Folia Theologica 11. (2000)
Eugene Csocsan de Váralja: The Just Income Distribution
128 E. CSOCSAN de Váralja own utility, as made for him, namely the less perfect are always for the more perfect ... This natural dominion over the other creatures is due to man because of the reason, in which he has been constituted the image of God, and it has been manifested in the very creation of man, where in Gen 126 it is said: Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea etc.” (and over the birds of air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping things that creeps upon the earth)52 The same natural right with the same explanation has been emphasised by Pope Pius XII: “God blessing our prime parents said to them: ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it’ (Gen 128). To the first family head He said: Tn the sweat of your face you shall eat bread’ (Gen 319). The dignity of the human person therefore demands the right to use the earth's goods as the fundamental natural conditions of life” (Christmas message of 1942 )53 This right known as “ius utendi”54 stems from the indispensable human need for food and shelter. This necessity forms a transcendental relationship between the humans and the needed supplies constituting a very strong ontological base of the right to use them, i.e. the ius utendi according to Alexander Horváth.55 This ius utendi is transformed in the lifetime of a person. In the reality it already appears as maternity grants before the birth and takes the forms of family allowances in the childhood. It was required by the 52 et sic habet homo naturale dominium exteriorum rerum, quia per rationem et voluntatem potest uti rebus exterioribus ad suam utilitatem, quasi propter se factis, semper enim imperfectiora sund propter perfectiora ....Hoc autem naturale dominium super caeteras creaturas, quod competit homini secundum rationem, in qua imago Dei consistit, manifestatur in ipsa hominis creatione, Gen 126 , ubi dicitur: Faciamus hominem ad imaginem et similitudinem nostram; et praesit piscibus maris, etc. (IIa IIae qu 66. a 1., corpus articuli). 53 Dio benedicendo i nostri progenitori, disse loro: “Crescite e multiplicatevi e riemite la terra e soggiogatela”(Gen 128 )• E al primo capo di famiglia diceva poi “Nel sudore della tua fronte ti ciberai di pane” (Gen 319 ).La dignità della persona umana esige dunque normalmente come fondamento naturale per vivere il diritto all’uso dei béni della terra; Con sempre, 24th December 1942, AAS 1943 (a. XXXV) page 17. 54 cf.: R. Zimmermann, 0:S:B.: Das ius utendi bei Thomas v. Aquin und in den päpastlichen Soziallehren, Freiburger Zeitschrift für Philosophie und Theologie, 1954 (3. Heft) page 302. 55 Alexander HORVATH, Eigentumsrecht nach heiligen Thomas von Aquin, Graz 1929, page 68.
