The participation of Christians in political activity

Today's democratic societies call for new and fuller forms of participation in public life by Christian and non-Christian citizens alike.

Indeed, all can contribute, by voting in elections for lawmakers and government officials and in other ways as well, to develop political solutions and legislative choices, which in their opinion will benefit the common good. Active, responsible and generous involvement of everyone is the main ingredient for a productive life of a democracy.

Civil society today is undergoing a complex cultural process as the end of an era brings with it a time of uncertainty in the face of something new. A kind of relativism exists today, evident in the conceptualisation and defence of an ethical pluralism, which sanctions, decimates and disintegrates reason and principles of natural, moral law.

Furthermore, it is not unusual to hear the opinion expressed in the public sphere that such ethical pluralism is the very condition for democracy. As a result, citizens claim complete autonomy with regard to their moral choices, and lawmakers maintain that they are respecting this freedom of choice by enacting laws, which ignore the principles of natural ethics and yield to ephemeral cultural and moral trends, as if every possible outlook on life were of equal value.

Political freedom is not - and cannot be - based on the relativistic idea that all conceptions of the human person's good have the same value and truth, but rather, on the fact that politics are concerned with very concrete realisations of the true human and social good is given historical, geographical, economic, technological and cultural contexts.

From the specificity of the task at hand and the variety of circumstances, a plurality of morally acceptable policies and solutions arises. It is not the Church's task to set forth specific political solutions - even less a single solution as the acceptable one - to temporal questions that God has left to the free and responsible judgment of each person.

It is, however, the Church's right and duty to provide a moral judgment on temporal matters when faith or the moral law requires this. If Christians must recognise the legitimacy of differing points of view about the organisation of worldly affairs, they are also called to reject, as injurious to democratic life, a conception of pluralism that reflects moral relativism. Democracy must be based on the true and solid foundation of non-negotiable ethical principles, which are the underpinning of life in society.

As the Second Vatican Council teaches, the protection of the rights of the person is indeed a necessary condition for citizens, individually and collectively, to play an active part in public life and administration. Moreover, the Church does not wish to exercise political power to eliminate the freedom of opinion of Catholics regarding contingent questions. Instead, it intends - as its proper function - to instruct and illuminate the consciences of the faithful, particularly those involved in political life, so that their actions may always serve the integral promotion of the human person and the common good.

The social doctrine of the Church is not an intrusion into the government of individual countries. It's a question of the lay Catholic's duty to be normally coherent, found within one's conscience, which is the so-called 'secular' life.

The branch grafted to the vine which is Christ, bears its fruit in every sphere of existence and activity. In fact, every area of the lay faithful lives, as different as they are, enters into the plan of God, who desires that these very areas be the 'places in time' where the cover of Christ is revealed and realised both for the glory of the Father and service of others.

Every activity, situation and precise responsibility - as, for example, skill and solidarity in work, love and dedication in the family, and the education of children, service to society and public life and the promotion of the truth in the area of culture - are occasions ordained by providence for a "continuous exercise of faith, hope and charity".

Living and acting in conformity with one's conscience on the question of politics is not slavish acceptance of positions alien to politics or some kind of confessionalism, but rather the way in which Christians offer their concrete contribution so that, through political life, society will become more just and more consistent with the dignity of the human person.