| POPE Benedict XVI has called for “a true world political authority” to address the challenges facing the world’s people.
In an encyclical published on Tuesday, Caritas in Veritate, the Pope emphasises the human face of globalisation and the crisis in world markets, as well as calling for the values of “love in truth” to be applied in the areas of the environment, the family, and technological development.
“In the face of the unrelenting growth of global interdependence, there is a strongly felt need, even in the midst of a global recession, for a reform of the United Nations Organization, and likewise of economic institutions and international finance, so that the concept of the family of nations can acquire real teeth.
“One also senses the urgent need to find innovative ways of implementing the principle of the responsibility to protect and of giving poorer nations an effective voice in shared decision-making,” the Pope writes.
“To manage the global economy; to revive economies hit by the crisis; to avoid any deterioration of the present crisis and the greater imbalances that would result; to bring about integral and timely disarmament, food security, and peace; to guarantee the protection of the environment and to regulate migration; for all this, there is urgent need of a true world political authority.”
Development, he states, is “impossible without upright men and women, without financiers and politicians whose consciences are finely attuned to the common good.” After the “havoc” wrought by the misuse of financial instruments, “Financiers must rediscover the genuinely ethical foundation of their activity, so as not to abuse the sophisticated instruments which can serve to betray the interest of savers. Right intention, transparency, and the search for positive results are mutually compatible and must never be detached from one another.”
The encyclical begins with an Introduction setting out the relationship between charity and truth as essential principles of social doctrine. “Adhering to the values of Christianity is not merely useful but essential for building a good society and for true integral human development.” It pays tribute to Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Populorum Progressio (1967), which the Pope describes as “the Rerum Novarum [the celebrated encyclical of Leo XIII in 1891] of the present age”.
Chapter one analyses Populorum Progressio, and urges that pre- and post-Vatican II social teaching is “a single teaching, consistent and at the same time ever new”. The Pope notes that, after more than 40 years, “negative ideologies continue to flourish. . . Idealising technical progress, or contemplating the utopia of a return to humanity’s original state, are two contrasting ways of detaching progress from its moral evaluation and hence from our responsibility.” A passing reference to Pope Paul’s 1968 birth-control encyclical Humanae Vitae re-emphasises the “strong links between life ethics and social ethics”.
In Chapter two, the Pope argues that the economic growth for which Paul VI hoped is still weighed down by “malfunctions and dramatic problems”, and requires a rediscovery of “fundamental values”. Setting out a picture of increasing inequality, made worse by corruption and irresponsibility, the Pope criticises rich countries for “excessive zeal” in guarding their intellectual property.
Paul VI had emphasised the part of the public authorities. Benedict XVI describes a new context, globalisation, in which sovereignty has become limited, but in which states are still involved in correcting malfunctions. As states have downsized their social-security systems and deregulated in order to attract foreign businesses, the Pope argues that workers’ associations are more important than ever. He also writes of the dangers of “cultural eclecticism” and “cultural levelling”.
Reflecting on the problems of food security and hunger, the Pope suggests that what is missing is “a network of economic institutions” and a long-term perspective. As well as new possibilities in farming, respectful of the environment and “attentive to the needs of the most deprived peoples”, “the question of equitable agrarian reform in developing countries should not be ignored.”
The Pope explains why he believes abortion and birth control are not the answer. “If personal and social sensitivity towards the acceptance of a new life are lost, then other forms of acceptance that are valuable for society also wither away. By cultivating openness to life, wealthy peoples can better understand the needs of poor ones, they can avoid employing huge economic and intellectual resources to satisfy the selfish desires of their own citizens, . . . respecting the fundamental right to life of every people and every individual.”
Violence, particularly terrorism motivated by fundamentalism, is a brake on authentic development; as is the state promotion, teaching, or imposition of forms of “practical atheism”. Economic choices should not be allowed to cause excessive disparities in wealth, the Pope argues. It is also important to “continue to prioritise the goal of access to steady employment for everyone”. The Pope notes the difficulty journey of decolonisation since the 1960s, because of new forms of colonialism, continued dependence on foreign powers, and “grave irresponsibility” within the former colonies themselves.
In Chapter three, the Pope considers the “clear proof” of the pernicious effects of sin in the economy. “Without internal forms of solidarity and mutual trust, the market cannot completely fulfil its proper economic function. And today it is this trust which has ceased to exist.”
Economic activity cannot solve all social problems through the simple application of commercial logic. “This needs to be directed towards the pursuit of the common good, for which the political community in particular must also take responsibility.” The market does not exist in a pure state, but is shaped by “the cultural configurations which define it and give it direction”. It is not the economy and finance that need to be called to account, but “those at the helm” who have been “motivated by purely selfish ends”.
The “principle of gratuitousness and the logic of gift” need to find their place in ordinary economic activity; and “the canons of justice must be respected from the outset, as the economic process unfolds, and not just afterwards or incidentally.” The Pope emphasises the need to find room for commercial entities based on mutualist principles and pursuing social ends, as a contribution to “civilising the economy”.
Today’s international economic scene, “marked by grave deviations and failures, requires a profoundly new way of understanding business enterprise”. The greatest risk for businesses is that they are answerable almost exclusively to their investors, and rarely in the hands of “a stable director who feels responsible in the long term. . . Business management cannot concern itself only with the interests of the proprietors, but must also assume responsibility for all the other stakeholders who contribute to the life of the business.”
Investment remains not only a technical act, but a human and ethical one. The Pope condemns the “speculative use of financial resources that yields to the temptation of seeking only short-term profit”, and suggests that the integrated economy requires greater collaboration between states, and, in some nations, the construction or reconstruction of the state.
“The focus of international aid, within a solidarity-based plan to resolve today’s economic problems, should . . . be on consolidating constitutional, juridical and administrative systems in countries that do not yet fully enjoy these goods.” The aim should be to “steer the globalisation of humanity in relational terms, in terms of communion and the sharing of good”.
In Chapter four, the Pope reflects on the development of people, rights and duties, and the environment. He warns against the tendency towards having “smaller and at times minuscule families”, which reflects “scant confidence in the future and moral weariness”.
The hoarding of non-renewable energy resources “represents a grave obstacle to development in poor countries”, and there is a pressing moral need for renewed solidarity in this matter. “The fate of those countries cannot be left in the hands of whoever is first to claim the spoils, or whoever is able to prevail.”
The Pope moves on to a discussion of “responsible stewardship over nature”, and calls for a “shift in mentality which can lead to the adoption of new life-styles. . . Every violation of solidarity and civic friendship harms the environment, just as environmental deterioration in turn upsets relations in society.”
“Human ecology” needs to be respected, and “the decisive issue is the overall moral tenor of society. . . The book of nature is one and indivisible: it takes in not only the environment but also life, sexuality, marriage, the family, social relations: in a word, integral human development.”
Chapter five recognises that “the human race is a single family.” Not all religions are equal, he argues; but “Denying the right to profess one’s religion in public and the right to bring the truths of faith to bear upon public life has negative consequences for true development. The exclusion of religion from the public square — and, at the other extreme, religious fundamentalism — hinders an encounter between persons and their collaboration for the progress of humanity.”
The Pope applies the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity to issues of international aid, and argues that the principal form of assistance needed by developing countries is access to international markets.
He also considers international tourism and migration, and calls for migrants’ rights to be respected by everyone and in every circumstance, before moving on to discuss labour unions and the world of finance.
Chapter six deals with the development of peoples and technology. “We need to affirm today that the social question has become a radically anthropological question, in the sense that it affirms not just how life is conceived but how it is manipulated, as bio-technology places it increasingly under man’s control. . . We must not underestimate the disturbing scenarios that threaten our future, or the powerful new instruments that the ‘culture of death’ has at its disposal.”
The “materialistic and mechanistic” mindset that this reflects is also seen in the tendency to consider “the problems and emotions of the interior life from a purely psychological point of view”.
In his conclusion, the Pope states that “A humanism which excludes God is an inhuman humanism. Only a humanism open to the Absolute can guide us in the promotion and building of forms of social and civic life — structures, institutions, culture, and ethos — without exposing us to the risk of becoming ensnared by the fashions of the moment.”
Caritas in Veritate is online at www.catholicchurch.org.uk, and will be published in the UK by the Catholic Truth Society next Monday. |
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