Catholic World News News Feature

Relativism endangers human rights, Pope says December 03, 2007

Human rights cannot be adequately defended without a clear moral basis, Pope Benedict XVI said at a December 1 private audience.

The Holy Father spoke on December 1 to a group of participants in a Vatican forum for non-government organizations (NGOs). He praised the groups for their "passion for promoting human dignity," and encouraged them to cooperate with governments and other international bodies in efforts to secure fundamental rights for all people.

The Pope noted, however, that "international discussions often seem marked by a relativistic logic," which rejects the concepts of absolute truth and natural law. By that logic, he remarked, a bare consensus becomes "the only real basis of international norms."

Consensus is not enough, the Pontiff argued, because opinions can change and the powerful can impose their will. He saw "the bitter fruits of this relativistic logic" in trends that promote "certain self-centered lifestyles; a lack of concern for the economic and social needs of the poorer nations; contempt for humanitarian law, and a selective defense of human rights."

To counteract this destructive tendency, Pope Benedict recommended efforts to promote understanding of Catholic social doctrine, which underscores "the great truths about man's innate dignity and the rights which are derived from that dignity." The teachings of the Catholic Church, he said, can guide leaders to understand and develop "an authentic spirit of freedom, lived in solidarity."