The Vatican Information Service has a short report about an address given by Fr. Miguel Angel Ayuso Guixot
M.C.C.J., secretary of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious
Dialogue, at the Istanbul World Forum. His remarks are worth reading and
pondering a bit as they make some basic, but often overlooked or
ignored, points about the bedrock nature of justice, political activity,
and morality:
Vatican City, (VIS) - On 14 October, Fr. Miguel Angel Ayuso Guixot
M.C.C.J., secretary of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious
Dialogue, addressed the Istanbul World Forum, dedicated to the theme:
"Justice and the Construction of a New Global Order". In his remarks
during the meeting, which took place from 13 to 14 October, Fr. Ayuso
examined the essential contribution that social justice and religious
freedom make to peace, and the indispensable role religions have in
promoting peace and justice in global society.
"Religion", said
Fr. Ayuso speaking English, "has a role in contributing to the national
conversation of any given society. That conversation needs to engage
with all the complexities that societies face in the modem world.
Concepts such as 'justice' and 'social justice' are an integral part of
that conversation. Thus, we ask ourselves, what is the contribution of
religion to the national conversation about 'justice' and 'social
justice'? Justice is a divine attribute, and religious teaching
certainly contributes to the reflection on the right ordering of
relationships, in other words, social justice. Catholic tradition,
however, maintains that justice is accessible by means of human reason,
to all men and women of goodwill, both religious and non religious".
"Both
believer and non believer can subscribe to the innate dignity of the
human person, and agree that such dignity is the reason for the
inalienable rights of each individual, the protection of which is the
objective of justice. ... These rights are antecedent and independent of
the State, and the measure of the justice of the State is the extent by
which it respects and vindicates these antecedent rights, for justice
requires that all persons should be left in the free enjoyment of their
rights. ... When the State fails to administer justice or, indeed, acts
unjustly, it no longer has any moral authority or legitimacy. This
implies that the State is subject to judgement, that it does not have
absolute power, that it can, and indeed, must be held to account. Our
question is, therefore, who or what can hold the State to account, to
ensure that it acts justly? The question is not political but moral,
although the answer will require political choices".
"Since the
ultimate question is moral in nature then it follows that the hallmark
of a civil and just society is the proper and due space afforded to
religion, which has a unique contribution in being the voice for the
voiceless, a voice for the downtrodden, a voice for the oppressed, a
voice for the persecuted, a prophetic voice calling all to act in peace
and justice. Religion calls forth the conscience of society to act
genuinely in favour of the common good. Religion, therefore, has a role
in political debate, not in providing concrete political solutions,
which lies outside the competence of religion, but to recall to society
the objective moral norms at the basis of justice and the just society".
Some
of these same issues will be discussed in James Kalb's newest column,
"The Church and Social Programs", which will be available tomorrow on
the CWR site.