Sunday, August 18, 2019

John Paul II on "Nationalism"


“The Nation is truly free when it can be configured as a community determined by the unity of culture, language, and history. The State is solidly sovereign when it governs society and also serves the common good of society and allows the Nation to realize itself in its own subjectivity, in its own identity.”  --Pope St. John Paul II
What's there of interest?  First, that the Nation is NOT the same as the State, although the State may be constituted to rule that Nation.   Secondly, the State is 'solidly sovereign' if it is serving the common good of society in its governance.

Common good is not merely 'monetary prosperity' (although that's nice to have.)

More:

“...the fundamental truth about the freedom of the Nation: the Nation perishes if its spirit is deformed, the Nation grows when this spirit is purified more and more, and no external force is able to destroy it.”...
Should be clear to all but the willfully blind that JPII's definition of 'purified spirit' means a spirit which conforms to moral and ethical principles announced in the Old (Ten Commandments) and New Testaments, which is the Natural Law.

But we have the willfully blind, so JPII's comment ought to provoke concern.

And prayer.

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