Joseph Cardinal Höffner CHRISTIAN SOCIAL ... - Ordo Socialis

tional economic co-operation (Gaudium et spes, 86). From the principle of subsidiarity there
results the dualism of state and society, which is characteristic for Catholic social teaching.
This dualism is a „condition of individual freedom.“ 2
SECTION THREE: RIGHT AND JUSTICE
CHAPTER ONE: LAW AS THE NORM OF SOCIAL LIFE
§ 1 Natural Law as the Law of Man’s Essence
Most norms, and the most important norms, that regulate social coexistence are of legal nature.
By ‘right’ those values are understood to which the individual and the society are entitled
as „theirs“ (objective right) and to which a claim therefore exists (subjective right). Right
bears witness to the dignity of man made in the likeness of God, to whom certain goods are
assigned as his own. At the same time, it is the expression of human endangerment, since
those goods are threatened and must therefore be protected by law.
As Thomas Aquinas teaches, three properties characterize right. First, it presupposes the relatedness
of several among themselves (ad alterum); man has no rights over against himself.
Second, only those goods pertain to the sphere of life which are assigned to the bearer of the
rights as his or hers in the strict sense (debitum); man has no legal claims to gratitude and
love. Finally, right presupposes the equality of service and counter service (tantum - quantum);
everything beyond what is due departs from the sphere of right (II-II,58,5).
2. Certain rights belong inalienably to man by nature. Natural law does not begin with the
concrete, historical nature of this or that man, but with the constitutive essence of man as
such, i.e., with that which at all times and in all cultural areas metaphysically defines man as
man, to which corporality and spirituality, personality and sociality, as well as the creaturehood
belong. Man possesses natural rights because God has created him as a person with for
example, the right to life, to freedom from bodily harm, and freedom of conscience. Such
natural rights have been delineated by the United Nations in the Universal Declaration of human
rights of December 10, 1948:“Everyone has the right to life, freedom, and personal
safety. No one should be held in slavery or dependence...Everyone has a claim to be recognized
everywhere as a legal personality.“ That all may sound self-evident or even „devoid of
content“ (Stammler). But how powerful a content dwelt in natural law should have become
obvious in view of the mass murder of millions of Jews, even of Jewish children under the
National Socialist reign of terror. Even today, man’s right to life is threatened since abortion
is considered innocuous and there is often discussion as to whether the terminally ill or invalids
may be given a fatal injection. 3
3. Natural law as part of the natural moral law is ultimately grounded in the ‘eternal law’ (lex
aeterna) of the Creator and is bonding in conscience. It is therefore false to oppose morals as
‘inner morality’ to law as ‘outer legality’. However, law in no way encompasses all moral
realms, such as piety or chastity or love of self or love of neighbor. Human law, as Thomas
Aquinas teaches, appeals to the multitude which for the most part is not exactly „perfect in
virtue.“ Human law does not therefore forbid all vices, but only the more grievous ones which
the majority of people are capable of avoiding, especially those crimes „without the prohibi-
2
Peter Koslowski, Gesellschaft und Staat. Ein unvermeidlicher Dualismus. Stuttgart 1982, S. 3.
3
Cf. Jos. Höffner, Nicht töten - sondern helfen. 8. Aufl., Köln: Presseamt des Erzbistums, 1977 (Themen und
Thesen Heft 6).
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