Relevancia de la dignidad humana en el derecho canónico. A propósito de la Declaración «Dignitas Infinita» (2-IV-2024)

The article examines the legal dimension of human dignity as presented in the Declaration Dignitas Infinita: human dignity is unique and is equated with fundamental rights (whether in its divine-natural aspects alone or in its divine-positive aspects as well). The dignity of the faithful is not parallel to human dignity; it is that very same human dignity, elevated and fulfilled. Consequently, the divine-natural aspects are inseparably linked to the divine-positive aspects: salvific legal goods cannot be conceived separately from natural law. The study of Dignitas Infinita from a legal perspective goes beyond the conception of canon law as analogous or as an instrument of authority, given the unity and centrality of the legal dimension of integral human dignity in both the civil and canonical realms, and calls for the analysis of canonical specifics, not so much from what is different, but from what is whole.