Is the Pope Some One World Government Type- A Response

Getting people to understand Church and Papal Documents is not a easy task. It is not helpful that the Vatican is to say the least not an very efficient PR machine.

Now of course there is a tendency to view things through a particularly local and political prism. This is a problem.

Kathryn Jean Lopez , who has been giving good coverage, at the Natioanl Review had a good interview that sort of shows this. One of her questions was:

KATHRYN JEAN LOPEZ: Was there anything new or surprising the pope said about labor unions?

KISHORE JAYABALAN: Not in the context of Catholic social teaching. Pope Benedict says unions "have always been encouraged and supported by the Church." But he adds that unions should be "open to new perspectives that are emerging in the world of work," and that:

The Church's traditional teaching makes a valid distinction between the respective roles and functions of trade unions and politics. This distinction allows unions to identify civil society [rather than the state] as the proper setting for their necessary activity of defending and promoting labor, especially on behalf of exploited and unrepresented workers, whose woeful condition is often ignored by the distracted eye of society.
I take this to mean that he is against the politicization of unions and especially against "closed" shops. Unions are legitimate expressions of free association in civil society so long as they do not use violence or intimidation to enlist new members or as a negotiating tool.

Now I am glad she asked that question because no doubt many Catholics and other are saying Is the Pope saying we have support anything the Teachers Unions and the UAW want? Does that mean we have support Card Check!! Well of course not.

When I got to the part near the end where the Pope talked about a worldwide political authority with teeth I said to myself oh no!!! I very much that had been phrased a tad better. It would have been very helpful for instance if Paragraph 57 where he was giving qualifiers of where he was going with this would have been much more closer to that text.

The Conservative Action Inst has a nice post today where they show what was apparent to me but not to the many reporters with their breathless headlines. See International Governance in Caritas in Veritate and The Road to Serfdom.

This is of course nothing new. The United States has many trade agreements with nations and groups of nations that are subject to arbitration. If we did not there would be chaos, tariff wars, etc etc. We don't want to return to those days.

Anyway I hope that this little part of the papal document does not overwhelm the meat of the document and teaching that is found elsewhere.