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Christians have the right to make their voice heard in civil and political issues. This has been one of the points of the annual speech that Benedict XVI made to the Curia in the past month of December. After commenting on the Church opposed to the legalization of marriage for same-sex couples, the Pope defended the right of the faithful, and of the Church, to speak on this issue. |
| “If you tell us that the Church should not interfere in these matters, then we can confine ourselves to answer: Is it that man does not interest us?” indicated by the Holy Father in his address to the Roman Curia on 22 December. It is our duty, he explained, to defend the human person.
This is necessary in contemporary society, explained the Pontiff later. “The modern spirit has lost the orientation,” he observed, and this means that many people aren’t sure what rules, if any, to pass on to their children. In fact, in many cases, already we do not know how to use our freedom properly, or that it is morally right or wrong. “The big problem of the West is the forgetfulness of God,” said the Pope; a forgetfulness that is spreading. Just three days later, the Pope was back on the subject in his message before the Blessing “Urbi et Orbi” on Christmas Day. “Despite many advances, man has always been the same: a freedom poised between good and evil, between life and death.” In the modern age, our need for faith is greater than ever, given the complexity of the issues to be dealt with. The message that the Church offers does not diminish our humanity. The Pope points out: “In truth, Christ comes to destroy only evil, only sin; everything else, all the rest, he elevates and perfects.” However, there is opposition to religion playing an important role in the public debate, said Benedict XVI. In his speech on 9 December to the Union of Italian Catholic Jurists, the Pope discussed the concept of “secularity.” This understanding of secularity sees the separation of church and state as if the first does not have the right to intervene in any way in subjects that have to do with the life and conduct of citizens, explained the Pope. In addition, it also requires that it excludes all religious symbols from public places. Faced with this challenge, Benedict XVI declared that it is the task of Christians to formulate an alternative concept of secularity which, “on the one hand, acknowledges God and His moral law, Christ and his Church, the place that they have in individual and social life, and that, on the other hand, affirms and respects “the legitimate autonomy of earthly realities,” as defined by the Second Vatican Council in the Constitution “Gaudium et Spes” (No. 36). As is clear from the document of Vatican II, a “healthy secularity” means autonomy of the control of the Church of the political and social spheres. Thus, the Church is free to express its point of view and the people must decide the best way to organize political life. But it is not autonomy of the moral order. It would be a mistake to accept that religion should be confined strictly to the private sphere of life, said the Pope. The exclusion of religion from public life is not an expression of secularity, but “it’s degeneration into secularism,” he said. In addition, when the Church comments on legislative issues this should not be regarded as undue interference, “but the affirmation and defense of the important values that give meaning to the person’s life and safeguard their dignity.” It is the duty of the Church, said the Pope, “to proclaim the truth about man and his destiny.” In concluding his address, the Pope recommended that, against those who want to “exclude God from all walks of life, presenting Him as an antagonist of man,” Christians must show that “God is love and wants the good and happiness of all men.” The moral law given by God does not have the purpose of oppressing us, explained, “but deliver us from evil and make us happy.” The papal speeches of December on the role of faith in public life reflect one of his continuing concerns over the past year. Another important commentary of Benedict XVI on this matter is the discourse of 19 October to the participants in the Italian National Ecclesial Convention in Verona. The Pope watched the assembly organized by the Italian Church had considered the question of the civil and political responsibility of Catholics. “Christ came to save the real and concrete man, who lives in history and in the community; therefore, Christianity and the Church, from the beginning, have had a public dimension and scope,” he said. The good of citizens cannot be limited to a few material indicators, such as wealth, education and health. The religious dimension is also a vital part of the well-being, starting with religious freedom. But religious freedom, said the Pope, is not limited to the right to hold services or personal beliefs are not attacked. Religious freedom also includes the right of families, religious groups and the Church to exercise its responsibilities. This freedom is not binding on the State or the interests of other groups, because it is done in a spirit of service to society, explained Benedict XVI. So, when the Church and the faithful face issues such as the safeguarding of human life or the defense of the family, not just for a few specific religious beliefs, but “in the context and according to the rules of democratic coexistence, for the good of society as a whole and in the name of values that every upstanding person feels he can share.” These efforts of the Church and Christians are not always accepted favorably, observed the Pontiff in his speech on 8 September to the bishops of the Canadian province of Ontario, on the occasion of their ad limina visit to Rome. In addition, he noted that some Christian leaders of civil life “sacrifice the unity of faith and sanction the disintegration of reason and the principles of natural ethics, surrendering to ephemeral social trends and the spurious demands of opinion polls.” |
