The USCCB website states: The Catholic Church proclaims that human life is sacred and that the dignity of the human person is the foundation of a moral vision for society. This belief is the foundation of all the principles of our social teaching. In our society, human life is under direct attack from abortion and euthanasia.
The value of human life is being threatened by cloning, embryonic stem cell research, and the use of the death penalty. The intentional targeting of civilians in war or terrorist attacks is always wrong. Catholic teaching also calls on us to work to avoid war. Nations must protect the right to life by finding increasingly effective ways to prevent conflicts and resolve them by peaceful means. We believe that every person is precious, that people are more important than things, and that the measure of every institution is whether it threatens or enhances the life and dignity of the human person
Pope Francis states in Laudato Si, “When we fail to acknowledge as part of reality the worth of a poor person, a human embryo, a person with disabilities—to offer just a few examples—it becomes difficult to hear the cry of nature itself; eve-rything is connected.”
The Holy Father reminds us that all people are made in the image of God. We are also chal-lenged to understand that a person’s worth is not economic; real value flows from the fact that they are created by God.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, no 1938, states: There exist also sinful inequalities that affect millions of men and women. These are in open contradiction of the Gospel: Their equal dignity as persons demands that we strive for fairer and more humane conditions. Excessive economic and social disparity between individuals and peoples of the one human race is a source of scandal and militates against social justice, equity, human dignity, as well as social and international peace. The sacredness of human life requires that we oppose all things that insult human dignity: subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children, treating people as tools for profit are some examples. We are not merely spectators in the effort to promote the dignity and sacredness of human life.