|
|
|
The Catechism
of the Catholic Church defines authority as “the quality by virtue of
which persons or institutions make laws and give orders to men and expect
obedience from them” (1897). While in our society authority is often
cast in a negative light – as indicated by the connotation of
“authoritarian regimes,” for instance – in itself and independent of
abuse, authority is a positive reality, rooted in divine providence and
human nature. Without it, society would lack cohesion and direction. The
maintenance of peace and the pursuit of a common goal would not be
sustainable (think, for example, of a football team without a coaching
staff, an orchestra without a conductor, a high-school class without a
teacher). Genuine
authority is not lording it over others for one’s personal advantage; it
is rather a matter of rendering a very great service to others. Hence we
speak of those in office as “public servants” and of the Pope as
“the servant of the servants of God.” Church
Teaching on Civil Authority • Of special importance for human life is
the role of civil or political authority, which has as its task the
defense and promotion of the temporal common good, most fully realized in
the political community. Civil authority derives its justification or
legitimacy, that which distinguishes it from mere force or power, from
right reason and the pursuit of the common good. The New Testament
epistles contain several indications that Christians should respect and
obey civil authorities, for “[t]here is no authority except from God”
(Rom 13:1). This statement of the Apostle Paul appears all the more
radical, not to say disturbing, when one recalls that the reigning
authority of his time was none other than the emperor Nero. Here the
commentary of St. John Chrysostom, a Father of the Church, is of great
help: “What are you saying? Is every ruler appointed by God? I do not
say that, he [Paul] replies, for I am not dealing now with individual
rulers, but with authority itself. What I say is, that it is the divine
wisdom, and not mere chance, that has ordained that there should be
government, that some should command and others obey” (homily; cited in
Pope John XXIII, encyclical Peace on Earth, Pacem in Terris, 46 [1963]). Another
Church Father, St. Augustine, distinguishes between true authority,
exercised for the good of the governed and the peace of the community, and
corrupt authority, lusting after domination and oppression, a consequence
of sin. Political life as we know it presents powerful temptations in this
second direction: “You know that those who are supposed to rule over the
Gentiles lord it over them” (Mk 10:42; cf. Lk 22:25). In his City of
God, Augustine chronicles the progressive degeneration of the Romans’
political motivation, from the love of freedom, to love of glory, to love
of power and domination. By contrast, “[i]n the household of the just
man who ‘lives on the basis of faith’ . . . even those who
give orders are the servants of those whom they appear to command. For
they do not give orders because of a lust for domination but from a
dutiful concern for the interests of others, not with pride in taking
precedence over others, but with compassion in taking care of others”
(City of God, XIX, 14; cf. 12 and 15). St. Thomas
Aquinas builds on Augustine’s (and Aristotle’s) distinction between
government of free people and mastery over slaves. Only the first sort is
proper to family and political life. St. Thomas
argues that, even in the absence of original sin, civil authority or
government would likely have existed among humans. This is so for two
reasons. First, the social nature of man requires that some in the
community direct the many and varied activities of its members to a common
good, that some be vigilant for the good of the others as their principal
task or job. The second reason is that, even if sin did not exist, some
persons would have advanced further in wisdom and justice than others. For
the good of the community, it would follow that these should govern and
direct their society: “[I]f one man greatly surpassed another in
knowledge and justice, it would be all wrong if he did not perform this
function [of principal or director] for the benefit of others; as it says
in I Peter [4:10], ‘everyone putting the grace he has received at the
disposal of each other.’ So Augustine too says, in Book XIX of the City
of God, that ‘the just do not rule out of a lust to dominate, but out of
the duty to look after things’ (ch.14); and ‘this is what the order of
nature prescribes, this is how God instituted man’ (ch.15)” (Summa
Theologiae, I, 96, 4; cf. 92, 1, ad 2; 96, 3). The
Magisterium in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries has developed
this perennial teaching on authority, relating it to modern forms of
political life and articulating it in terms more accessible to people
today. In Vatican
II’s Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et
Spes, for example, we read that “[t]he persons who go to make up the
political community are many and varied; quite rightly, then, they may
veer towards widely differing points of view. Therefore, lest the
political community be ruined while everyone follows his own opinion, an
authority is needed to guide the energies of all towards the common good
– not mechanistically or despotically, but by acting above all as a
moral force based on freedom and a sense of responsibility” (emphasis
added). Political authority should respect the principle of subsidiarity
and endeavor to earn the consent of the governed, without which even the
wisest leadership or best constitution may be rendered ineffective.
Insofar as possible, “the choice of the political regime and the
appointment of rulers are left to the free decision of the citizens.”
Whatever concrete form civil authority takes in a given society, its
central aim must always be “the formation of a human person who is
cultured, peace-loving, and well disposed towards his fellow men with a
view to the benefit of the whole human race” (Gaudium et Spes, 74). Role of Civil
Authority • The particular duties of civil authorities include working
for the common good, always using means that respect the natural law and
the dignity of human persons. They must ensure that legislation and
institutions reflect as far a possible a “just hierarchy of values,”
and facilitate the citizens’ exercise of freedom and responsibility.
Political authority must “practice distributive justice wisely,” with
equity and “with a view to harmony and peace” (CCC 2236).
Consequently, political authority may regulate the legitimate exercise of
the right to property for the sake of the common good. In our own
day, there is an especially urgent need for civil authority to safeguard
and promote marriage and the family, and to protect human life from the
moment of conception until natural death. Finally, civil authority must
work for peace and provide for the common defense, imposing on citizens
the obligations necessary to this end. When war seems unavoidable, those
in office are responsible for evaluating the circumstances at hand in
light of the principles of “just war doctrine.” (For a fuller
exposition of these and other important functions of civil authority, see
the sections of the Catechism listed below.) In the
endeavor to fulfill their difficult and noble mission, those invested with
authority have special need of the virtue of prudence regarding the common
good and the means by which it may be effectively pursued. Moreover, being
among those “who by nature or office are obliged to teach and educate
others,” they must take particular care not to give scandal, whether in
their personal conduct or by means of the customs, laws, and social
structures they establish or administer (cf. CCC 2284-2287). Citizens on
their part have a duty to respect and obey just authority and its
legitimate demands. They have the correlative duty to resist corrupt
authority when it commands acts against the divine law, the natural moral
law, or the rights of the human person. See: Church
and State; Citizenship; Civil Disobedience; Civil Law; Common Good;
Natural Law; Politics; Property; Religious Liberty; Revolution; Social
Justice; Subsidiarity. Suggested
Readings: CCC 1806, 1883-84, 1897-1904, 1906, 1909, 1917-1923, 1927, 1930,
2109, 2197, 2202, 2207-2211, 2229, 2234-2246, 2285, 2310, 2321, 2406,
2420, 2498-2499; Vatican Council II, Pastoral Constitution on the Church
in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, 52, 59, 65-71, 73-76. Leo XIII,
Diuturnum Illud; Immortale Dei. John XXIII, Peace on Earth, Pacem in
Terris, Chs. III-IV. Y. Simon, A General Theory of Authority. Mary M. Keys Russell Shaw. Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Catholic Doctrine. Copyright © 1997, O
For any
inquiries or comment, you may contact the WEBMASTER
|
