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 f 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 resolves 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 the dignity of the human person.
Gaudium et Spes 1965: Whatever insults human dignity such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children as well as disgraceful working conditions where men are treated as mere tools for profit, rather than as free and responsible persons, all these things and others of their like are infamies indeed. They poison human society…