VATICAN CITY, MAY 19, 2006 (Zenit.org).- There is only social justice when there is authentic democracy, says Benedict XVI.
The Pope made these comments today when receiving those participating in a congress organized by the Vatican Foundation Centesimus Annus-Pro Pontifice. The congress, entitled “Democracy, Institutions and Social Justice,” was ending today.
The Holy Father pointed out the decisive elements for a system of government to be able to be regarded as authentically democratic.
One of these elements is the “tenacious, lasting and shared effort for the promotion of social justice,” the Pontiff said.
Benedict XVI continued: “Democracy only attains its full realization when each person and nation is able to accede to primary goods — life, food, water, health, education, work, assurance of rights — through the ordering of internal and international relations that ensure for everyone the possibility to participate.
“And there can only be authentic social justice in a perspective of genuine solidarity, which commits to living and working always with one another, and never one against or to the detriment of others.
“The great challenge of lay Christians in today’s world context is to make all this tangible.”
Credible institutions
According to the Pope, the other necessary element for a democracy is “appropriate, credible and authoritative institutions, which are not oriented to the mere management of public power, but are capable of promoting articulated levels of popular participation, in respect of the traditions of each nation and with the constant concern to protect its identity.”
Although the Holy Father referred to “the slowness with which democracy progresses,” he noted that it “continues to be the most valuable historical tool, if well used, to decide one’s future in a worthy manner.”
The objective of the Vatican Foundation Centesimus Annus-Pro Pontifice, instituted in 1993 by Pope John Paul II, is to promote knowledge and practice of the social doctrine of the Church.
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