The Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales has welcomed the Vatican’s declaration on Human Dignity for highlighting an issue that lies at the heart of the mission of the Church and for highlighting the "grave violations" of human dignity that scar the modern world. 

The main novelty of the document – which is the fruit of five years’ work – is the inclusion of a number of key themes from the recent papal magisterium that accompany the bioethical ones, say the bishops' conference. In the “non-exhaustive” list that is offered, abortion, euthanasia and surrogate motherhood are listed as violations of human dignity alongside war, poverty and human trafficking.