Oct 28, 2010
Pope Benedict recently made a state visit to England. His address to Parliament was eloquent and one which I recommend everyone read. It contained great wisdom in examining a fundamental challenge faced by modern secular societies. Wisdom can come to us from various sources.
One possible source of wisdom is from those who have a wealth of experience, especially experience learned from times of struggle. Pope Benedict’s talk, which is a continuation of the teaching of Pope John Paul II, offers much for our reflection. These two popes offer our society guidance derived from brilliant minds and challenging personal experience.
Popes John Paul and Benedict were both raised in countries, Poland and Germany, which during the twentieth century experienced both fascism and communism. These two different political systems had at least one thing in common. Both told the people that their human dignity and the principles of human morality did not come from God but from the state. The fascists told people that their dignity derived from the fact that they were members of the Reich. The communists told people that their dignity came from being workers for the state.
Pope John Paul II, during the more than thirty years that he served in his native Poland, taught that this message was a lie and that the dignity of the individual, and the moral principles governing human behavior, come, not from a political structure or system, nor from those who currently hold power, but from God and the natural law God has placed in human hearts. This was a difficult message to preach in a dictatorship but Pope John Paul II, as a man of faith, was convinced that the truth will ultimately and inescapably triumph over error.
Ultimately, communism fell under its own weight or error.
It is notable that, after communism fell in Eastern Europe, Pope John Paul II increasingly directed to the democracies of the western world this same message he had taught under communism. He did so because he saw a similar error creeping into western thought. Today Pope Benedict continues this powerful and timely message.
Why would these two men offer this message to the West? The reason is this: in our increasingly secular society many are reluctant to acknowledge that our human dignity and moral principles ultimately come from God. In our increasingly secular society, any mention of God can be portrayed by some to be out of step with the proper functioning of a pluralistic democracy. It is felt by some that it is far better to avoid the mention of the divine or attributing to God any role or significance in the operation of a modern secular state.
The fact that England would invite the Pope to make a state visit to that country was itself historic. But the visit was made even more significant by the fact that the Pope was invited to address Parliament and the setting was remarkable.
The address was in the Palace of Westminster, but not in the House of Commons or the House of Lords. Parliament assembled in Westminster Hall --- the very room where 500 years earlier Thomas More was tried and condemned for treason. His treason consisted of this, that he would not act against his conscience and assent to what he considered wrong. He would not separate his faith and values from his public life. As Thomas said as he placed his head into the block to be executed. “I die as the King’s true servant, but as God’s servant first…”
The mutual gesture of reconciliation in having the Pope address Parliament in that Hall was lost on no one present. It was in this setting that the Pope laid before Parliament the challenge modern secular society must confront.
The challenging question is this: If human dignity does not come from God, where else can it come from? In a democratic society the only answer must be that it comes from the consent of those governed or, in other words, from the state created by consensus of those governed. This echoes back to the message of totalitarian regimes with chilling histories. For what the state can grant, the state can revoke. Even in a democracy, popular consensus can be an uncertain foundation for so important a matter as individual dignity.
The dilemma, as stated by Pope Benedict, is this:
