GIVEN HER UNIVERSAL MISSION by her Lord, one extended to all mankind without exclusion, the Church believes she "has the mission of restoring the unity of the human family lost at the tower of Babel."* That unity is not based upon some false, secular, materialistic notion of forced unity. Rather, the unity of nations and cultures sought by the Church is one brought "in Christ," and "through the Church, morality, and law."** Clearly, the unity of mankind in Christ, through the Church, morality, and law "is not yet becoming a reality."*** (Compendium, No. 433). There is much that impedes it.
The world is rent by divisions: of nation, of peoples, of cultures, of races, of religions, which--when viewed in non-personalistic, materialistic, ethnocentric, ideological, or chauvinistic ways--serve as a centripetal force that work against building an international community ordered toward the universal common good. It is as if nations and peoples are working at cross-purposes of humankind, and so we suffer from the evils of substantial injustice, violence, and war.
"The coexistence among nations," if it is to exist, must be "based on the same values that should guide relations among human beings: truth, justice, active solidarity and freedom." (Compendium, No. 433) There is not one morality for individuals, and another for nation states. All men and all nations are bound by their duties to God and to the natural moral law.
The Church insists in the ideal that the relations among "peoples and political communities be justly regulated according to the principles of reason, equity, law and negotiation," and that these should exclude "recourse to violence and war, as well as to forms of discrimination, intimidation, and deceit." (Compendium, No 433)
The relationship among political communities must not be lawless; rather, the relationship must conform with international law, the ius gentium or law of nations, a law which "becomes the guarantor of the international order." The sources of the international law are various and diverse, including from international customs, agreements, treaties, accords, charters, and protocols. Unique to international law, since there is no one governing or enforcing entity, international law is an endeavor largely voluntary. Nevertheless, because the relationship among nations is based upon law, it is a juridical community.
This international order should be distinguished from a one-world government, as the international order is one that seeks "coexistence among political communities," which is to say nations, each of which "seek individually to promote the common good of [its] citizens and strive collectively to guarantee that of all peoples." This sort of relationship, however, will be informed by the awareness that "the common good of a nation cannot be separated from the good of the entire human family." (Compendium, No. 434)
"The international community is a juridical community founded on the sovereignty of each member State, without bonds of subordination that deny or limit its independence." (Compendium, No. 434) There is no question of trying to establish an international community which violates this sovereignty, or which fails to recognize the "distinctive characteristics of each people." Indeed, the sovereignty of the nation states is an effort to give expression to such distinctive characteristics.
(Compendium, No. 435)
Though the Church supports the notion of national sovereignty as an essential component of the international order, it also insists that the nation-state, and the sovereignty which defines it, is not an absolute value.
National sovereignty does not exist so that the mighty might reign. In the international order, where the natural law must reign, might does not make right. National sovereignty is therefore subordinate to the demands of justice, the principles of natural moral law, and, ultimately, to God to whom all mankind is ordered.
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*J. Brian Benestad, Church, State, and Society: An Introduction to Catholic Social Doctrine (Catholic University of America: 2010), 381.
**Benestad, 381, 382.
***It is unfortunate that the Church in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church does not address the claims (increasingly truculent) of her rival in universality: Islam. Islam, at least in its traditional form, views the world in a markedly different way from the Church. Islam broadly divides the world into two: the House of Islam (Dar al-Islam, دار الإسلام) where Shari'a, a law against the natural moral law and human dignity in numerous particulars, is enforced and Islam is superior and the House of War (Dar al-Harb, دار الحرب). Some groups further seek the revival of a central governing authority, the caliphate or khalifa (خلافة). Islam, it hardly need be noted, is thoroughly anti-Christian in spirit in the sense that its foundational documents (the Qur'an, Ahadith) and law (the shari'a) roundly condemn central tenets of the Christian faith (Trinity, Christ as God, the crucifixion and redemptive death of Christ, the natural moral law (as distinguished from divine positive law) as indicating the will of God, the authority of the New Testament). Islam is also biased toward violence (e.g., the "Verse of the Sword," Surah 9 (at-Taubah), which abrogates any revelations to the contrary) in the imposition of its credo, which is largely one of submission to law. In comparing the two religions, one might point out the obvious: Christian flags typically bear the Cross, a symbol of suffering violence; Muslims flags sport the sabre, the sword, a symbol of wielding violence. There will be no workable international order as long as Islamic chauvinism exists.
The world is rent by divisions: of nation, of peoples, of cultures, of races, of religions, which--when viewed in non-personalistic, materialistic, ethnocentric, ideological, or chauvinistic ways--serve as a centripetal force that work against building an international community ordered toward the universal common good. It is as if nations and peoples are working at cross-purposes of humankind, and so we suffer from the evils of substantial injustice, violence, and war.
"The coexistence among nations," if it is to exist, must be "based on the same values that should guide relations among human beings: truth, justice, active solidarity and freedom." (Compendium, No. 433) There is not one morality for individuals, and another for nation states. All men and all nations are bound by their duties to God and to the natural moral law.
The Church insists in the ideal that the relations among "peoples and political communities be justly regulated according to the principles of reason, equity, law and negotiation," and that these should exclude "recourse to violence and war, as well as to forms of discrimination, intimidation, and deceit." (Compendium, No 433)
The relationship among political communities must not be lawless; rather, the relationship must conform with international law, the ius gentium or law of nations, a law which "becomes the guarantor of the international order." The sources of the international law are various and diverse, including from international customs, agreements, treaties, accords, charters, and protocols. Unique to international law, since there is no one governing or enforcing entity, international law is an endeavor largely voluntary. Nevertheless, because the relationship among nations is based upon law, it is a juridical community.
This international order should be distinguished from a one-world government, as the international order is one that seeks "coexistence among political communities," which is to say nations, each of which "seek individually to promote the common good of [its] citizens and strive collectively to guarantee that of all peoples." This sort of relationship, however, will be informed by the awareness that "the common good of a nation cannot be separated from the good of the entire human family." (Compendium, No. 434)
"The international community is a juridical community founded on the sovereignty of each member State, without bonds of subordination that deny or limit its independence." (Compendium, No. 434) There is no question of trying to establish an international community which violates this sovereignty, or which fails to recognize the "distinctive characteristics of each people." Indeed, the sovereignty of the nation states is an effort to give expression to such distinctive characteristics.
The Magisterium recognizes the importance of national sovereignty, understood above all as an expression of the freedom that must govern relations between States. Sovereignty represents the subjectivity of a nation, in the political, economic, social and even cultural sense. The cultural dimension takes on particular importance as a source of strength in resisting acts of aggression or forms of domination that have repercussions on a country's freedom. Culture constitutes the guarantee for the preservation of the identity of a people and expresses and promotes its spiritual sovereignty.
(Compendium, No. 435)
Though the Church supports the notion of national sovereignty as an essential component of the international order, it also insists that the nation-state, and the sovereignty which defines it, is not an absolute value.
National sovereignty is not, however, absolute. Nations can freely renounce the exercise of some of their rights in view of a common goal, in the awareness that they form a "family of nations" where mutual trust, support and respect must prevail. In this perspective, special attention should be given to the fact that there is still no international agreement that adequately addresses "the rights of nations," the preparation of which could profitably deal with questions concerning justice and freedom in today's world.(Compendium, No. 435)
National sovereignty does not exist so that the mighty might reign. In the international order, where the natural law must reign, might does not make right. National sovereignty is therefore subordinate to the demands of justice, the principles of natural moral law, and, ultimately, to God to whom all mankind is ordered.
________________________________________
*J. Brian Benestad, Church, State, and Society: An Introduction to Catholic Social Doctrine (Catholic University of America: 2010), 381.
**Benestad, 381, 382.
***It is unfortunate that the Church in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church does not address the claims (increasingly truculent) of her rival in universality: Islam. Islam, at least in its traditional form, views the world in a markedly different way from the Church. Islam broadly divides the world into two: the House of Islam (Dar al-Islam, دار الإسلام) where Shari'a, a law against the natural moral law and human dignity in numerous particulars, is enforced and Islam is superior and the House of War (Dar al-Harb, دار الحرب). Some groups further seek the revival of a central governing authority, the caliphate or khalifa (خلافة). Islam, it hardly need be noted, is thoroughly anti-Christian in spirit in the sense that its foundational documents (the Qur'an, Ahadith) and law (the shari'a) roundly condemn central tenets of the Christian faith (Trinity, Christ as God, the crucifixion and redemptive death of Christ, the natural moral law (as distinguished from divine positive law) as indicating the will of God, the authority of the New Testament). Islam is also biased toward violence (e.g., the "Verse of the Sword," Surah 9 (at-Taubah), which abrogates any revelations to the contrary) in the imposition of its credo, which is largely one of submission to law. In comparing the two religions, one might point out the obvious: Christian flags typically bear the Cross, a symbol of suffering violence; Muslims flags sport the sabre, the sword, a symbol of wielding violence. There will be no workable international order as long as Islamic chauvinism exists.
