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1. INTRODUCTION The establishment of the United Nations and the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948% were not only intended to prevent the recurrence of the horrors of the Second World War but also aimed to establish a foundation for evaluating systems, programs, and forms of government based on the fundamental criterion of the good of the human person. The human person, living in a community, is an essential component of the common good, which must serve as the primary standard for all plans, systems, and governments. This perspective aligns with the Church’s teaching® that the common good is rooted in the dignity of the human person and the responsible stewardship of creation. In Bandi’s interpretation, the common good serves as a key link between the protection of creation and human rights, with the state playing a central role in both domains. The common good, as a foundational principle, must be realized primarily through the state’s actions, regardless of the specific aspect under consideration. Human dignity provides another fundamental connection, as its scope continues to expand and evolve. While some aspects of human dignity have long been addressed, others, such as environmental protection, are still emerging as critical components of this evolving framework. In 1990, Pope John Paul II dedicated his World Day of Peace message to the theme “Peace with God the Creator, Peace with All of Creation,” emphasizing human rights and environmental protection. “The ecological crisis reveals the urgent moral need for a new solidarity, especially in relations between the developing nations and those that are highly industrialized. States must increasingly share responsibility, in complimentary ways, for the promotion of a natural and social environment that is both peaceful and healthy. The newly industrialized States cannot, for example, be asked to apply restrictive environmental standards to their emerging industries unless the industrialized States first apply them within their own boundaries. At the same time, countries in the process of industrialization are not morally free to repeat the errors made in the past by others, and recklessly continue to damage the environment through industrial pollutants, radical deforestation or unlimited exploitation of non-renewable resources.”°” % United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (10 December 1948), https://www. un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of- human-rights. 5 See, Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes: Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (7 December 1965), Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, §26, https:// www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651207_ gaudium-et-spes_en.html. Bandi, Gyula: A teremtés védelme és az emberi jogok, In.: Acta Humana: Hungarian Centre for Human Rights Publications 8, no. 4 (2020): 9-33, https://doi.org/10.32566/ah.2020.4.1. 67 Pope John Paul II, Peace with God the Creator, Peace with All of Creation (1 January 1990), §10, https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/messages/peace/documents/hf_jp-ii_ mes_19891208_xxiii-world-day-for-peace.html. 66 30
