Translators for the language of rights

Last April, Pope Benedict addressed the United Nations and brought a moral grammar back to the floor of the General Aseembly where they speak many other languages. Pope John Paul II did the same thing in his address in 1995.

The UN needs ongoing clarification of this language that’s growing extinct as it’s replaced by the newspeak that redefines human rights. The Vatican is there to clarify. Their permanent observor, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, addressed the UN Wednesday on the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Archbishop Tomasi affirmed that “when a breach is caused between what is claimed and what is real through the search of so-called ‘new’ human rights, a risk emerges to reinterpret the accepted human rights vocabulary to promote mere desires and measures that, in turn, become a source of discrimination and injustice and the fruit of self-serving ideologies”.

There’s a lot packed into that brief warning about the consequences of distorting the language to reinterpret what we used to know and reshape what we think. And here’s his encouragement on how to avoid becoming a completely disordered society.

“By speaking of the right to life, of respect for the family, of marriage as the union between a man and a woman, of freedom of religion and conscience, of the limits of the authority of the State before fundamental values and rights, nothing new or revolutionary is said and both, the letter and the spirit of the Declaration are upheld, and coherence with the nature of things and the common good of society is preserved”.

And here’s the rest of the statement, the real language of human rights.

After noting that this anniversary of the Declaration, “leads us also to reflect on its implementation”, Monsignor Tomasi said that “in a world of too many hungry people, too many violent conflicts, too many persons persecuted for their beliefs, there remains a long road to walk and the duty to eliminate every discrimination so that all persons can enjoy their inherent equal dignity”.

Archbishop Tomasi encouraged the UN and its specialized agencies “to faithfully translate the principles of the Declaration into action by supporting States in the adoption of effective policies truly focused on the rights and sense of responsibility of everyone”.

“Every human being”, he concluded, “has the right to an integral development and ‘the sacred right’ to live in peace. On such premises, human rights are not just entitlement to privileges. They are rather the expression and the fruit of what is noblest in the human spirit: dignity, aspiration to freedom and justice, search for what is good, and the practice of solidarity. In the light of the tragic experiences of the past and of today, the human family can unite around these values and essential principles, as a duty toward the weakest and needier and toward future generations”.

Just to clarify further, the Vatican here specifically addresses the issue of sexual orientation in the declaration of human rights, since the UN attached it and gender identity to the language of rights.

Archbishop Celestino Migliore affirmed that “the Holy See appreciates the attempts made in the ‘Declaration on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity’ – presented at the UN General Assembly on 18 December 2008 – to condemn all forms of violence against homosexual persons as well as urge States to take necessary measures to put an end to all criminal penalties against them”.

However…

“At the same time, the Holy See notes that the wording of this Declaration goes well beyond the above-mentioned and shared intent”.

“In particular, the categories ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity’, used in the text, find no recognition or clear and agreed definition in international law. If they had to be taken into consideration in the proclaiming and implementing of fundamental rights, these would create serious uncertainty in the law as well as undermine the ability of States to enter into and enforce new and existing human rights conventions and standards”.

“Despite the Declaration’s rightful condemnation of and protection from all forms of violence against homosexual persons, the document, when considered in its entirety, goes beyond this goal and instead gives rise to uncertainty in the law and challenges existing human rights norms”, the declaration emphasized.

“The Holy See continues to advocate that every sign of unjust discrimination towards homosexual persons should be avoided and urges States to do away with criminal penalties against them”.

Human rights and human dignity are inherent, and they’re not denied when laws on social norms and behaviors are applied. These brief UN addresses should be printed in all the media. And generate conversations of goodwill among people open to truth and dialogue about human rights.