CSDC 159

The Church, aware that her essentially religious mission includes the defence and promotion of human rights,³³⁴ Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 54: AAS 83AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 83 (1991) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1991), 859-860. “holds in high esteem the dynamic approach of today which is everywhere fostering these rights”.³³⁵ Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 41: AAS 58AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 58 (1966) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1966), 1060. The Church profoundly experiences the need to respect justice ³³⁶ Cf. John Paul II, Address to Officials and Advocates of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota (17 February 1979), 4: Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, II, 1 (1979), 413-414. and human rights ³³⁷ Cf. Code of Canon Law, canons 208-223. within her own ranks. This pastoral commitment develops in a twofold direction: in the proclamation of the Christian foundations of human rights and in the denunciation of the violations of these rights.³³⁸ Cf. Pontifical Commission “Iustitia et Pax”, The Church and Human Rights, 70-90, Vatican City 1975, pp. 45-54. In any event, “proclamation is always more important than denunciation, and the latter cannot ignore the former, which gives it true solidity and the force of higher motivation”.³³⁹ John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Sollecitudo Rei Socialis, 41: AAS 80AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 80 (1988) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1988), 572. For greater effectiveness, this commitment is open to ecumenical cooperation, to dialogue with other religions, to all appropriate contacts with other organizations, governmental and non-governmental, at the national and international levels. The Church trusts above all in the help of the Lord and his Spirit who, poured forth into human hearts, is the surest guarantee for respecting justice and human rights, and for contributing to peace. “The promotion of justice and peace and the penetration of all spheres of human society with the light and the leaven of the Gospel have always been the object of the Church's efforts in fulfilment of the Lord's command”.³⁴⁰ Paul VI, Motu Proprio Iustitiam et Pacem (10 December 1976): L'Osservatore Romano, 23 December 1976, p. 10.