Not as long as I'm in the presence hardcore futurists with their fantasy predictions and scenarios. After all ...
Posted on 08/20/2009 12:30:40 PM PDT by IbJensen
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.
BTW, keep on posting; your lotto number is coming up soon on the thread.
Sure they are.
Been gone for 5 days and the only thing “mystifying” here is your ego.
I answered any of your questions worth addressing in posts to another here.
Thanks for such an abundance of sweetness and light.
LOL.
Maybe you could refer to the FR instructions to search on my posts on this subject?
Sweetness and Light?
You’ve been spreading Sweetness and Light all over FR?
Wonders never cease.
Congrats.
I’ll take your word for it.
I have some other pressing priorities at the moment.
However, thanks loads.
There’s never an overabundance of sweetness and light.
:-)
It’s real evangelism of NEW Christians in a revived Church of the Living God. And it better be a church that frowns on abortion and other conceits that prove to individuals that they are the arbiters of life and death.
Thank you for your insights, dear brother in Christ!
Ah well . . .
stuff happens. LOL.
Ah well . . .
stuff happens. LOL.
How fitting that post is numbered 666....
666 posted on Wednesday, August 26, 2009 12:16:23 AM by Quix (POL Ldrs quotes fm1900 2 presnt: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2130557/posts?page=81#81)Proof positive, IMO.
Does this mean that you’ve been exorcised?
Not as long as I'm in the presence hardcore futurists with their fantasy predictions and scenarios. After all ...
The Pope is not infallible. The spiritual growth occures in a microcosma of failures of our own and others ahead of us. The Church relies too much on the bad advice of confidentes who hide behind paperwork, colors and bureaucracy instead of true test of the spirits and faiths during missions. These are the gist of staying “powers”.
We can’t be impressed nor erroneously give inheritence morale support to errors, indeed. The inheritence is ahead, not behind in “glorious” legacies. “Sometimes” we are persecuted by our elders’ erring in largesses ending to evil.
What I would expect from a wacked-out kabbalist new age dreamer.
EXCELLENT POINTS. VERY EXCELLENT POINTS FOR ALL DENOMINATIONS AND CONGREGATIONS.
THX.
Kabbalist? Did you get a new dictionary or random phrase generator?
Usually when folks stoop to such nonsense it is proof they have run out of steam for their argument (if they had any to begin with).
For that you get a ...
I’ve described you perfectly.
The Kabbalist seeks to bring in the perfect kingdom on Earth through the works of perfectible men. That is what tha Amil and post mil apostacy seek.
You know not of what you speak ... eschatologically or interpersonally. You are reduced to incoherent blubbering. Thus, you are a prime candidate to be the second recipient of the prized award …
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.