The Dutch prelate maintains that when the Creator and natural law are rejected, the State ends up arrogating to itself the power to determine the protection each person deserves, subjecting fundamental questions to the decisions of political power or parliamentary majorities.
In an interview granted to La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana, published this Thursday, October 8, Eijk has claimed the need to recover the foundations of the Church’s social doctrine and has insisted that human dignity is not a concession of the State, but a reality inherent to man because he was created in the image and likeness of God.
“Christians must continually present the truth to everyone, without fear and with clarity, so that members of society come to understand that the Creator is the source of human dignity and not the State,” the cardinal stated.
A dignity that does not depend on political majorities
For Eijk, the underlying problem arises when the organization of society ceases to recognize an objective moral order and turns human will into the ultimate criterion for determining what should be considered just.
The archbishop recalled that the natural moral law has its origin in creation and that the dignity of the person precedes any legislation. It is not, therefore, for the State to arbitrarily establish the value of the human being, but to recognize and protect a dignity that exists independently of its decisions.
“It is God who created man in his image and likeness and who, therefore, conferred on him an inviolable dignity that constitutes the source of his rights and duties,” he explained.
The prelate warned that when this foundation is denied, the protection of the person is left at the mercy of those who exercise power, whether through an authoritarian system or through decisions adopted democratically.
Eijk cited as an example legislation on abortion, where the State may come to establish circumstances in which legal protection is denied to children who have not yet been born.
The issue, according to his approach, is not limited to a discussion about certain laws. It affects the very concept of human dignity: if it depends on a political decision, it ceases to be recognized as an inviolable reality prior to power.
This is a warning that has also been present in the magisterium of recent pontiffs.
Saint John Paul II recalled in Evangelium vitae that no human law can legitimize the deliberate elimination of an innocent life, while Benedict XVI insisted on the need for politics to recognize criteria of justice that do not depend exclusively on the will of majorities.
Social order does not consist solely in avoiding conflicts
The cardinal also questioned a conception of social order limited to institutional stability, public tranquility, or the absence of confrontations.
A society may function apparently normally and yet be profoundly disordered if its principles depart from the truth about man and from the demands of natural law.
“A society in which order prevails is one whose organization and structure are based, ultimately, on the order of creation, that is, on the intentions God had when he created the world,” Eijk explained.
By contrast, a disordered society is one that ceases to respect that order and acts against the ends inscribed by God in his creation.
The Archbishop of Utrecht recalled that the dignity of the person constitutes the foundation of the other principles of the Church’s social doctrine, among them the common good, subsidiarity, solidarity, and the preferential option for the poor.
From this perspective, political and social organization cannot be detached from a true conception of the human person.
The stability of institutions, the functioning of the economy, or the effectiveness of laws are not enough to guarantee a just society if the dignity of those they are meant to serve is lost sight of.
“Christians must present the truth without fear”
In the face of the advance of a secularized conception of social order, Eijk considers it essential that Catholics recover clarity in the proclamation of the faith and in the defense of its moral consequences.
The cardinal does not present this responsibility as a matter reserved for rulers or specialists in social doctrine, but as a task that belongs to all Christians.
His call aims to overcome the fear of publicly defending principles that, although part of the Church’s constant teaching, encounter growing resistance in certain cultural and political currents.
This is not the first time Eijk has warned about the consequences of abandoning an anthropology founded on human nature.
In December 2022, the prelate called for an encyclical condemning gender ideology and defended the unity of body and soul against conceptions that seek to separate personal identity from biological reality.
The prelate also finds reasons for hope in the interest in Catholicism he observes among young people in several European countries.
In particular, he mentioned the increase of new young Catholics in France, the Netherlands, and England as a sign that the proclamation of Jesus Christ continues to bear fruit even in deeply secularized societies.
According to him, many of these young people do not limit themselves to a cultural or sentimental adherence to Christianity, but show a willingness to embrace the teachings of the Church, also regarding morality and the organization of society.
Eijk’s statements precede his intervention this Friday, October 9, in a course on the Church’s social doctrine organized by La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana and the International Observatory Cardinal Van Thuân.
The archbishop will deliver the inaugural lecture, dedicated precisely to social order according to Catholic teaching.
His reflection once again places at the center a fundamental question for public life: the dignity of the human being does not arise from administrative recognition, from a law, or from the agreement of a majority, but from his own nature and, ultimately, from having been created by God.
A truth that, according to Eijk, Christians are called to proclaim without fear, even when it conflicts with the dominant criteria of contemporary society.