Some readers of last Sunday’s commentary titled ‘A corrupt society stinks. Got it?’ were surprised that Pope Francis, who looks so gentle and whom everyone quotes approvingly, could have used such harsh words as those I quoted in the same commentary.
The title itself, a quote from his March 2015 address in Scampia near Naples, is quite tough. But perhaps the hardest-hitting quote was his statement that the corrupt should be tied to a rock and thrown into the sea. I return to the same subject for the second consecutive Sunday, something I very rarely do, as the subject is of great topicality for our current political situation. Besides the arguments brought by politicians, I think Catholics should also look at this scourge even in the light of the teaching of the highest authorities of the Church.
Pope Francis did not mince his words and, as is to be expected, the undermining of society through corruption demands extreme denunciation. Words were neither minced by Pope John Paul II ,who had described political corruption as one of the most serious deformities of the democratic system, and Pope Benedict, who compared it to filth.
In a 2006 document, the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace stated that corruption “compromises the correct functioning of the State… causes a growing distrust with respect to public institutions, bringing about a progressive disaffection in the citizens with regard to politics and its representatives, with a resulting weakening of institutions.” Just a month before Pope Francis’s strong denunciation at Scampia, the Catholic Bishops of Quebec, Canada, dedicated their 16-page Lenten pastoral letter (February 2015) to the harsh condemnation of corruption.
In a recent commentary, I said that Lent is not primarily a season for individualistic spirituality or for just personal conversion. Lent should be a period of collective discernment; a deep analysis of society as it truly is in the light of the Word of God. It is an attempt to discover inherent and structural injustices in society and change them through the service of politics based on truth, justice, cleanliness and fairness.
Legislation and a free press are essential in the fight against corruption
The Catholic bishops of Quebec smelt the stench of corruption in their society and decided to do their utmost to help society clean up its act. It was the time when the Charbonneau Commission, which had been investigating corruption in Quebec’s construction industry since 2011, was nearing the completion of its work.
It was the media that sparked off the public debate about corruption. In 2009, Radio-Canada’s investigative journalism uncovered the rampant corruption in the construction sector. The government tried to buy time, for it believed that the storm would die a natural death as people would be alienated with spin. Questions by journalists were not answered; public debate avoided. But eventually Jean Charest’s Liberal government had to bow to media and public pressure by setting up the Charbonneau Commission.
In February of 2015, the Catholic Bishops decided not to wait for the commission’s final report (this was presented in November of the same year) before giving a voice to the “healthy indignation” of the people. They used the Lenten pastoral letter to reflect on ways that corruption destroys the ideal of a just society, to propose ways to overcome corruption and to allow the popular feeling of indignation to bear fruit in justice and equity. This is the indignation of those who “work for a living while respecting the demands of justice”.
There were probably many who accused them of meddling in politics and truth be told prophetic pronouncement should be considered as meddling in politics. When, recently, Pope Francis said that Donald Trump, the Republican presidential hopeful, is not Christian, he was accused of meddling in politics. The Pope quipped back that his was a compliment, as Aristotle says that humans are political animals!
The weakness of the institutions is mentioned by the bishops as one of the causes of corruption. They add to the list a corrupting situation that gives rise to fears and discourages principled employees from disclosing corrupt practices.
There is also an ethos and a worldview which favour corruption. This includes the belief that reduces humans to just one of their need, namely consumption or the attitude which considers humans as consumer goods which can be thrown away. Add to that the spiral of competition whereby one always wishes to possess more without regard for the less well-off. And finally the attitude of excessive individualism that blunts the feeling of solidarity and debunks the idea of the common good defined by Pope Benedict as the good of us all.
Legislation and a free press are essential in the fight against corruption. Equally important is the formation of consciences and fomenting of a genuine ethical ethos of solidarity, respect of human dignity and the common good.
The bishops of Quebec quote the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly to buttress its arguments. “Unless those who govern do so exclusively for the good of society, public trust in them, and in democracy itself, will suffer.”
The assembly offers an economic argument against corruption stating that economic development depends on trust.
“In a corruption-free society, citizens can go about their business knowing that they contribute to the public weal… Where such trust does not exist, however, everybody becomes suspicious. Greed and egoism replace the legitimate quest for the betterment of one’s condition.”
The bishops of Quebec make their own the assembly’s comparing of corruption to a cancer on the bodies of our society. I adopt that description as the title of this commentary in the belief that, unfortunately, this cancer is rapidly spreading among us suffocating political institutions after it deprived them of the life-giving oxygen called trust.
(The whole statement of the Bishops of Quebec can be accessed from http://www.crc-canada.org/en/node/1747)
joseph.borg@um.edu.mt