TODAY'S DISEAIS IS APATY

Power, democracy   and the common good. 

"In democracies 

the exercise 

of power becomes

 service."

At the conference held on April 24, at the Pontifical Lateran University, promoted by the Cortile dei Gentili, the cardinal spoke about the relationship between religion and power in the light of the Scriptures. In the confrontation between believers and non-believers, the writer D'Arcais underlined the importance and effectiveness of a dialogue "without diplomatism". 

Monsignor Staglianò: democracy is service and affirmation of social trust, otherwise there is a risk of authoritarian drift

-         by Antonella Palermo - Vatican City

Render to Caesar what is Caesar's, to God what is God's. It is the biblical fulcrum referred to by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, creator of the Courtyard of the Gentiles, who in the round table held today, 24 April, at the Pontifical Lateran University and moderated by Monsignor Antonio Staglianò, president of the Pontifical Academy of Theology, illustrates the relationship between religion and politics as offered by the Holy Scriptures.

Don't confuse secular with secularist

The cardinal, president emeritus of what was the Pontifical Council for Culture, highlights the difficulty of the current challenge of walking between a theocratic model, with its statist parallel, of power management and a model that takes into account the political teaching of Christ. On the one hand, the absolute verticalism which derives power from a superior entity or which confines the sacred to an intimate temple without social implications, on the other the assumption that human society is the true subject, in which there are some values foundations proposed by religion, since man and woman are the image of God (even women, the cardinal specifies, "we often forget"). The issue in constant play is, Ravasi warns, confusing secularist with secularist. And in this regard, he invites us not to forget that "Christ was a layman. Therefore his presence allows us to understand how he himself gave the impulse to overcome the theocratic model".

Politics and democracy in a liquid society

The theme is taken up again by President Giuliano Amato who, after a historical summary of the process of affirmation of democracy in the West, asks how to protect the common good in the face of the risk, inherent in the very concept of democracy, of the disintegration of power. The point is, essentially, "how to restore a common platform of cohesive factors". Because politics, for example if the function of parties is discredited, ends up being deprived of those elements that absorb tensions between individual interests. The party system projects politics towards future horizons, Amato maintains, which otherwise limits itself exclusively to re-acting, and not to acting, as it should, on impulses that crush it on the contingencies of the present. "When we lost the visions provided by the parties, societies shattered", he explains and underlines that the individualisation of the liquid society contributed to the phenomenon. “In this context, aggregation on the extremes becomes even more harmful and unproductive”, he underlines, citing among others the aspect of diverging positions on an issue such as abortion. “From the treatment of taxes to that of immigrants, it is not easy to find cohesion – he adds – but it is fundamental”.

What dialogue do we believe in?

Paolo Flores D'Arcais, director of the MicroMega magazine, expresses his dissent by insisting on the fact that democracy "relies only on itself " and that "in the discussion for the deliberation that leads to the norm, the topic of God cannot be inserted otherwise we are no longer dealing with citizens." The philosopher specifies that in a democratic regime only “established facts, the use of logic and constitutional values (those that make us co-citizens) count”. He also invites us to clear the language of ambiguity: "Which God are we referring to? What concept of democracy, given that even some despots speak of democracy?". The director says he believes in "dialogue without diplomacy", the only one in which all differences are highlighted, otherwise any common action will be weakened.

The "disease" of apathy and the risks of authoritarian tendencies

Replying to D'Arcais on some aspects concerning the end of life and self-determination is Monsignor Staglianò: "When I say I decide for myself, I must understand that that 'for me' is a social product", he states, while welding together solidarity and citizenship speaks Monsignor Patrick Valdrini , professor of the Lateran University, who points out that "the faithful have the right to be recognized as a freedom that belongs to all citizens and a culture acquired in the Church, without this separating them from the rest of society" . And if Cardinal Ravasi comments, in agreement with D'Arcais, denouncing a particular form of illness which defines apatheism, or indifference, even in the religious sphere, which has truly become an enemy of democracy, on the eve of 25 April, Liberation Day for Italy, Monsignor Staglianò, to Vatican News, specified that " within democracies the exercise of power becomes service ". When this is not the case, he underlines, it becomes authoritarianism.

And he returns to the value of the common good: it "cannot be the sum of the interests of individual groups, but must be social trust within a peaceful civil coexistence, where all citizens can show solidarity and love each other. A democratic society that would prevent human ability to express oneself would not be such."

Vatican News