVI. (2005-2013) penned in autumn 2014 to a book written by the Italian philosopher and politician Marcello Pera. In his book "Church, Human Rights and the Abandonment of God" is about what happens when "the concept of human rights is replaced by the concept of God," wrote Benedict XVI.
He summarizes his analysis of Pera as follows: "The multiplication of rights ... ends in a nihilistic 'right' of man to deny himself," Abortion, suicide and the "production of a human being as a thing" would then be regarded as human rights "which deny him at the same time."
Joseph Ratzinger / Benedict XVI. had already contributed to Pera's books in 2005 and 2009. The now published statement is in the form of a letter to the philosopher and longtime Forza Italia politician. In it, the emeritus Pope initially dealt with the topic of human rights in papal teachings. After their condemnation in the 19th century, the encyclical "Pacem in Terris" by John XXIII. (1958-1963) took a turn.
However, the topic of human rights has become especially important in the thinking of John Paul II (1978-2005). In their obedience to God, the Pope from Poland saw the first Christians' resistance to the claims of absolute power of the Roman Emperor, an early Christian justification of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These in turn were for him, a suitable instrument in the fight against the ideologies of National Socialism and Communism.
The new volume "Freeing Freedom - Faith and Politics in the Third Millennium" [In English, "Faith and Politics" by Ignatius Press] with political texts and speeches by the theologian Joseph Ratzinger and later Pope Benedict XVI. will be released worldwide next Monday (5/14.). In Italy he has been trading since Thursday. The German version is published by Verlag Herder. The foreword was written by Pope Francis.
The essay "The Multiplication of Rights and the Destruction of the Legal Concept" was a response Benedict XVI. (2005-2013) penned in autumn 2014 to a book written by the Italian philosopher and politician Marcello Pera. In his book "Church, Human Rights and the Abandonment of God" is about what happens when "the concept of human rights is replaced by the concept of God," wrote Benedict XVI.
He summarizes his analysis of Pera as follows: "The multiplication of rights ... ends in a nihilistic 'right' of man to deny himself," Abortion, suicide and the "production of a human being as a thing" would then be regarded as human rights "which deny him at the same time."
Joseph Ratzinger / Benedict XVI. had already contributed to Pera's books in 2005 and 2009. The now published statement is in the form of a letter to the philosopher and longtime Forza Italia politician. In it, the emeritus Pope initially dealt with the topic of human rights in papal teachings. After their condemnation in the 19th century, the encyclical "Pacem in Terris" by John XXIII. (1958-1963) took a turn.
However, the topic of human rights has become especially important in the thinking of John Paul II (1978-2005). In their obedience to God, the Pope from Poland saw the first Christians' resistance to the claims of absolute power of the Roman Emperor, an early Christian justification of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These in turn were for him, a suitable instrument in the fight against the ideologies of National Socialism and Communism.
The new volume "Freeing Freedom - Faith and Politics in the Third Millennium" [In English, "Faith and Politics" by Ignatius Press] with political texts and speeches by the theologian Joseph Ratzinger and later Pope Benedict XVI. will be released worldwide next Monday (5/14.). In Italy he has been trading since Thursday. The German version is published by Verlag Herder. The foreword was written by Pope Francis.
Trans Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG
