Because the language of “human rights” has been specifically invoked as a justification for much of the embrace of Gender theory (we think for example of the slogan “Trans rights are human rights”) it is especially critical for the Church to offer a correct anthropology, one that affirms the fundamental goodness of the human person as an embodied being created by God with innate sexual difference: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen 1:27).

Last week I introduced the Vatican’s latest document on Human Dignity, Dignitas Infinita. Infinita explains that all human rights, and above all else the right to life as the most basic and fundamental of human rights, are not conditional. They come from God and therefore are not bestowed upon us by any human authority, neither can they be revoked by any human authority.

Last Monday was therefore a most fitting date for the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to release its Declaration on Human Dignity, entitled Dignitatis Infinita. As it is far too long to reproduce entirely, below is a selection of some of the key passages from this document which I’ll present over the next few weeks, together with some of my own commentary.