What Is a Basic Human Right?

[Lex_Orandi]

I’m trying to find a definition for a “basic human right” that is rooted in authentic Magisterial teaching. Can anyone point to a particular encyclical or other authoritative Church document which defines “basic human rights”?

 

[carn]

I’m trying to find a definition for a “basic human right” that is rooted in authentic Magisterial teaching. Can anyone point to a particular encyclical or other authoritative Church document which defines “basic human rights”?

Do not know whether its authorative, but here something from a pope, where he without further reasoning connects being a human with the right to liberty and property:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sublimus_Dei#Content
"The enemy of the human race, who opposes all good deeds in order to bring men to destruction, beholding and envying this, invented a means never before heard of, by which he might hinder the preaching of God’s word of Salvation to the people: he inspired his satellites who, to please him, have not hesitated to publish abroad that the Indians of the West and the South, and other people of whom We have recent knowledge should be treated as dumb brutes created for our service, pretending that they are incapable of receiving the Catholic Faith. "
The idea that some biological humans are not children of God (=incapable of receiving the faith) is attributed by this pope to satan.
"We, who, though unworthy, exercise on earth the power of our Lord and seek with all our might to bring those sheep of His flock who are outside into the fold committed to our charge, consider, however, that the Indians are truly men and that they are not only capable of understanding the Catholic Faith but, according to our information, they desire exceedingly to receive it. "
The pope disagrees with satan. (k, not much surprise there).

“Desiring to provide ample remedy for these evils, We define and declare by these Our letters, or by any translation thereof signed by any notary public and sealed with the seal of any ecclesiastical dignitary, to which the same credit shall be given as to the originals, that, notwithstanding whatever may have been or may be said to the contrary, the said Indians and all other people who may later be discovered by Christians, are by no means to be deprived of their liberty or the possession of their property, even though they be outside the faith of Jesus Christ; and that they may and should, freely and legitimately, enjoy their liberty and the possession of their property; nor should they be in any way enslaved; should the contrary happen, it shall be null and have no effect.”

Here the intersting part, not only hte then known indians are declared to be equal children of God, but this is declared true for all future humans not yet known. And as a side effect without further argument it is assumed, that since they are equally children of God, they have a right to liberty and property.

Since he does not argue why being a full human should lead to right to enjoy liberty and property, the idea must already have been known and accepted by this pope, otherwise he would probably have suggested some argumetn about this new ideas.

 

[Dale_M]

I’m trying to find a definition for a “basic human right” that is rooted in authentic Magisterial teaching. Can anyone point to a particular encyclical or other authoritative Church document which defines “basic human rights”?

I am not sure if there is a document which spells out each fundamental human right. Of course, in Catholic teaching such rights flow out of human nature and our essential dignity.
Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church:

1. In fact, the roots of human rights are to be found in the dignity that belongs to each human being[305]. This dignity, inherent in human life and equal in every person, is perceived and understood first of all by reason. The natural foundation of rights appears all the more solid when, in light of the supernatural, it is considered that human dignity, after having been given by God and having been profoundly wounded by sin, was taken on and redeemed by Jesus Christ in his incarnation, death and resurrection[306].

The ultimate source of human rights is not found in the mere will of human beings[307], in the reality of the State, in public powers, but in man himself and in God his Creator. These rights are “universal, inviolable, inalienable”[308]. Universal because they are present in all human beings, without exception of time, place or subject. Inviolable insofar as “they are inherent in the human person and in human dignity”[309] and because “it would be vain to proclaim rights, if at the same time everything were not done to ensure the duty of respecting them by all people, everywhere, and for all people”[310]. Inalienable insofar as “no one can legitimately deprive another person, whoever they may be, of these rights, since this would do violence to their nature”[311].

vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeace_doc_20060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html#The%20specification%20of%20rights

In his encyclical Centesimus Annus, Pope John Paul II listed some of those rights.
Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church:

1. The teachings of Pope John XXIII,[314] the Second Vatican Council,[315] and Pope Paul VI [316] have given abundant indication of the concept of human rights as articulated by the Magisterium. Pope John Paul II has drawn up a list of them in the Encyclical Centesimus Annus: “the right to life, an integral part of which is the right of the child to develop in the mother’s womb from the moment of conception; the right to live in a united family and in a moral environment conducive to the growth of the child’s personality; the right to develop one’s intelligence and freedom in seeking and knowing the truth; the right to share in the work which makes wise use of the earth’s material resources, and to derive from that work the means to support oneself and one’s dependents; and the right freely to establish a family, to have and to rear children through the responsible exercise of one’s sexuality. In a certain sense, the source and synthesis of these rights is religious freedom, understood as the right to live in the truth of one’s faith and in conformity with one’s transcendent dignity as a person”[317].

The paragraph I just cited mentioned some other sources you might want to consult, although it will require checking the footnotes to learn the exact documents.