Catholic Social Teaching:

Sacredness and Dignity of the Human Person

“You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb. I praise you, because I am wonderfully made; wonderful are your works! My very self you know.”

-Psalms 139:13-14

Created in the image of God, all human life is sacred and possesses a dignity that comes directly from our creation and not from any action of our own.

“This teaching rests on one basic principle: individual human beings are the foundation, the cause and the end of every social institution. That is necessarily so, for men are by nature social beings.”

                                     -Pope John XXIII, Mater et Magistra #219 (Mother and Teacher)