Beyond Rights: Francisco De Vitoria and the Recovery of Justice

Letter to the Order on the Fifth Centenary of Francisco de Vitoria’s Teaching

On the 500 th Anniversary of Francisco de Vitoria teaching, the Mater of the Order of Preachers,
and President of Dominicans for Justice and Peace, issues a call to bring Vitoria’s legacy into
analyzing current issues, including war, migration, economic inequality, environmental concerns,
and artificial intelligence. This requires intellectual honesty in our conversation of what justice is
today. Furthermore, and in the legacy of Vitoria, he notes that we must redirect the central
question of human rights from “What am I entitled to?” to “What is due to each person, and what
obligations follow?”
Drawing further from Vitoria’s Thomistic thought, he observes that modern debates on human
rights lack grounding on their moral foundation which, when thus grounded, allows us to recognize
that human rights can be understood and resolved coherently only when they are grounded in
justice, human dignity endowed by the creator, duties, truth, and the common good. Such
understanding enables us to see clearly in non-contradicting competing terms, the limitations
imposed by justice on political power, migration policy, commercial activities, sovereignty and war,
not for limitation sake, but ordered towards the common good of persons in community.

You can read the full text in English, Spanish, and French here on our website: Beyond Rights: Francisco De Vitoria and the Recovery of Justice – UNOP Dominicans for Justice and Peace