In Brief

“Christ … makes man fully manifest to man himself and brings to light his exalted vocation.”1

Endowed with a spiritual soul, with intellect and with free will, the human person is from his very conception ordered to God and destined for eternal beatitude. He pursues his perfection in “seeking and loving what is true and good.”2

In man, true freedom is an “outstanding manifestation of the divine image.”3

Man is obliged to follow the moral law, which urges him “to do what is good and avoid what is evil.”4 This law makes itself heard in his conscience.

Man, having been wounded in his nature by original sin, is subject to error and inclined to evil in exercising his freedom.

He who believes in Christ has new life in the Holy Spirit. The moral life, increased and brought to maturity in grace, is to reach its fulfillment in the glory of heaven.