(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Saturday received in audience a delegation from the Dignitatis Humanae Institute (DHI) which is celebrating its fifth anniversary.The DHI, otherwise known as the Institute for Human Dignity, was founded in 2008 as a think tank with the aim of protecting and promoting an authentic vision of human dignity.
Addressing the delegates, the Pope warned against a “culture of waste” in which the victims are the unborn, the poor, the elderly, and the disabled. Such a culture leads to a “practical atheism”, he said, whereby man denies that he is made in God’s image and likeness.
Rather, he said, if we allow the Word of God to challenge us in our personal and social consciousness, and “allow ourselves to question our ways of thinking and acting, policies, priorities and choices, then things can change.”
One of delegates present at the audience was Alojz “Lojze” Peterle, a member of the European Parliament and former prime minister of Slovenia.
“If we wish to put man at the centre, then we should respect the dignity of each human being,” he told Vatican Radio, noting how this was one of sentiments of the founding fathers of the European Union.
“We should reconsider,” he continued, what “it means to respect human dignity, which is mentioned on the first charter of fundamental human rights.”
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