For the Church, there is no distinction between defending human life and promoting the dignity of the human person.

Pope Benedict XVI writes in Caritas in Veritate that “The Church forcefully maintains this link between life ethics and social ethics, fully aware that ‘a society lacks solid foundations when, on the one hand, it asserts values such as the dignity of the person, justice and peace, but then, on the other hand, radically acts to the contrary by allowing or tolerating a variety of ways in which human life is devalued and violated, especially where it is weak or marginalized.’” (no. 15).

As a gift from God, every human life is sacred from conception to natural death. The life and dignity of every person must be respected and protected at every stage and in every condition. The right to life is the first and most fundamental principle of human rights that leads Catholics to actively work for a world of greater respect for human life and greater commitment to justice and peace.

Visit the usccb.org for more information.

Providing Scripture Resources that Affirms the Dignity of the Human Person

A video series by the USCCB and Catholic Relief Services on Catholic Social Teaching. In this video, Bishop Robert Barron, Jonathan Reyes, and Helen Alvaré discuss respect for the life and dignity of the human person.

Video from Respect Life 2013-14 Program from the USCCB

Virtue of Love

The virtue of love, which Bobby says is the manliest virtue, has to be practiced day after day, but it also has to be a gift from God. How does that work?

We grow in love by allowing God to work through us and mold us into his likeness. This means we have to be willing to be broken, just as Christ and the saints were. Love is not that soft emotional feeling that makes your heart melt when you hear a pop song. It is the strongest of virtues, and in the end it is all that endures.

“Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13

Further Reading

Life with Dignity - A Respect Life Blog

This blog discuses the pains of physician assisted suicide and the vital fact that we are all made in the image and likeness of God.
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Blog: Respect for Human Life

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Blog: Become A Shepherd & Help Stop Human Trafficking

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Evangelium Vitae - The Gospel of Life

Read Encyclicals

Evangelium Vitae

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