(Editor’s note: Famed Canadian Catholic writer and novelist Michael O’Brien has issued this commentary in response to various media reports which suggest that Pope Benedict XVI has proposed a one-world governmental authority.)
December 11, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In his December 3rd address to the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Pope Benedict once again reminded the gathered bishops and priests that the Church has a crucial role in any discussions of new models of world authority or bodies that regulate global relationships. He believes that one of our tasks in the new evangelization is to be a voice of Truth in all such forums where the future configuration of governing humanity is being discussed.
Citing his encyclical Caritas in Veritate, he asserts that any new forms of authority in the human community must be vitally concerned with “the moral order,” and the Church offers to assist by providing “criteria for judgment and practical guidelines that can ensure the anthropological and ethical framework around the common good (cf. Caritas in Veritate, 67).”
We must promote a true vision of man, he says—that is, to defend the inherent dignity of each and all human beings without exception, in order to maintain the fundamental principles that a truly just society is based upon.
Pope Benedict emphasizes that this must not be interpreted as support for the rise of a global super-state ruled by a governing few. He warns that our times are largely dominated by the “Modern idols” of moral relativism, individualism, utilitarianism, consumerism, technocracy, which exalt the rights and comforts of some at the expense of others.
Thus, the extreme danger of entrenching such deformed concepts in “a superpower, concentrated in the hands of a few, which dominates over all peoples, taking advantage of the weak.” New forms of international cooperation, therefore, must be built upon an authentic anthropology based in Natural Law and illuminated by all that Revelation has shown us about the meaning of human life.
Pope Benedict has repeatedly warned in other writings and speeches about the dangers of One World Government, its potential for totalitarian violation of the rights and responsibilities of man. For this reason, honest, informed journalists must take great care to avoid misrepresenting the Pope’s and the Vatican’s positions on these matters.
Too often, his words are taken out of context, the text of news articles and their inflammatory headlines giving the impression that the Church supports One World Government, when in fact it decidedly does not.
See the Pope’s full address here.