Is Benedict in Favor of World Government?

As observers continue to decipher the meaning of Benedict XVI’s latest encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, all appear to agree that the passage of note, the passage that may prove historic in its implications, is the one that is already becoming known as the “world political authority” paragraph:

In the face of the unrelenting growth of global interdependence, there is a strongly felt need, even in the midst of a global recession, for a reform of the United Nations Organization, and likewise of economic institutions and international finance, so that the concept of the family of nations can acquire real teeth. One also senses the urgent need to find innovative ways of implementing the principle of the responsibility to protect and of giving poorer nations an effective voice in shared decision-making. This seems necessary in order to arrive at a political, juridical and economic order which can increase and give direction to international cooperation for the development of all peoples in solidarity. To manage the global economy; to revive economies hit by the crisis; to avoid any deterioration of the present crisis and the greater imbalances that would result; to bring about integral and timely disarmament, food security and peace; to guarantee the protection of the environment and to regulate migration: for all this, there is urgent need of a true world political authority. . . .

Could Benedict be in favor of world government, as many now believe? Taken in the context of papal writings since the dawn of the UN, as well as Benedict’s own opinions, recorded both before and after his election as pope, the passage gains another meaning. It is in reality a profound challenge to the UN, and the other international organizations, to make themselves worthy of authority, of the authority that they already possess, and worthy of the expansion of authority that appears to be necessary in light of the accelerated pace of globalization.

It is true that Benedict believes that a transnational organization must be empowered to address transnational problems. But so has every pope since John XXIII, who wrote in 1963 that “Today the universal common good presents us with problems which are worldwide in their dimensions; problems, therefore, which cannot be solved except by a public authority with power, organization, and means coextensive with these problems, and with a worldwide sphere of activity. Consequently the moral order itself demands the establishment of some such form of public authority.”

But such an authority has been established, and we have lived with it since 1948, and in many ways it has disappointed. So Benedict turns John XXIII’s formulation on its head: Morality no longer simply demands a global social order; now Benedict underscores that this existing social order must operate in accord with morality. He ends his own passage on world authority by stating that “The integral development of peoples and international cooperation require the establishment of a greater international ordering, marked by subsidiarity, for the management of globalization. They also require the construction of a social order that at last conforms to the moral order. . . .” Note the phrase “at last.”

What went wrong? According to Benedict, a world authority worthy of this authority would need “to make a commitment to securing authentic integral human development inspired by the values of charity in truth.” The obvious implication is that the current UN has not made this commitment.

To understand how the UN has failed, we must delve into the rest of the encyclical. According to Benedict, the goal of all international institutions must be “authentic integral human development.” This human development must be inspired by truth, in this case, the truth about humanity. Pursuit of this truth reveals that each human being possesses absolute worth; therefore, authentic human development is predicated on a radical defense of life.

This link is made repeatedly in Caritas in Veritate. “Openness to life is at the center of true development. . . . The acceptance of life strengthens moral fiber and makes people capable of mutual help. . . . They can promote virtuous action within the perspective of production that is morally sound and marked by solidarity, respecting the fundamental right to life of every people and individual.”

To some, it must seem startling how often Benedict comes back to life in an encyclical ostensibly dedicated to economics and globalization. But this must be understood as Benedict’s effort to humanize globalization. It can be seen as the global application of John Paul II’s own encyclical on life, Evengelium Vitae.

Without this understanding of the primacy of life, international development is bound to fail: “Who could measure the negative effects of this kind of mentality for development? How can we be surprised by the indifference shown towards situations of human degradation, when such indifference extends even to our attitude towards what is and is not human?”

Throughout the encyclical, Benedict is unsparing in the ways in which the current international order contributes to this failure; no major front in the war over life is left unmentioned, from population control, to bioethics, to euthanasia.

But none of this should come as a surprise. Since at least as far back as the UN’s major conferences of the 1990s—Cairo and Beijing—Benedict has known that the UN has adopted a model of development conformed to the culture of death. He no doubt assisted John Paul II in his successful efforts to stop these conferences from establishing an international right to abortion-on-demand. At the time, Benedict said, “Today there is no longer a ‘philosophy of love’ but only a ‘philosophy of selfishness.’ It is precisely here that people are deceived. In fact, at the moment they are advised not to love, they are advised, in the final analysis, not to be human. For this reason, at this stage of the development of the new image of the new world, Christians . . . have a duty to protest.”

Now, in his teaching role as pope, Benedict is not simply protesting but offering the Christian alternative, the full exposition of authentic human development. Whether or not the UN can meet the philosophical challenges necessary to promote this true development remains uncertain. But it should not be assumed that Benedict is sanguine; after all, he begins his purported embrace of world government with a call for UN “reform,” not expansion.

You said — You have not proffered a comparison of “the Bible vs.” anything.

—

Ummm..., it was the following... in case you missed it... :-)

Note the comparisons, the reference to the Bible and then the reference to the Catechsim of the Catholic Church. AND..., yes... I do believe what the Bible says, as it’s being presented here... so yes...

Note the “comparison pattern” given in each grouping... it goes

- A Christian ...

- A Catholic ...

In the Catholic one, the reference at the end of the sentence is to the paragraph number from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

From Post #238
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2320658/posts?page=238#238

These comparisons show what Mike Gendron, in summary...

“These thirteen teachings and traditions of Roman Catholicism demonstrate that a Catholic Christian is indeed an oxymoron. They also affirm how man made traditions nullify the Word of God (Mark 7:7-13). There are many Evangelicals and Roman Catholics who are unaware of how diametrically opposed Catholic dogmas are to the Word of God. The truth must be told.”

CATHOLIC CHRISTIANS - IS THIS AN OXYMORON?
http://pro-gospel.org/x2/content/view/32/1/

Webster’s dictionary defines an oxymoron as “a combination of contradictory words,” such as jumbo shrimp, tight slacks and pretty ugly. Would you put Catholic Christian into this category? Some would say “no”, because they believe Roman Catholicism is a Christian denomination. Others, who know the official teachings of the Catholic Church contradict the essentials of the Gospel would say “yes.” We propose that a Catholic Christian is indeed an oxymoron for two reasons: 1) whom we are is what we believe, and 2) it is impossible for anyone to believe two opposing views simultaneously. We recognize that there may be some Christians attending the Catholic Church but if they have believed the Gospel they are no longer Catholics. Let us consider the contradictory beliefs of Catholics and Christians. By definition we will propose a Christian is one who believes the Gospel while a Catholic is one who believes the official teachings and traditions of his church (presented by paragraph number from the Catechism of the Catholic Church).

— AUTHORITY —

A Christian believes Scripture has authority over church. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16). By setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience (2 Cor. 4:2).

A Catholic believes the Church has authority over Scriptures. The manner of interpreting Scripture is ultimately subject to the judgment of the Church which exercises the divinely conferred commission and ministry of watching over and interpreting the Word of God (119).

— JUSTIFICATION —

A Christian is justified once by faith because justification is a permanent declaration by God (Romans 8:30). However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness (Romans 4:5).

A Catholic is justified repeatedly by sacraments and works because he loses the grace of justification each time a mortal sin is committed. The sacrament of Penance offers a new possibility to convert and to recover the grace of justification (1446).

— REGENERATION —

A Christian believes he is regenerated at baptism of the Spirit. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body (1 Cor. 12:13), from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth (2 Thes. 2:13).

A Catholic believes baptism of water imparts divine life, the water of Baptism truly signifies our birth into the divine life (694).

— SALVATION —

A Christian is saved by God’s unmerited grace. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast (Eph. 2:8-9).

A Catholic is saved by meriting the graces needed for salvation. We can merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for the attainment of eternal life (2010).

A Christian is saved for good works. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Eph. 2:10).

A Catholic is saved by good works. The sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation (1129).

A Christian is saved for all eternity. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. (Eph. 1:13-14).

A Catholic is saved until a mortal sin is committed. Those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell (1035).

A Christian believes salvation is offered to those outside the church. “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors as though God were making His appeal through us” (2 Cor. 5:20).

A Catholic believes salvation is offered through the Church. Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation. Anyone refusing to enter it or remain in it cannot be saved (846).

A Christian is purified by the blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus...purifies us from all sin (1 John 1:7).

A Catholic is purified by the fires of Purgatory. They undergo purification in Purgatory, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven (1030-31).

— SAINTS AND PRIESTS —

A Christian becomes a saint when the Spirit baptizes him into the body of Christ. And He gave some...for the equipping of the saints...the body of Christ (Eph. 4:11-12).

A Catholic becomes a saint only if the Pope canonizes them. This occurs when he solemnly proclaims that they practiced a heroic virtue and lived in fidelity to God’s grace (828).

A Christian is a priest. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God (1 Peter 2:9).

A Catholic needs a priest. Catholic priests are said to be apostolic successors and guarantee that Christ is acting in the sacraments to dispense divine life (1120-1131).

— THE LORD’S SUPPER —

A Christian believes the Lord’s Supper is a memorial. “Do this in remembrance of me” (1 Cor. 11:24-25).

A Catholic believes the Lord’s Supper is sacrifice. The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice...the same Christ who offered Himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and offered in an unbloody manner (1367).

A Christian receives Jesus once, spiritually, in the heart. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12). God... put his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee (2 Cor. 1:22).

A Catholic believes he receives Jesus physically, frequently, in the stomach. The body, blood...soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ...is truly, really and substantially contained in the Eucharist (1374-78).

— CONDEMNATION —

A Christian is condemned by the Roman Catholic Church. Over 100 anathema’s have been pronounced against Christians by the Roman Catholic Councils of Trent and Vatican II. These condemnations are still in effect today and can only be lifted if a Christian returns in submission to the authority of the pope.

A Catholic is condemned by the Word of God. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day (John 12:48). If we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! (Gal. 1:6-9).

These thirteen teachings and traditions of Roman Catholicism demonstrate that a Catholic Christian is indeed an oxymoron. They also affirm how man made traditions nullify the Word of God (Mark 7:7-13). There are many Evangelicals and Roman Catholics who are unaware of how diametrically opposed Catholic dogmas are to the Word of God. The truth must be told. Catholics who believe they are Christians must be lovingly confronted with the truth. Evangelicals must be educated so they can proclaim the true gospel to Catholics instead of uniting with them under a compromised and diluted gospel.

God’s truth coupled with Satan’s lies always produces an oxymoron. Yet the “father of lies” continues to seduce many by mixing a little error with truth. In the final analysis, truth mixed with error never hurts the error, it only contaminates the truth. The veneer of truth covering the false gospel of Rome is deceiving not only Catholics but many Protestants as well. Let us persuade Catholics to turn from the errors of man’s teachings to the truth of God’s Word!

God defines truth with His Word (John 17:17). It is objective, authoritative and sufficient! We must use it to expose the evil deeds of darkness, to set captives free from the bondage of deception and to protect God’s children from being deceived.

And there you have it...

Doesn't seem to be any other way to illustrate it . . .

it's as though . . . [fiction for illustration folks]

BENEBONKER is a recreaional axe murderer.

He has written a new MANIFESTO FOR RECREATIONAL AXE MURDERERS.

It is mostly page after page extolling the blessings of society being free, by his recreational pursuits, of drug dealers, rapists, super corrupt bureaucrats and politicians, gang bangers, satanic abuse torturers of children etc.

He waxes very poetic about how the children of such creatures have been spared following in their parents' footsteps because BENEBONKER stepped up to the plate and for kicks offed their parents head(s) with his trusty axe.

There's a touching vignette about Merry Mary who gets to go to Parochial school and eventually becomes a Dr serving the Watootsies in Africa . . . instead of growing up drug addicted, stealing, stabbing family members and costing us care in prison, had her daddy not been offed by BENEBANGER'S trusty axe.

And there's the story of Peripatetic Peter who was spared a life of crime and attened a Parochial school eventually graduating as a top flight geologist and hydrologist now diggine wells for dozens of poor tribes in Africa, SE Asia and South America . . . vs becoming a gang rapist and drug dealer had his daddy lived vs being offed by BENEBONKER'S trusty axe.

And, of course, there's the 100's of children of such horrific parents who are now learning to love and be loved instead of learning to rape and be raped.

It's all quite touching.

Of course, there is this one paragraph wherein BENEBANGER really gets going on how much fun the blood and gore of a well described axe murder is. But folks don't need to pay attention to that.

There's lots of wonderful discussion in page after page of the great lives children are now having BECAUSE of those wonderful axe murders. So, please ignore the gory paragraph. Just keep in mind all the children who've been saved--saved to lives full of TRUTH IN LOVE AND TAUGHT THE EVERLASTING WONDERS OF SUBSIDIARITY and INTEGRAL MUTUAL BENEVOLENCE etc. etc. etc.

All due to the thoughtful recreational axe murdering of His Unholiness--BENEBONKER.

/Sar

>>> In short, the Pope is not arguing for some One-World totalitarian order that abolishes nation-states. What he is arguing for is a dynamic, flourishing family of nations under their own state systems; and, in an increasingly globalized world, these state systems need, if anything, to be strengthened — lest they be swallowed up by an ideological world mega-state, which is the final object of the promoters of the “culture of death.” Here is yet another instance of the principle of subsidiarity at work in his thinking. <<<

What BXVI SEEMS to be arguing for and what inter-national apparatus would have to be in place in order for his “wish list” of changes (cf. Chapters 3-5) to be actually granted are two different things.

No one doubts that international capital spans the globe, as does the power of many nation-states and their several confederacies. This has been going on for well over a century. Much of this “globalization” is carried on mostly through the action of accident and force, and not so much through reflection and reason. And certainly not through charity or good will!

What BXVI desires is that reason and charity have a much greater control of “late capitalism” or globalization. Not only is there to be “globalizing”; there is to be “development” — the “integral human development” of not just individuals, but whole peoples. I think it is fruitful to look upon _Caritas in Veritate_ as the expression of this desire, an expression which takes the form of a prayer. _Caritas in Veritate_ is a kind of prayer in which BXVI asks that this beast of “globalization” be tamed, that the Machiavellians who presently run it be routed.

Have you ever read Mark Twain’s “The War Prayer”? The unspoken, unthought of part of a petitionary prayer for victory over an enemy is revealed in a shocking way as being a plea for patriotic gore. I think what Quix and Dr. Eckleburg are pointing out in their own way is the unspoken and unarticulated part (aside from Section 67 and a few other places) of BXVI’s “Development Prayer.”

Want to limit profit world-wide? (cf. Section 21) What bureaucratic apparatus will you have to create in order to do this? How will its will be enforced? How will “free” markets be sustained? How many capitalists and their defenders will have to be killed before their resistance to this bureaucracy is broken? How will you be able to avoid war?

Want to solve the problem of “food” or “water security”? (cf. Section 27) Once again, what bureaucratic apparatus will you have to create in order to do this? How will its will be enforced? How will sovereign nations be forced to “tow the line” when their political existence depends upon maintaining insecure food and water for their citizens? What will happen to the reality, legal or otherwise, of national sovereignty if you do this? How will you be able to avoid war?

One could go through the whole “wish list” from _Caritas in Veritate_ in this way. What is prayed for, what is desired in order to tame the beast of globalization and “develop” humanity reveals its dark underbelly: not reason but force or threat of force; not charity but bureaucratic indifference; not order but revolution; not love but war. And, most chillingly, not subsidiarity and the cherishing of wide-ranging political values, but a final solution of the world’s problems through the establishment of an “imperium sine fine.”

Some beasts are to be left alone or “admired” from a distance. Not tamed.

(apologies to Quix and Dr. Eckleburg if they feel my attribution of the above position to them is unwarranted)

Thank you so much for raising this interesting point, dearest sister in Christ! And thank you dear xzins and 1000 silverlings for sharing your insights!

me: Satan has been trying for a lot longer than a hundred years to thwart the will of God.

you: And yet Satan already knows he's utterly doomed, and knew it from the get-go. This is what I don't understand. I'm beginning to think it's beyond human comprehension altogether.

As xzins observed, God’s glorious justice is evident in His dealings with Satan. In Revelation 20, we see him destined for a thousand years of prison and shortly after, eternal torment. In between he gets freed for a little while. And he has certainly had a long leash from the Garden of Eden forward. He stirred up trouble for Job. And we see him tempting Christ, trying to thwart the will of God.

And it does seem odd that he would even bother, knowing that the end is already written, that his efforts are futile.

Perhaps he is deluded according to God’s will? God has given men over to delusions and reprobate minds, so why not Satan?

And even as they did not like to retain God in [their] knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; - Romans 1:28

And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: - 2 Ths 2:11

Whatever the reason for his behavior, I am confident that Satan has a part to play in this heaven and earth as everything moves towards the new heaven and earth.

Likewise also these [filthy] dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. – Jude:8-9

And we Christians have nothing to fear from him.

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. – James 4:7

To God be the glory!

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