CSDC 109

The likeness with God shows that the essence and existence of man are constitutively related to God in the most profound manner.²⁰⁵ Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 356, 358. This is a relationship that exists in itself, it is therefore not something that comes afterwards and is not added from the outside. The whole of man's life is a quest and a search for God. This relationship with God can be ignored or even forgotten or dismissed, but it can never be eliminated. Indeed, among all the world's visible creatures, only man has a “capacity for God” (“homo est Dei capax”).²⁰⁶ Catechism of the Catholic Church, title of Chapter 1, Section 1, Part 1; cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 12: AAS 58AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 58 (1966) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1966), 1034; John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Evangelium Vitae, 34: AAS 87AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 87 (1995) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1995), 440. The human being is a personal being created by God to be in relationship with him; man finds life and self-expression only in relationship, and tends naturally to God.[207 ]