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The Role of the Church in Politics
The Catholic Church is characterised far too often as simply:
•Interfering in the affairs of government.
•Objecting to changes in social legislation and thereby being seen as a negative or reactionary force.
•Identifying with one particular political party or only very limited political causes.
This is not the mission of the Catholic Church nor should it be seen as such.
In fact
•The Church sees the State and its organising of society as distinctly separate from the mission of the Church.
•The Church will always support and co-
•The Church has a comprehensive and consistent view of what constitutes the common good.
Throughout the world and throughout the ages it sees it as its mission to promote the common good. An explanation of that “common good” is given below to clarify the teaching of the Church .This is given to help avoid the lack of understanding and the consequent suspicion and hostility which can arise from such misunderstanding.
The Church and State
•The Church and the political community in their own fields are autonomous and independent from each other.
•The more that both foster sounder co-
The State
•It is the responsibility of the State to defend and promote the common good since this is the reason that political authority exists.
•It is the duty of the State to promote the good of all its citizens especially the poorest and the weakest.
“A society that wishes and intends to remain at the service of the human being, at every level, is a society that has the common good – the good of all the people and of the whole person – as its primary goal.”
[Catechism of the Catholic Church ,1912]
The Church
•The whole of the Church’s social doctrine is derived from the principle that mankind is created in the image of God with the ultimate goal of eternal salvation with God. This endows each and every human person with an inviolable dignity.
•The Church is entrusted by Christ with the mission to promote the common good for the good of mankind by proclaiming the Gospel and making it present in the complex network of social relationships.
The Common Good
“The demands of the common good are dependent on the social conditions of each historical period and are strictly connected to respect for and the integral promotion of the person and (each and every person’s) fundamental rights.”
[Catechism of the Catholic Church 1907]
These demands concern above all:
•The commitment to peace
•The organisation of the State’s powers
•A sound juridical system
•The provision of essential services to all, some of which are at the same time human rights:
i.Food
ii.Housing
iii.Work
iv.Education
v.Access to culture
vi.Transportation
vii.Basic health care
viii.Freedom of communication and expression
ix.Protection of religious freedom
•The contribution every nation has a duty to make towards a true worldwide co-
[JohnXXIII Mater et Magistra 1961]
Human Rights
At the heart of the common good, then, are the rights of each and every individual human person, who as such has an entitlement to basic human rights.
These can be best summarised as follows:
•“The right to live, an integral part of which is the right of the child to develop in the mother’s womb from the moment of conception.
•The right to live in a united family and in a moral environment conducive to the growth of the child’s personality.
•The right to develop one’s intelligence and freedom in seeking and knowing the truth.
•The right to share in the work which makes wise use of the earth’s material resources and to derive from that work the means to support oneself and one’s dependents.
•The right to religious freedom by living in the truth of one’s faith and in conformity with one’s transcendent dignity as a person.”
[John Paul 11 Centesimus Annus 1991]
“In human society to one man’s right there corresponds a duty in all other persons; the duty namely of acknowledging and respecting the right in question.”
[John XXIII Pacem in Terris 1963]
It is the duty, then of the State to protect and promote these rights.
The mission of the Catholic Church is a positive and hopeful one. It transcends political parties yet has something to say to all politicians. It has a vision it offers to all and shares with many. It has a voice with something to say. It has a responsibility to ensure that its voice is heard when the occasion demands. A clearer understanding of what that voice is actually saying might mean that it would not have to be raised so often to make itself heard.
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