Chevalier Family: Our shared concern for a life of dignity for all people

It is often said that all people are equal, but in reality there are major differences between people. In the final chorus of his Ninth Symphony, Beethoven proclaimed the ideal of the French Revolution that broke out in 1789: ‘Alle Menschen werden Brüder’ – his musical interpretation of the revolution’s message of liberty, equality and fraternity. And a century later, the feminist movement campaigned for equal rights (a dignified life) for women in society.

In 1948, in response to the atrocities of the Second World War, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which enshrines the fundamental rights and freedoms of all people.

That should form the basis for a world in which all men and women should be able to live in freedom – a pious hope, but reality shows that discrimination and oppression still exist in many ways, and that there are vast disparities between wealthy elites and large groups of people who have been marginalised by society.

Pope John XXIII supported the Universal Declaration in the 1963 encyclical Pacem in Terris, and this sentiment also echoed through the Second Vatican Council. In 1965, the Council, in the decree Dignitatis Humanae, took the position that freedom of religion was a fundamental human good.

Over the years, the theme of human dignity has also come up within the Church in various ways, for example in Pope Francis’ encyclical Fratelli Tutti (2020), but a year earlier Pope Francis had already asked the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to draft a text emphasizing the indispensable nature of human dignity within Christian anthropology. This document was published in 2024 under the title Dignitas Infinita. And just as Pope Leo XIV followed up on Pope Francis’ encyclical Dilexit Nos with his apostolic exhortation Dilexi Te, he also followed up on Dignitas Infinita with his encyclical released on 25 May 2026. And just as Leo XIV recently followed up Pope Francis’s encyclical *Dilexit Nos* with his apostolic exhortation *Dilexi Te*, so too did he follow up *Dignitas Infinita* with his encyclical *Magnifica Humanitas*, published on 25 May 2026, on human dignity, particularly in the context of modern technological developments such as AI.

The lay members of the Chevalier family are at the heart of the world; indeed, they are confronted with these issues on a daily basis. This calls for a critical awareness of what is happening in our world in terms of technological innovation. But above all, of how this can pose a threat to our human dignity.

In fact, *Magnifica Humanitas* is also a follow-up to *Dilexi Te*, as Pope Leo had already raised the theme of the Church’s option for the poor in that document.

In all these writings, the Church’s social mission is at the heart of the matter. The Church must take the plight of the poor to heart; the Church must work, even on this earth, to bring about God’s Kingdom of peace and justice.

And the foundation of that commitment to the Church and the world is actually to be found in a well-known biblical passage on the greatest commandment: Matthew 22:36–40. To love God, but to love your neighbour as yourself. And these two are equally important.

This is also evident from the life of Father Chevalier. In his life, one can see how devotion to the Sacred Heart developed into a spirituality of the Heart. Prayer to the Sacred Heart naturally played an important role in his life, but that also means that we must make room for the love of the Sacred Heart in our lives and in our world.

One might say, then, that not only the brothers and sisters in our Chevalier family, but also the laity, should commit themselves to human dignity, to a world of peace and justice in which love reigns. This means that our religious life does not take place outside the world but should always be lived in relation to that world. It means that, in today’s society, we must be aware of how human dignity is under threat. Pope Leo writes about the threats posed by artificial intelligence (AI), whilst elsewhere there are accounts of the addictive nature of social media, which seeks to make users dependent on its platforms.

The lay members of the Chevalier family are at the heart of the world; indeed, they are confronted with these issues on a daily basis. This calls for a critical awareness of what is happening in our world in terms of technological innovation. But above all, of how this can pose a threat to our human dignity.

I am thinking of the well-known threefold principle of ‘seeing, judging, acting’ – the rule for living developed by the Belgian Bishop Cardijn. ‘Seeing’ means opening one’s eyes to what is really happening in this world, for we are often presented with one-sided or false images of our reality. But seeing can sometimes be confusing, because we often see many things at once, and sometimes even all sorts of contradictions. Reaching a judgement is therefore more than simply stating my opinion; it involves searching, together with others and with the help of reliable information, for what it is I am actually seeing. But ultimately, it is about the third step: taking action. Action stems from a dual perspective: first and foremost, the conviction that something can and must be done. And secondly: accepting my own limitations and possibilities. Accepting that I cannot do everything, that I cannot change the world, but that I must try to do what I can. That (to put it in Gospel terms) I must make use of my talents. And of course: the more allies I can find in this endeavour, the better.

That is what human dignity is all about: not philosophical or theological principles, not fine-sounding declarations, but actually committing ourselves and working to build the world created by God, where ‘people may live with dignity and each may bear their name in peace’ (from: *Lied aan het licht*, by Huub Oosterhuis).

Jos Vriesema. Nederlands

Photo: www.magnific.com