Majorities make mistakes, natural law must be the guide of civil society, asserts Pope Benedict

Vatican City, Oct 5, 2007 / 07:42 am

This morning Pope Benedict XVI spoke with great force about how the study of natural law guarantees freedom and guards the dignity of all people. He also pointed out that contrary to the modern perception, majorities are not always right, but rather, that the natural law should prevail over pluralities as the measure of what is best for the common good.

Speaking to Cardinal William Levada and the rest of the members of the International Theological Commission, who just completed their annual meeting, Benedict XVI pointed out the importance of their study of the natural law.

The doctrine on natural law "achieves two essential aims: it makes it clear that the ethical content of the Christian faith is not an imposition dictated from outside man's conscience, but has its basis in human nature itself; and on the other hand, by starting from the basis of natural law… it lays the foundations for dialogue with all men and women of good will, and with civil society more generally."

Society Today

Demonstrating his keen awareness of the present-day societal conditions, the Holy Father said, the original evidence for the foundations of human beings and of their ethical behavior has been lost, and the doctrine of natural moral law clashes with other concepts which run directly contrary to it. All this has enormous consequences on civil and social order."

The pontiff also pointed out a problem that many modern democracies are facing. “What dominates today is a positivist conception of law" according to which "humanity, or society, or in effect the majority of citizens, become the ultimate source for civil legislation.”

Majorities can make mistakes

In a comment that brings to mind the red-blue battles of the 2004 elections in the United States the Pope said,  “[t]he problem that arises is not, then, the search for good but the search for power, or rather the balance of power. At the root of this tendency is ethical relativism, in which some people even see one of the principal conditions for democracy because, they feel, relativism guarantees tolerance and mutual respect. ... But if this were true, the majority at any given moment would become the ultimate source for law, and history shows with great clarity that majorities can make mistakes."

"When," the Holy Father proceeded, "the fundamental essentials are at stake: human dignity, human life, the institution of the family and the equity of the social order (in other words the fundamental rights of man), no law made by men and women can subvert the norm written by the Creator in man's heart without society itself being dramatically struck ... at its very core.

Only Natural Law protects freedom

Thus natural law is a true guarantee for everyone to live freely and with respect for their dignity, protected from all ideological manipulation and from all arbitrary abuses of the powerful. No one can disregard this appeal.

"If," he added, "by reason of a tragic clouding of the collective conscience, skepticism and ethical relativism managed to annul the fundamental principles of natural moral law, the very democratic order itself would be profoundly undermined at its foundations. Against such clouding - which is a crisis for human, even more than for Christian, civilization - the consciences of all men and women of good will must be mobilized, both lay people and followers of religions other than Christianity, so that together they may make an effective commitment to creating ... the conditions necessary for a full awareness of the inalienable value of natural moral law."

Benedict XVI concluded by stressing that "the advance of individuals and of society along the path of true progress" depends upon respect for natural moral law, "in conformity with right reason, which is participation in the eternal Reason of God."