“Openness to life is at the center of true development. When a society moves towards the denial or suppression of life, it ends up no longer finding the necessary motivation and energy to strive for man’s true good. If personal and social sensitivity towards the acceptance of a new life is lost, then other forms of acceptance that are valuable for society also wither away.” — Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, 28
Here Benedict again makes the point of the intrinsic connection between life ethics and social ethics. He, in effect, is saying there is a real connection between Humanae Vitae and Populorum Progressio. He is calling for a “new humanistic synthesis” (Caritas in Veritatis, 21) in our understanding and implementation of political, social, and economic development based on the foundation of respect for and openess to human life.
As he quotes from Gaudium et Spes from Vatican II: “..the primary capital to be safeguarded and valued is man, the human person in his or her integrity: ‘Man is the source, the focus and the aim of all economic and social life’ [Gudium et Spes, 63]” (Caritas in Veritate, 25)
An amazing insight into the thinking of Pope Paul VI and his two encyclicals. It puts Humanae Vitae into a whole new light when it is read in the light of human development.
