Humanity, Marriage, and the Natural World: Key Principles

Common Good and the Individual

The principle of the Common Good states that the two subjects that constitute any social formation are, and should be, the protagonists of life in coexistence. They have to guide each other to do their respective part towards the same goal: the common good of the group. This is the set of conditions of social life that allow associations and each of their members to achieve self-perfection more fully and easily. The importance lies with the person forever. There are three key areas to its content: respect for the individual, social welfare and development, and stability and security. It is the responsibility of both the authority and the social body.

Marriage as a Human Expression of Love

Marriage is a fully human expression of love. It integrates all dimensions of the human being, but subordinates them to love. Key aspects of marital love include:

• Totality: The whole person is involved, definitively.
• Faithfulness and Exclusivity: Loyalty to one another without conditions. It excludes any interference from a third person. Polygamy does not meet the nature of conjugal love.
• Prolificness: Openness to procreation.

The freedom to form a marital relationship is founded on dignity and is defined as one of the fundamental human rights. The agreement introduces a new element in the relationship: justice. It is a reciprocal grant. Love is directed by the rational will. It must be selfless and final. Marriage is voluntary because it is a right of every human being.

The Uniqueness of Human Beings

Let's explain the uniqueness of human beings from the standpoint of pure reason. Consider the Big Bang Theory as the common origin of the universe and the Theory of Relativity. The discovery of the composition of the material world has shown a picture of an increasingly complex world. That complexity comes in different levels or layers with different properties:

• Human Awareness: Humans possess intelligence, which frees them from instinctive constraints and enables them to think abstractly, plan for the future, and exercise freedom.
• Animal Psychology: Complex, acquired either innately or learned.
• Life: Living things have a body with peculiar features. It is the principle that benefits the soul.
• Cohesion: Material bodies at each level or higher tier have properties given below, but these are integrated into a higher degree of unity manifested in the properties (which are "simple").

Demographics and Social Justice

The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church does not dispute the actual terms of the demographic problem. However, it warns that many of the proposed solutions are based on unproven hypotheses and calculations of purely materialistic and political economic hegemony. The solution will be found by following the course of nature, restoring the sense of justice and solidarity, respecting life, the rights of spouses, and the actual data. There should be no fear that the explosive growth of the poorest countries is "dangerous" for the welfare of the richest. Many poor countries have natural resources sufficient to sustain populations much larger than today's. Other factors paralyze progress.

Galileo and the Heliocentric Model

Galileo's contemporaries were wrong to present heliocentrism as a demonstrated truth. He focused on the compatibility of heliocentrism with the Bible. His achievements include improving the telescope, a variety of astronomical observations, the first law of motion, and decisive support for Copernicanism. He has been regarded as the father of modern astronomy, the father of modern physics, and the father of science. He was subjected to an ecclesiastical trial in 1633 for defending the heliocentric theory and sentenced to house arrest in his native town.

Humanity's Relationship with the World

There are different theoretical conceptions about the relationship between humans and the world:

• Deification of Man: This view can lead to a despotic attitude about nature, assuming that scientific and technological progress will solve all problems.
• Biocentrism and Ecocentrism: These views shift the center from the human person in the world to other species or nature in its entirety.
• Centrality of the Human Being Embedded in Nature: This view sees both humanity and nature as God's creation. Nature is a valuable asset that humans must care for and manage as a good for all.