Life is worth living

Life is a gift from God. This gift is to be nurtured and held in thanksgiving and great respect. Human beings have a set of fundamental human rights and freedoms. This is upheld by the United Nations, Council of Europe, the Maltese Constitution and most importantly for Catholics by the Pope. The most important right is the right of life. This is why life is worth living.

According to our Constitution, "every person in Malta is entitled to the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual, that is to say, the right, whatever his race, place of origin, political opinions, colour, creed or sex, but subject to respect for the rights and freedoms of others and for the public interest, to each and all of the following, namely: a) life, liberty, security of the person, the enjoyment of property and the protection of the law; b) freedom of conscience, of expression and of peaceful assembly and association; and c) respect for his private and family life."

It will be readily realised that the most important right and freedom is the right to life. All the other rights and freedoms are naturally and obviously ancillary to life.

Gospel of life

The encyclical Evangelium vitae (the Gospel of Life) insists that the most fundamental right is the right to life of every innocent human being. As far as the right to life is concerned every innocent human being is absolutely equal to all others.

Blessed John XXIII was the first Pope to draw a list of human rights. At a time of great political tension and danger he wrote his last encyclical Pacem in Terris. But it is Pope John Paul II who has done the most to develop comprehensive Christian teaching on the dignity of the human person and the defence of human rights. Every person has the right to his own identity, independence and security.

The Pope saw the emergence of the UN and its Universal Declaration of Human Rights as signs of hope. Fifty years after the solemn proclamation of the Declaration many peoples are still subject to the most degrading forms of exploitation and manipulation. It is realised that life is worth living only in a free society unlike conditions in some Asian and South American countries.

Freedom of association

Among the rights of man is the right to work, together with the right to a living wage which in turn is allied to the right to support a family. Among the rights constantly upheld by the Pope is the right to freely associate with other people and the natural human right to form private associations. This right is independent of the approval of public authorities. This right is fully enshrined and fully observed in the Constitution of Malta.

No human being should live in ignorance. Vatican Two teaches that all in virtue of their dignity as human persons, have an inalienable right to education.

Freedom of conscience

The educated person has another inherent right, that is freedom of conscience; this means that religious freedom is the right to live in the truth of one's faith. The apex of development is the exercise of the right and duty to seek God, to know Him and to live in accordance with that knowledge.

In the words of the provision of protection of freedom of conscience and worship, "all persons shall have full freedom of conscience and enjoy the free exercise of their respective mode of religious worship". Religious freedom has always been regarded by the Pope as the foundation of all other rights.

In the context of Christianity one can best quote the message of Jesus: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself."

To further enjoyment of life our Constitution provides that "except with own consent or by way of parental discipline, no person shall be hindered in the enjoyment of the freedom of expression including freedom to hold opinion without interference, freedom to communicate ideas and information without interference and freedom from interference with his correspondence." Similarly, every person enjoys freedom of assembly and association as well as freedom of movement including the right to reside in any part of Malta and the right to leave and the right to enter Malta.

No person shall be treated in a discriminatory manner by any person acting by virtue of any written law or in the performance of any public office or any public authority. "Discriminatory", the Constitution states, means affording different treatment to different persons due to (inter alia) political opinion, place of origin, creed or sex whereby persons of such description are subjected to disabilities or restrictions to which persons of different qualities are not made subject or are accorded privileges and advantages which are not otherwise afforded.

We see the culture of life lived out in Christian families, in homes for the elderly and especially in hospice for the terminally ill where life is treasured and reverenced as the gift of God. This ruling of the law in why euthanasia and abortion are prohibited. The right to live is from conception to natural death. This also explains why every effort is to be made to sustain and save life.

The Constitution further provides that "no property of any description shall be compulsorily taken possession of and no interest in or right over property of any description shall be compulsorily acquired".

Moreover no person shall be subjected to search of his person or his property of the entry by others on his premises except with his consent or by way of parental discipline.

The protection of the norms enshrined in the Constitution and the teaching of the magisterium of the Church makes life truly worth living.