CSDC 155

The teachings of Pope John XXIII,³¹⁴ Cf. John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris: AAS 55AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 55 (1963) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1963), 259-264. the Second Vatican Council,³¹⁵ Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 26: AAS 58AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 58 (1966) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1966), 1046-1047. and Pope Paul VI ³¹⁶ Cf. Paul VI, Address to the General Assembly of the United Nations (4 October 1965), 6: AAS 57AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 57 (1965) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1965), 883-884; Paul VI, Message to the Bishops Gathered for the Synod (26 October 1974): AAS 66AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 66 (1974) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1974), 631-639. have given abundant indication of the concept of human rights as articulated by the Magisterium. Pope John Paul II has drawn up a list of them in the Encyclical Centesimus Annus: “the right to life, an integral part of which is the right of the child to develop in the mother's womb from the moment of conception; the right to live in a united family and in a moral environment conducive to the growth of the child's personality; the right to develop one's intelligence and freedom in seeking and knowing the truth; the right to share in the work which makes wise use of the earth's material resources, and to derive from that work the means to support oneself and one's dependents; and the right freely to establish a family, to have and to rear children through the responsible exercise of one's sexuality. In a certain sense, the source and synthesis of these rights is religious freedom, understood as the right to live in the truth of one's faith and in conformity with one's transcendent dignity as a person”³¹⁷ John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 47: AAS 83AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 83 (1991) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1991), 851-852; cf. also Address to the 34th General Assembly of the United Nations (2 October 1979), 13: AAS 71AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 71 (1979) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1979) 1152-1153.. The first right presented in this list is the right to life, from conception to its natural end,³¹⁸ Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Evangelium Vitae, 2: AAS 87AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 87 (1995) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1995), 402. which is the condition for the exercise of all other rights and, in particular, implies the illicitness of every form of procured abortion and of euthanasia.³¹⁹ Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 27: AAS 58AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 58 (1966) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1966), 1047-1048; John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor, 80: AAS 85AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 85 (1993) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1993), 1197-1198; John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Evangelium Vitae, 7-28: AAS 87AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 87 (1995) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1995), 408-433. Emphasis is given to the paramount value of the right to religious freedom: “all men are to be immune from coercion on the part of individuals or of social groups and of any human power, in such wise that no one is to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs, whether privately or publicly, whether alone or in association with others, within due limits”.³²⁰ Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Declaration Dignitatis Humanae, 2: AAS 58AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 58 (1966) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1966), 930-931. The respect of this right is an indicative sign of “man's authentic progress in any regime, in any society, system or milieu”³²¹ John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptor Hominis, 17: AAS 71AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 71 (1979) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1979), 300..