Discourse N.6 - Pope Benedict's Address to the UN General Assembly
The life of the community, both domestically and internationally, clearly demonstrates
that respect for rights, and the guarantees that follow from them, are measures of
the common good that serve to evaluate the relationship between justice and injustice,
development and poverty, security and conflict. The promotion of human rights remains
the most effective strategy for eliminating inequalities between countries and social
groups, and for increasing security. Indeed, the victims of hardship and despair,
whose human dignity is violated with impunity, become easy prey to the call to violence,
and they can then become violators of peace. The common good that human rights help
to accomplish cannot, however, be attained merely by applying correct procedures,
nor even less by achieving a balance between competing rights. The merit of the Universal
Declaration is that it has enabled different cultures, juridical expressions and
institutional models to converge around a fundamental nucleus of values, and hence
of rights. Today, though, efforts need to be redoubled in the face of pressure to
reinterpret the foundations of the Declaration and to compromise its inner
unity so as to facilitate a move away from the protection of human dignity towards
the satisfaction of simple interests, often particular interests. The Declaration
was adopted as a “common standard of achievement” (Preamble) and cannot be
applied piecemeal, according to trends or selective choices that merely run the risk
of contradicting the unity of the human person and thus the indivisibility of human
rights. Experience shows that legality often prevails over justice when the insistence
upon rights makes them appear as the exclusive result of legislative enactments or
normative decisions taken by the various agencies of those in power. When presented
purely in terms of legality, rights risk becoming weak propositions divorced from
the ethical and rational dimension which is their foundation and their goal. The
Universal Declaration, rather, has reinforced the conviction that respect for
human rights is principally rooted in unchanging justice, on which the binding force
of international proclamations is also based. This aspect is often overlooked when
the attempt is made to deprive rights of their true function in the name of a narrowly
utilitarian perspective. Since rights and the resulting duties follow naturally from
human interaction, it is easy to forget that they are the fruit of a commonly held
sense of justice built primarily upon solidarity among the members of society, and
hence valid at all times and for all peoples. This intuition was expressed as early
as the fifth century by Augustine of Hippo, one of the masters of our intellectual
heritage. He taught that the saying: Do not do to others what you would not want
done to you “cannot in any way vary according to the different understandings
that have arisen in the world” (De Doctrina Christiana, III, 14). Human rights,
then, must be respected as an expression of justice, and not merely because they are
enforceable through the will of the legislators.
Ladies and Gentlemen, As
history proceeds, new situations arise, and the attempt is made to link them to new
rights. Discernment, that is, the capacity to distinguish good from evil, becomes
even more essential in the context of demands that concern the very lives and conduct
of persons, communities and peoples. In tackling the theme of rights, since important
situations and profound realities are involved, discernment is both an indispensable
and a fruitful virtue. Discernment, then, shows that entrusting exclusively to
individual States, with their laws and institutions, the final responsibility to meet
the aspirations of persons, communities and entire peoples, can sometimes have consequences
that exclude the possibility of a social order respectful of the dignity and rights
of the person. On the other hand, a vision of life firmly anchored in the religious
dimension can help to achieve this, since recognition of the transcendent value of
every man and woman favours conversion of heart, which then leads to a commitment
to resist violence, terrorism and war, and to promote justice and peace. This also
provides the proper context for the inter-religious dialogue that the United Nations
is called to support, just as it supports dialogue in other areas of human activity.
Dialogue should be recognized as the means by which the various components of society
can articulate their point of view and build consensus around the truth concerning
particular values or goals. It pertains to the nature of religions, freely practised,
that they can autonomously conduct a dialogue of thought and life. If at this level,
too, the religious sphere is kept separate from political action, then great benefits
ensue for individuals and communities. On the other hand, the United Nations can
count on the results of dialogue between religions, and can draw fruit from the willingness
of believers to place their experiences at the service of the common good. Their
task is to propose a vision of faith not in terms of intolerance, discrimination and
conflict, but in terms of complete respect for truth, coexistence, rights, and reconciliation. Human
rights, of course, must include the right to religious freedom, understood as the
expression of a dimension that is at once individual and communitarian – a vision
that brings out the unity of the person while clearly distinguishing between the dimension
of the citizen and that of the believer. The activity of the United Nations in recent
years has ensured that public debate gives space to viewpoints inspired by a religious
vision in all its dimensions, including ritual, worship, education, dissemination
of information and the freedom to profess and choose religion. It is inconceivable,
then, that believers should have to suppress a part of themselves – their faith –
in order to be active citizens. It should never be necessary to deny God in order
to enjoy one’s rights. The rights associated with religion are all the more in need
of protection if they are considered to clash with a prevailing secular ideology or
with majority religious positions of an exclusive nature. The full guarantee of religious
liberty cannot be limited to the free exercise of worship, but has to give due consideration
to the public dimension of religion, and hence to the possibility of believers playing
their part in building the social order. Indeed, they actually do so, for example
through their influential and generous involvement in a vast network of initiatives
which extend from Universities, scientific institutions and schools to health care
agencies and charitable organizations in the service of the poorest and most marginalized.
Refusal to recognize the contribution to society that is rooted in the religious dimension
and in the quest for the Absolute – by its nature, expressing communion between persons
– would effectively privilege an individualistic approach, and would fragment the
unity of the person. My presence at this Assembly is a sign of esteem for the
United Nations, and it is intended to express the hope that the Organization will
increasingly serve as a sign of unity between States and an instrument of service
to the entire human family. It also demonstrates the willingness of the Catholic
Church to offer her proper contribution to building international relations in a way
that allows every person and every people to feel they can make a difference. In
a manner that is consistent with her contribution in the ethical and moral sphere
and the free activity of her faithful, the Church also works for the realization of
these goals through the international activity of the Holy See. Indeed, the Holy
See has always had a place at the assemblies of the Nations, thereby manifesting its
specific character as a subject in the international domain. As the United Nations
recently confirmed, the Holy See thereby makes its contribution according to the dispositions
of international law, helps to define that law, and makes appeal to it. The United
Nations remains a privileged setting in which the Church is committed to contributing
her experience “of humanity”, developed over the centuries among peoples of every
race and culture, and placing it at the disposal of all members of the international
community. This experience and activity, directed towards attaining freedom for every
believer, seeks also to increase the protection given to the rights of the person.
Those rights are grounded and shaped by the transcendent nature of the person, which
permits men and women to pursue their journey of faith and their search for God in
this world. Recognition of this dimension must be strengthened if we are to sustain
humanity’s hope for a better world and if we are to create the conditions for peace,
development, cooperation, and guarantee of rights for future generations. In my
recent Encyclical, Spe Salvi, I indicated that “every generation has the task
of engaging anew in the arduous search for the right way to order human affairs” (no.
25). For Christians, this task is motivated by the hope drawn from the saving work
of Jesus Christ. That is why the Church is happy to be associated with the activity
of this distinguished Organization, charged with the responsibility of promoting peace
and good will throughout the earth. Dear Friends, I thank you for this opportunity
to address you today, and I promise you of the support of my prayers as you pursue
your noble task.
Before I take my leave from this distinguished Assembly,
I should like to offer my greetings, in the official languages, to all the Nations
here represented.