Charity and Justice in the Relations Among Peoples and Nations

THE PONTIFICAL ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES XIII Plenary Session CHARITY AND JUSTICE IN THE RELATIONS AMONG PEOPLES AND NATIONS 27 April – 1 May 2007 Casina Pio IV Introduction p.3 Einführung p.5 Introduction p.7 Introduzione p.9 Programme p.11 Holy Masses p. 14 List of Participants p.15 Biographies of Participants p.18 Memorandum p. 26 14 IA SCIEN M T E IA D R A V C M A S A O I C C I I A F I L T I V N M O P VATICAN CITY 2007 The Holy See has repeatedly insisted that, while the Governments of poorer countries have a responsibility with regard to good governance and the elimination of poverty, the active involvement of international partners is indispensable. This should not be seen as an ‘extra’ or as a concession which could be postponed in the face of press- ing national concerns. It is a grave and unconditional moral responsibility, founded on the unity of the human race, and on the common dignity and shared destiny of rich and poor alike, who are being drawn ever closer by the process of globalization. Trade conditions favourable to poor countries, including, above all, broad and unconditional access to markets, should be made available and guaranteed in lasting and reliable ways. Provision must also be made for the rapid, total and unconditional cancellation of the external debt of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) and of the Least De- veloped Countries (LDCs). Measures should also be adopted to ensure that these countries do not fall once again into situations of unsustainable debt. Developed countries must also recognize and implement fully the commitments they have made with regard to external aid. Moreover, a substantial investment of resources for research and for the develop- ment of medicines to treat AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other tropical diseases is needed. In this regard, the first and foremost scientific challenge facing developed countries is the discovery of a vaccine against malaria. There is also a need to make available medical and pharmaceutical technology and health care expertise without imposing legal or economic conditions. Finally, the international community must continue to work for the substantial reduction of both the legal and the illegal arms trade, the illegal trade of precious raw materials, and the flight of capital from poor countries, as well as for the elimination of the practices of money-laundering and corruption of officials of poor countries. While these challenges should be undertaken by all members of the international community, the G8 and the European Union should take the lead. People from different religions and cultures throughout the world are convinced that achieving the goal of eradicating extreme poverty by the year 2015 is one of the most important tasks in today’s world. Moreover, they also hold that such an objective is indissolubly linked to world peace and security. They look to the Presidency, held by the German Government in the months ahead, to ensure that the G8 and the European Union undertake the measures necessary to overcome poverty. They are ready to play their part in such efforts and they support your commitment in a spirit of solidarity. (From the Letter of His Holiness Benedict XVI to Dr. Angela Merkel Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Vatican, 16 December 2006) Charity and Justice in the Relations INTRODUCTION Among Peoples and Nations he next plenary session of the Pontifical Acad- However, no institutions are presently emerging to emy of Social Sciences will be devoted to the replace them. Tstudy of Charity and Justice in the Relations Millennium Goals. These were based on a broad Among Peoples and Nations. In the recent past, the international consensus but there are now well- Academy has devoted sessions to the study of global- grounded doubts about the possibility of really im- isation and these have enabled us to see that there is plementing them within the time envisaged. The pre- a lack of charity and justice in the world we live in. vious consensus on the Millennium Goals is thus be- This may be summarised in a general way as: dispro- ginning to crumble. As a result, there is a need for portionate reallocations, promises not honoured, further reflection on the mechanisms by which these and unequal divisions. In addition, we are faced with goals can be achieved, together with the formulation new signs of the times that are very worrying. All of of new proposals. this has been met by the renewed appeal to charity Insufficient and inefficient aid. The aid that has and justice made by the Pope, Benedict XVI, in par- been given has fallen far short of the goal of allocat- ticular in his encyclical Deus Caritas Est. These facts ing 0.7% of the GDP of developed countries to for- and this appeal form an important part of the back- eign aid. In addition, the aid that has been given has ground to our meeting. often been inefficiently distributed and utilised both The subject of the session will be the relations by international organisations and by local govern- among peoples and nations: the developed, the de- ments and agencies. veloping, the emerging and the poor. We will ask our- Terrorism and war. As the events of 11 September selves whether these relations, in the light of the so- 2001 indicate, the beginning of the new century has cial Magisterium of the Church, can become more been characterised by a notable increase in the so- just, fairer, and more peaceful, and what the route cial and moral scourge of terrorism. At the same should be to achieve such ends. In other words, is a time, the world is still afflicted on a large scale by partnership for charity and justice possible in the wars between countries and wars within countries. globalised world? 2. The Encyclical Deus Caritas Est of Pope Benedict XVI 1. Worrying recent signs of the times Our meeting wants to draw inspiration from the Although it is at times a common conviction that Pope’s first encyclical and its important implications. the pursuit of charity and justice at the international In particular this document reminds us that the the- level is of key importance for contemporary society, ological and human virtue of charity must preside at the same time we encounter signs that are work- over all of the social teaching and all of the social ing in the opposite direction: works of the Church and her members. First of all, The re-emergence of nationalism. In developing this encyclical leads us to the centre of our faith, to and developed countries there are signs of crisis as the truth that ‘God is love’. Thus the Pope declares regards two key features of the process of globalisa- that ‘Jesus united into a single precept this com- tion: one is a human problem and relates to in- mandment of love for God and the commandment creased legal and illegal international migration and of love for neighbour’. The Pope draws our attention the political resistance to it; the second is economic to the fact that this teaching is both timely and sig- and relates to the tensions between protectionism nificant ‘In a world where the name of God is some- and free trade. times associated with vengeance or even a duty of Weak convergence. In spite of continuing rapid hatred and violence’. economic growth in many developing countries, sig- This is why Deus Caritas Est has been correctly nals of economic and social convergence between de- described as being in part a social encyclical. It is veloped and developing countries are still confined love (caritas) that animates the Church’s care for the to only to a few of this last category. This is not only needy, the work of lay women and men for justice the case at the economic level but is also true in the and peace in the secular sphere, and is the leavening field of education. force of the Church in society. And without love, as Pervasive poverty. At the same time, even in coun- Paul told the Corinthians, our words and works will tries that have a fast-growing economy, the incidence come to nothing. of poverty and extreme poverty is still very high. Indeed, Deus Caritas Est places itself in the long The weakness of multilateralism. Bilateralism is lineage of other social encyclicals (cf. n. 27), not on- growing stronger and most multilateral institutions, ly because it addresses the virtue of charity but also such as the UN, the WTO, the IMF, the World Bank, because it attributes primary importance to the and even some of their regional counterparts, are virtue of justice. Indeed, it has a highly significant demonstrating signs of weakness and tiredness. reference to a famous statement on this virtue by one 3 Charity and Justice in the Relations Among Peoples and Nations Introduction of the great figures of Tradition: ‘As Augustine once not but engage in an assessment of our sense of jus- said, a State which is not governed according to justice in the light of faith: ‘From God’s standpoint, faith tice would be just a bunch of thieves: “Remota itaque liberates reason from its blind spots and therefore iustitia quid sunt regna nisi magna latrocinia?”’. helps it to be ever more fully itself’. Taking into consideration traditional philosoph- This critical work of faith frees reason from its ical-political doctrines and also (in a critical way) limits: ‘Faith enables reason to do its work more ef- the Marxist demand for a fair distribution of goods fectively and to see its proper object more clearly’.

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