The Pope Is Making Politicians Nervous Again- Talks About Natural Law and Other Things They wish Not To Hear

THe Holy Father had a very important speech in front of the INTERNATIONAL THEOLOGICAL COMMISSION today. I am going to post the whole translation from the Ratizinger Forum thread. However if you don't wish to read the whole text this Catholic News Service gives a good run down.

Here is a translation of the address delivered by the Holy Father to the members of the International Theological Commission at the Hall of the Popes today in the Apostolic Palace. He spoke after a tribute from CArdinal William Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and ex-officio president5 of the Commission.

Lord Cardinal, venerated brothers in the episcopate, illustrious professors and dear co-workers, It is with particular pleasure that I welcome you at the end of your annual Plenary Session. I wish, above all, to express my thanks for the words which you, Lord Cardinal, as president of the International Theological Commission, expressed in your greeting.

The work done during this seventh five-year work period of the ITC, as you have reminded us, has already resulted in the document entitled "Hope of salvation for infants who die unbaptized". It treats the question in the context of God's plan for universal salvation, of the universality of Christ's unique mediation, of the primacy of divine grace and the sacramentality of the Church. I trust that this document may be a useful reference for the ministers of the Church and for theologians, as well as an aid and a source of comfort for the faithful who have suffered the unexpected death of a baby before it has received the cleansing sacrament of regeneration.

Your reflections could also be an occasion for further examination in depth on the topic. Indeed, we need to penetrate increasingly to an understanding of the different manifestations of God's love for all men, revealed to us in Christ, especially for the least and for the poorest. I rejoice with you at the results you have reached and encourage you at the same time to proceed with commitment to the study of other questions proposed for this five-year period which you have started working on in past years and during this plenary session.

As Cardinal Levada has reminded us, these concern the foundations of natural moral law, and the principles of theology and its methods. In an audience on December 1, 2005, I presented some fundamental lines of work that the theologian should carry out in communion with the living voice of the Church under the guidance of the Magisterium. I wish to dwell this time on the topic of natural moral law. As you probably know, at the invitation of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, various university centers and associations have been carrying out symposiums and studies to identify lines and convergences that will be useful for a constructive and effective study in depth of the doctrine on natural moral law.

This invitation has so far received nothing but positive and remarkable response. Thus, it is with great interest that the contribution of this Commission is awaited, which is aimed above all at justifying and illustrating the foundations of a universal ethic - taken from the great patrimony of human knowledge - which in some way constitutes the participation of the rational being in the eternal law of God.

This is not therefore a topic that is exclusively or principally confessional, even if the doctrine of natural moral law is illuminated and developed fully in the light of Christian revelation and man's fulfillment in the mystery of Christ. The Catechism of the Catholic Church summarizes the central content of the doctrine on natural law, stressing that it "indicates the primary and essential norms which regulate moral life. Its pivot is the aspiration towards God and submission to him, who is the source and judge of every good, as well as our sense of other persons as equal to ourselves." In its principal precepts, natural law is expressed in the Decalogue. This law is called natural not in relation to irrational beings, but because the reason that promulgates it is part of human nature. (n. 1955).

This doctrine allows us to reach two essential objectives. On the one hand, we understand that the ethical content of Christian faith does not constitute an externally dictated imposition on the conscience of man, but it has its basis in human nature itself. On the other hand, starting with natural law which is itself accessible to every rational creature, we have a basis for entering into dialog with all men of good will, and more generally, with civilian and secular society.

But precisely because of the influence of ideological and cultural factors, civilian and secular society today is in a situation of disorientation and confusion - it has lost the original evidence of the foundations for the human being and his ethical behavior, and the doctrine of natural moral law is opposed by concepts which are a direct negation of it. All this has enormous and serious consequences for the civilian and social order.

Among not a few thinkers today, it is the positivist concept of right which prevails. According to them, humanity, or society, or even, the majority of citizens, is the ultimate source of civil law. Therefore the problem they pose is not the quest for good but for power, or rather of a balance of power. At the root of this tendency is ethical relativism, which some see as one of the principal conditions of democracy, because relativism would guarantee tolerance and reciprocal personal respect. But if that were so, then the majority at any given time would become the ultimate source of right.

History shows with great clarity that the majority can be wrong. True rationality is not guaranteed by the consensus of a great number of persons, but only by the transparency of human reason to Creative Reason, and a common attentiveness to this source of our own rationality.

When the fundamental demands of human dignity, of human dignity, of the family as an institution, of equity in the social order, that is, the fundamental rights of man - when these are in play, then no law made by man can subvert the norms inscribed by the Creator himself in the hearts of man. Otherwise society itself would be struck dramatically in what constitutes its irrenunciable base. Thus, natural law becomes the true guarantee offered to every person so he can live free and respected in his dignity, protected from every ideological manipulation and from every whim and abuse by stronger persons.

No one can exempt himself from this claim. If, through a tragic blackout of collective consciousness, skepticism and relativism should end up nullifying the fundamental principles of natural moral law, then that very democratic order itself would be mortally wounded in its foundations.

Against this blacking out, which is a crisis of human civilization even before it is one of Christianity, it is necessary to mobilize the conscience of all men of good will, laymen and even religious persons belonging to all of mankind's various religions, so that together, and proactively, they may commit themselves to creating - in our culture, and in political and civilian society - the conditions necessary for a full awareness of the inalienable value of natural moral law.

Indeed, the advancement of individuals and society along the way of authentic progress in conformity with right reason - which is participation in God's eternal Reason - depends on respect for natural moral law. Dearest ones, with great acknowledgment I express to you all my appreciation for the dedication which marks your work and my respect for the work that you do. In extending my best wishes for your future tasks, I affectionately grant you my apostolic blessing.