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POLITICAL COMMUNITY, THE HUMAN PERSON AND A PEOPLE
- 384.
- “The human person is the foundation and purpose of political life.”
- Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 25: AAS 58 (1966), 1045-1046.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1881.
- Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Doctrinal Note on Some Questions Regarding the Participation of Catholics in Political Life (24 November 2002), 3: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Vatican City 2002, p. 8.
- Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 25: AAS 58 (1966), 1045.
- “The political community originates in the nature of persons, whose conscience ‘reveals to them and enjoins them to obey’ the order which God has imprinted in all his creatures.”
- 385.
- “The political community finds its authentic dimension in its reference to people.”
- 386.
- “The primary characteristic of a people is the sharing of life and values, which is the source of communion on the spiritual and moral level.”
- 387.
- “For every people there is in general a corresponding nation, but for various reasons national boundaries do not always coincide with ethnic boundaries. Thus the question of minorities arises, which has historically been the cause of more than just a few conflicts. The Magisterium affirms that minorities constitute groups with precise rights and duties, most of all, the right to exist.”
DEFENDING AND PROMOTING HUMAN RIGHTS
- 388.
- “Considering the human person as the foundation and purpose of the political community means in the first place working to recognize and respect human dignity through defending and promoting fundamental and inalienable human rights.”
- John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris: AAS 55 (1963), 273.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2237.
- John Paul II, Message for the 2000 World Day of Peace, 6: AAS 92 (2000), 362.
- John Paul II, Address to the Fiftieth General Assembly of the United Nations (5 October 1995), 3: L'Osservatore Romano, English edition, 11 October 1995, p. 8.
- 389.
- “The political community pursues the common good when it seeks to create a human environment that offers citizens the possibility of truly exercising their human rights and of fulfilling completely their corresponding duties.”
- “The full attainment of the common good requires that the political community develop a twofold and complementary action that defends and promotes human rights.”
SOCIAL LIFE BASED ON CIVIL FRIENDSHIP
- 390.
- “The profound meaning of civil and political life does not arise immediately from the list of personal rights and duties. Life in society takes on all its significance when it is based on civil friendship and on fraternity.”
- Saint Thomas Aquinas, Sententiae Octavi Libri Ethicorum, VIII, lect. 1: Ed. Leon. 47, 443: “Est enim naturalis amicitia inter eos qui sunt unius gentis ad invicem, inquantum communicant in moribus et convictu. Quartam rationem ponit ibi: Videtur autem et civitates continere amicitia. Et dicit quod per amicitiam videntur conservari civitates. Unde legislatores magis student ad amicitiam conservandam inter cives quam etiam ad iustitiam, quam quandoque intermittunt, puta in poenis inferendis, ne dissensio oriatur. Et hoc patet per hoc quod concordia assimulatur amicitiae, quam quidem, scilicet concordiam, legislatores maxime appetunt, contentionem autem civium maxime expellunt, quasi inimicam salutis civitatis. Et quia tota moralis philosophia videtur ordinari ad bonum civile, ut in principio dictum est, pertinet ad moralem considerare de amicitia”.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2212-2213.
- Saint Thomas Aquinas, De Regno. Ad Regem Cypri, I, 10: Ed. Leon. 42, 461: “omnis autem amicitia super aliqua communione firmatur: eos enim qui conueniunt uel per nature originem uel per morum similitudinem uel per cuiuscumque communionem, uidemus amicitia coniungi... Non enim conseruatur amore, cum parua uel nulla sit amicitia subiecte multitudinis ad tyrannum, ut prehabitis patet”.
- ”Liberty, equality, fraternity” was the motto of the French Revolution. “In the final analysis, these are Christian ideas”, John Paul II affirmed during his first visit to France: Homily at Le Bourget (1 June 1980), 5: AAS 72 (1980), 720.
- 391.
- “A community has solid foundations when it tends toward the integral promotion of the person and of the common good. In such cases, law is defined, respected and lived according to the manner of solidarity and dedication towards one’s neighbor.”
- Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I-II, q. 99: Ed. Leon. 7, 199- 205.
- Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 23, ad 1um: Ed. Leon. 8, 168.
- Paul VI, Message for the 1977 World Day of Peace: AAS 68 (1976), 709.
- “The human being is a person, not just an individual. The term ‘person’ indicates ‘a nature endowed with intelligence and free will’: he is therefore a reality that is far superior to that of a subject defined by the needs arising solely from his material dimension.”
- 392.
- “The gospel precept of charity enlightens Christians as to the deepest meaning of political life.”
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