Ideas about the modern state

Last Thursday Pope John Paul II visited the Italian Parliament and addressed members of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. We would like to share with readers a couple of quotations from this important speech. We choose sections that are important also to us in Malta.

The Pope said that there exists a "truth about man" which asserts itself beyond the barriers of different language and cultures. He quoted his own words to the UN General Assembly of the United Nations on its 50th anniversary.

"There are universal human rights, rooted in the nature of the person, in which are reflected the objective requirements of a universal moral law. And I added: 'These are not abstract points; rather, these rights tell us something important about the actual life of every individual and of every social group. They also remind us that we do not live in an irrational or meaningless world. On the contrary, there is a moral logic which is built into human life and which makes possible dialogue between individuals and peoples."

Addressing the political leaders in a direct way, he told them: "Your example will be all the more meaningful insofar as the dialectic of politics tends rather to emphasize differences. Your activity in fact takes on all its noble significance to the extent that it is seen to be prompted by a true spirit of service to your fellow citizens.

"Decisive in this perspective is the presence in the heart of each one of an intense awareness for the common good. The teaching of the Second Vatican Council in this matter is very clear: 'The political community... exists for the common good: this is its full justification and meaning and the source of its specific and basic right to exist" (Gaudium et spes, 74).

Speaking about the challenges facing a democratic state, he said that these "demand from all men and women of good will, irrespective of their particular political persuasion, supportive and generous co-operation in building up the common good of the Nation. Such co-operation however cannot prescind from reference to the fundamental ethical values inscribed in the very nature of the human person.

"In this regard, in my Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor I warned of the 'risk of an alliance between democracy and ethical relativism, which would remove any sure moral reference point from political and social life, and on a deeper level make the acknowledgement of truth impossible' (No. 101).

"In fact, as I noted in another Encyclical Letter, Centesimus Annus, if there exists no ultimate truth to guide and direct political life, 'ideas and convictions can easily be manipulated for reasons of power. As history demonstrates, a democracy without values easily turns into open or thinly disguised totalitarianism'."

Referring to the present debate on the future of the European Union, the Pope said: "A self-confident and internally cohesive Italy can be a great enrichment for the other nations of Europe and the world. I wish to share this conviction with you at this time, when the institutional shape of the European Union is being defined and its expansion to include many countries of Central and Eastern Europe appears imminent, as it were sealing the end of an unnatural division.

"It is my hope that, thanks also to Italy's support, the new foundations of the European 'common house' will not lack the 'cement' of that extraordinary religious, cultural and civil patrimony which has given Europe its greatness down the centuries."

We conclude by reminding our readers that some time back, during his first visit to our country, he had told us that Europe also needs the Christian witness of Malta!