Editing Magnifica Humanitas: A Plain-Language Overview (section)

== Human dignity does not come from productivity ==

One of the most important claims in ''Magnifica Humanitas'' is that the value of a human person does not depend upon what that person can produce.

A human being does not become valuable because he is intelligent, efficient, employable, wealthy, technically skilled, physically healthy, or economically productive.

Human dignity is more fundamental than any of those things.

Leo describes this deepest dignity as belonging to every person simply because that person exists, has been created and loved by God, and possesses a human nature which cannot be reduced to utility.<ref name="MHDignity">Leo XIV, ''Magnifica Humanitas'', especially nos. 51–53, on the intrinsic and ontological dignity of every human person.</ref>

This has enormous implications for a technological society.

If efficiency becomes the highest value, then people begin to be judged according to their usefulness.

The elderly may appear inefficient.

The disabled may appear expensive.

Children may appear economically unproductive.

Workers may appear replaceable.

People whose skills are no longer fashionable may appear obsolete.

But a person is not obsolete.

A human being is not a machine whose value can be calculated from output.