Universal Declaration of Human Rights

This week was the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This video presents the tenets of the declaration in compelling fashion.

VATICAN CITY, DEC. 11, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is more than a proclamation; it is an example of the international community giving human dignity a new consideration and placement, says Benedict XVI's secretary of state.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone affirmed this when he considered the importance of the declaration at an event Wednesday marking its 60th anniversary.

When it was signed in 1948, the cardinal said, the declaration intended to "defend the person from the idolatry of the state, which totalitarianisms had in fact divinized, proposing an ulterior way to build the 'city of men,' basing it on the conviction that 'recognition of the inherent dignity of all the members of the human family, and of their equal and inalienable rights, constitutes the foundation of liberty, of justice and of peace.'"

"We are not just faced with a proclamation, but rather with a new consideration and placement of human dignity by the international community and the various political communities that animate it, up to now little inclined to admit the person as protagonist," he continued.

The cardinal said that the Church sees the declaration as a "sign of the times" -- "an act able to synthesize the meaning of human liberty by reconciling present-day needs with immutable principles, capable of offering guidelines founded anthropologically and juridically so as to respond to the most profound human needs."

Today, he said, these same human rights are still universal, in the face of the global dimension that characterizes modern times, given that they are based on the universality of the person.

(Read the complete report at Zenit.org)