Respect for the dignity of the human person is the bedrock of all Catholic social ethics. We believe that each person is created in the image and likeness of God and is endowed with freedom and responsibility. Hence each and every person is willed into existence by God and is of inestimable worth. Each person reveals something of God's self; there are no spare or disposable people. Furthermore, nothing a person might do or that might be done to them can deprive them of their human dignity. The claims that human dignity makes on others can be understood as human rights. They continue to exist even if they are not respected.