Pope Francis urged Catholic jurists to conserve the rights of the most delicate members of society.
Defending the weak was an urgent task, the pope said while speaking to representatives of the Union of Italian Catholic Jurists on 10 December.
“Never as in these days, as in these times, have Catholic jurists been called to affirm and protect the rights of the weakest, within an economic and social system that pretends to include diversity but, in reality, systematically excludes those without a voice,” the Holy Father said.
“The rights of workers, migrants, the sick, unborn children, those at the end of their life, and the poorest are ever more frequently neglected and or denied in this throwaway culture. Those who do not have the capacity to spend and to consume seem to be worth nothing.”
“But to deny fundamental rights, to deny the right to a dignified life, to physical, psychological, and spiritual care, to a fair wage, is to deny human dignity.”