Claim. Humans are the only beings of “relational value” so absolute that even God cannot substitute Himself for them — without humans God would be left alone, unable to love.
Elaboration. SMM grounds human dignity not in moral attributes but in the structure of love: “God is an absolute being… and so He seeks after an object of absolute value… If God were to exchange it with Himself, He would be left alone as a result. He would be all by Himself. This is why God commits Himself and exhausts His strength, His energy. He is engaged in a war of attrition. The forms of existence thus created with relational value which cannot be exchanged even for God Himself are human beings” (3.2. Humankind is the center of love in the created universe, 68-134, 1973.7.29). The section reinforces this elsewhere: “without an absolute object partner, even the Absolute Being would inevitably be unhappy” (ibid, 38-157, 1971.1.3). The implication is that the ontological status of human beings is not “creatures graciously elevated” but “necessary object partners without whom God’s love is locked inside Himself.”
See also. csg-god-cannot-love-without-a-partner