CATHOLIC PUBLIC REASON: John Rawls and Catholic Social Teaching
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PhD Program in Political Theory Cycle XXIX CATHOLIC PUBLIC REASON: John Rawls and Catholic Social Teaching. From Vatican II to Pope Francis Candidate ANTONELLA PICCININ Advisors SEBASTIANO MAFFETTONE SAMUELE SANGALLI Rome, December 2016 0 In loving and grateful memory of Mother Teresa Gospar and Father Santiago Bretòn SJ. 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my special appreciation and thanks to my supervisors, Prof. Sebastiano Maffettone and Msgr. Prof. Samuele Sangalli, who greatly helped me in improving in my research and finalizing this project. Secondly, my sincere gratitude goes to Prof. Paul Weithman (University of Notre Dame), for his patience, motivation, and immense knowledge. His guidance helped me throughout the research and writing stage of my thesis. I am very honored of having enjoyed the opportunity to work with him. I would also like to thank the Department of Political Science at LUISS University and the Board of Professors, especially Prof. Leonardo Morlino, who has always shown particular attention and interest in my work and in my improvements. Thanks to Prof. John Loughlin and Prof. Alban McKoy OFM, who welcomed me as a visiting student at the Von Hügel Institute (University of Cambridge, UK) in 2014-2015, as well as to Prof. John O’Callaghan, the Director of the Jacques Maritain Center (University of Notre Dame, USA), where I have spent almost two semesters, in 2015 and in 2016. I would like to express thanks to many prominent scholars whom I have had the chance to meet during my time abroad. In particular: Gerald McKenny, Robert Audi, Michael Zuckert, David Hollenbach SJ, Michael Perry, Jose Casanova, Daniel Philpott, Kevin Vallier, Jeremy Waldron, David Rasmussen, Mary Keys, Sue Collins, David Salomon. All of them have inspired my study, and some of them have also offered me precious advice and comments. Not less important has been the support (spiritual, human and professional) of all my professors at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, especially Kevin Flannery SJ, Rocco D’Ambrosio, Dario Vitali, Debora Tonelli, Roberto Regoli, Emilia Palladino, Sandro Barlone SJ. A special thanks to my family, my parents and my brother, for supporting me spiritually and materially while writing this thesis and throughout my life in general. Last but not least, my gratitude goes to my community Oikìa, Msgr. Angelo Pirovano, Msgr. Giuseppe Scotti, and all my good friends and colleagues, old and new, for their special care and love, for being of fundamental help in many different times and ways in the last three years. As I cannot mention all of them, my thought 2 goes especially to those who made my time far from home a great time: the Jesuits at Henri de Lubac House (USA), and in particular fr. Joseph, fr. Aaron, fr. Michael and fr. Brian. Then I cannot forget Lucia and Ben, Theresa, Rachel, Justin, Paola and Brad, fr. Gilles, the D’Ambrosia family, the Romano family, Roger and Clare Morton, Msgr. Thomas Powers, and all the others who shared time with me at the library, courses, conferences and social life. This research was partially supported by Acton Institute and the Vatican Foundation Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI. Without their financial assistance, I would have never been able to engage in essential research for my thesis abroad. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements 2 Table of Contents 4 General Introduction 7 1. What Could be the Place of Religion in the Contemporary World? 7 2. Which Separation? 11 3. Why Choose a Catholic Perspective? 16 4. The Aim of the Research and Structure 18 5. Concluding Remarks 19 Part I. The Concept of Public Reason in Contemporary Political Theory: The Rawlsian Contribution Introduction 21 1. The Idea of “Public Reason” 23 2. Concluding Remarks 33 Chapter 1. Distinguishing between “Public Forum” and “Background Culture” 1. Understanding Rawls’ Theory 37 2. Interpretations and Critiques 39 3. Concluding Remarks 40 Chapter 2. The Notion of “Comprehensive Doctrines” 1. Understanding Rawls’ theory 43 2. Wolterstorff’s Critics and the Role of Citizens in a Liberal Democracy 45 3. Concluding Remarks 49 Chapter 3. The “Proviso” 1. Understanding Rawls Theory 51 2. Habermas and the “Theory of Public Deliberation” 53 3. Concluding Remarks 59 Chapter 4. Understanding “Reasonability” 1. Understanding Rawls Theory 63 2. Robert Audi and the Secular Reason 67 3. Concluding Remarks 72 4 Final Considerations (Part I) 1. General Concerns 75 2. The Idea of Public Reason in the Law of Peoples 77 3. Concluding Remarks 79 Part II. The Catholic Social Teaching in the Public Sphere as a Reasonable Comprehensive Doctrine: The Double Role of the Pontiff as Political and Spiritual Authority Introduction 1. Introductory Considerations 83 2. A Series of Historical Events 85 3. Towards the Second Vatican Council. An Historical Framework 88 3.1. Towards the Second Vatican Council. Contents of The Modern Catholic Social Doctrine 94 Chapter 5. The “Turning Point” of the Second Vatican Council 104 1. Gaudium et Spes 107 2. Dignitatis Humanae 111 3. Concluding Remarks 117 3.1. The Institutional-Universal Level: The Role of the Pontiff 119 3.2. The Individual-Personal Level: The Role of the Lay Believers in the World 122 Chapter 6. The Long Pontificate of John Paul II 1. John Paul II: An Introduction 129 2. John Paul II’s Public Reason: Evangelium Vitae the Bioethical Problems 134 3. Concluding Remarks 137 Chapter 7. The Political Thought of Benedict XVI 1. Benedict XVI: An Introduction 139 2. Benedict XVI’s Public Reason: Caritas in Veritate and Economics 147 3. Concluding Remarks 149 Chapter 8. The Church Today: Pope Francis 1. Francis: An Introduction 150 2. Francis’ public reason: Laudato Sii and the Question of Ecology 154 3. Concluding Remarks 156 Final Considerations (Part II) 159 Conclusions 166 1. Catholic Rawlsianism or Rawlsian Catholicism: Does Catholicism Fit 5 with Rawls’ Idea of Public Reason? Does Rawls’ Theory Fit with Catholic Social Teaching? 167 2. Praises and (Still Open) Problems of Rawls’ Idea Of Public Reason: How Should Catholicism Accept It, or Not 171 3. Concluding Remarks 178 Bibliography 179 6 GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1. What Could be the Place of Religion in the Contemporary World? In relation to the fundamental questions of human life such as its meaning, its origin, its destiny inter alia, it is estimated that approximately 84% of the world’s population belongs to some religion in contemporary times. This figure was obtained in 2010 via the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life1 and it highlights the saliency of religion in the world and the extent to which we must take this into consideration for political discourse. It goes without saying that religion is a complex, universal phenomenon (Filoramo 2004), which is linked to the most fundamental questions on the meaning of human life. Thus, it is as ‘old as humanity’ and its centrality cannot be ignored in the modern world. Religion has exerted great cultural influence over the ages and continues to permeate a myriad of societies. In doing so, it has always engendered various questions, positive and negative, which lead to different answers in our secular society. One of the more pressing questions in our times concerns the role of religion in the public domain.2 In this context, is religion a resource or a problem for human beings living together? This leads also to the fundamental and controversial issue of the role of religion in the public/political sphere, which across time has either been denied or accepted as a basic feature within society that contributes to the maintenance or loss of peace. 1 “In order to have data that were comparable across many countries, the study focused on five widely recognized world religions – Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism – that collectively account for roughly three-quarters of the world’s population. The remainder of the global population was consolidated into three additional groups: the religiously unaffiliated (those who say they are atheists, agnostics or nothing in particular); adherents of folk or traditional religions (including members of African traditional religions, Chinese folk religions, Native American religions and Australian aboriginal religions); and adherents of other religions (such as the Baha’i faith, Jainism, Shintoism, Sikhism, Taoism, Tenrikyo, Wicca and Zoroastrianism).” See, http://www.pewforum.org/2014/04/04/global-religious-diversity/ (last access: 17/07/2014). 2 “Public domain” is a complex and multifaceted concept: it could be conceived as a synonym of “public sphere”, “public square” and “public space”. In my thesis, I will focus especially on the “public discourse” (and “public justification”), as “the ability to reason and debate with others” (Himes – Himes 1993: 6). 7 Whether religious freedom is necessary or not for peaceful coexistence,3 the question of ‘the religious’ in today’s political life is taking a new place in the general legal and political discourse. There is new political pressure on the lively issues concerning the relationship between politics and religion, which makes it extremely important to respond to the changing cultural and demographic environments in our pluralistic societies. This is especially so in the context of the West, specifically, the USA and Europe. For instance, due to increases in global migration trends, even Europe is becoming more religiously and culturally diverse in the current global context. Europe has its own tradition and its history has shaped socio-political