[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 55 (Wednesday, March 29, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E408-E410]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           HOLY SEE ARTICLES

                                  _____
                                 

                          HON. FRANCIS ROONEY

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 29, 2017

  Mr. FRANCIS ROONEY of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share 
with my colleagues several more articles that I have written over the 
years regarding the Holy See. As a Member of the Europe, Eurasia, and 
Emerging Threats Subcommittee on Foreign Affairs, these pieces serve to 
outline and inform discussions that our Committee will cover in the 
115th Congress.


  religion and democracy: the emerging diplomacy of pope benedict xvi

       While many Americans only see him as a spiritual leader of 
     Roman Catholics, the Pope exerts an often subtle but 
     undeniable influence in international affairs. The Pope is 
     the final authority of the Holy See, which derives its name 
     from ``seat'' in Latin and signifies the repository of 
     authority and direction over the organization and affairs of 
     the Church. As an institution and sovereign, the Holy See is 
     the ``oldest diplomatic entity in the world.''
       During the two World Wars, Popes Benedict XV and Pius XII 
     boldly promoted peace without preconditions. The jovial Pope 
     John XXIII and more reserved Pope Paul VI implemented the 
     Vatican II reforms. The unforgettable legacy of John Paul II, 
     the Polish Pope, is his unswerving opposition to communism. 
     The current Pope Benedict XVI, formerly known as Cardinal 
     Joseph Ratzinger, continues the diplomatic tradition of the 
     Holy See aimed at salvaging faith in some parts of the world 
     and promoting reason in others.
       While Benedict XVI is often characterized as being less 
     media-centric and charismatic than his predecessor, Pope John 
     Paul II, he demonstrated remarkable strategic focus and 
     clarity in his papal visit to the United Kingdom, September 
     16-20, 2010. His spirit of goodwill enabled him to overcome 
     vocal and hostile opposition to the visit and, as a result, 
     this visit will likely be remembered as a defining moment for 
     the diplomacy of the Holy See.
       In his in-flight press conference, the Pope made it clear 
     that he wasn't willing to compromise or soften his outreach, 
     saying that

[[Page E409]]

     ``a Church that seeks to be particularly attractive is 
     already on the wrong path, because the Church does not work 
     for her own ends, she does not work to increase numbers and 
     thus power.'' Free of constraints of political correctness or 
     hegemonic aspirations, the Holy See has often exhibited a 
     unique clarity and honesty in its discourse. The visit to the 
     United Kingdom was no exception.
       During the same press conference, the Pope expressed his 
     gratitude towards Queen Elizabeth for elevating the trip to 
     the level of a state visit. The Pope said that the visit 
     reflected the ``common responsibility of politics and 
     religion for the future of the continent and the future of 
     humanity: the large, shared responsibility so that the values 
     that create justice and politics and which come from 
     religion, share the journey in our time.'' This is a 
     universal message, not just intended for Britons but also for 
     a global audience.
       There was a great deal of controversy surrounding the 
     Pope's trip. Notable antireligious personalities, such as 
     Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins, called for the 
     British authorities to arrest the Pope immediately upon his 
     arrival due to their opinion that the Church had criminally 
     enabled child abuse. The Guardian opposed the visit and 
     accused the Holy See of increasing the number of impoverished 
     families and of the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa by its 
     position on the use of condoms. As George Weigel has pointed 
     out in a December 2010 essay, ``Fail, Britannia,'' even the 
     Catholic left was seduced to some degree by the intense 
     criticisms. For example, Sir Stephen Wall, an advisor to the 
     Diocese of Westminster and to Prime Minister Tony Blair, 
     wrote that ``individuals have their own values . . . changing 
     moral code is a normal part of social evolution.''
       All of this controversy allowed the Pope to draw the 
     clearest comparisons yet in his five year papacy between the 
     state of affairs in the modern world today and aspirations 
     for a more fully human order. During the UK trip, the Pope 
     succeeded in articulating two critical challenges: (1) the 
     risk of an increasing marginalization of religion--
     encapsulated in the phrase, ``dictatorship of relativism,'' 
     and (2) the need for combining and rationally accommodating 
     both reason and religion in the modern world. The fact that 
     two-thirds of all papal visits to date have been to Europe 
     certainly reinforces the Pontiff's hopes for the re-
     evangelization of Europe.
       In his address to diplomatic, business and academic leaders 
     at Westminster Hall, the Pope laid out the case for the 
     coexistence of religion and politics. ``Britain has emerged 
     as a pluralist democracy which places great value on freedom 
     of speech . . . with a strong sense of the individual's 
     rights and duties.'' He also said that such a stance squares 
     with Catholic social teaching and ``its overriding concern to 
     safeguard the unique dignity of every person . . . and in its 
     emphasis on the duty of civil authority to foster the common 
     good.'' Contrary to the critics of his visit, the Pope showed 
     that a platform for good government and justice is created by 
     mutually reinforced reason and faith.
       These concepts are linked to Vatican II (1962-1965), which 
     was a turning point for the evolution of Church relations in 
     the world, building upon past traditions and policies while 
     finding new approaches with which to confront the global 
     realities of the 1960s. This human dignity and the essential, 
     inherent rights of man as demonstrated in its most 
     significant pronouncements, specifically Pacem in Terris, 
     Gaudium et Spes and Dignitatis Humanae.
       Benedict's predecessor, Pope John Paul II, had witnessed a 
     Holy See diplomacy reacting to a different set of world 
     challenges. Shaped by a different personal background, he 
     applied these same principles in his diplomacy. His entire 
     lifetime of experiences drove him, along with President 
     Ronald Reagan, to focus on the evils of communism. In his 
     address to the United Nations on October 3, 1979, Pope John 
     Paul II ``gave a speech in defense of basic human rights that 
     left the delegates from communist countries worried'' wherein 
     he said that politics must begin with ``a proper 
     understanding of the dignity of the human person'' and that 
     respect for human rights was ``the prerequisite to true 
     peace.'' Elaborating his message further, John Paul II told 
     an audience of scientists in 2000 that ``faith is not afraid 
     of reason'' because they ``are like two wings on which the 
     human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth.''
       These two examples illustrate the continuity of thought of 
     Holy See diplomacy and the important symmetries between two 
     ``modern'' popes, often less recognized than their 
     differences. More open to inter-religious and pluralistic, 
     democratic process, these two popes have done much to foster 
     the dialogue about the place of religion in democracy. 
     culture, and the political morality of society.


                         religion and democracy

       President Richard Nixon, a staunch anti-communist, was 
     capable of rapprochement with China at a time when opposition 
     to such an outreach was strong. While not exactly analogous 
     and on an entirely different plane, an unstintingly 
     conservative Pope has been able to actively engage 
     nonbelievers and the most secular of peoples in robust 
     dialogue. Cardinal Ratzinger honed his intellectual arguments 
     in several publications and has become a leader for 
     theologians. Just over a year before he was elected pope, 
     then Cardinal Ratzinger worked with the noted neo-socialist 
     Jurgen Habermas to write a series of essays in the book, The 
     Dialectics of Secularization: On Reason and Religion. This is 
     the same person who spoke out against the ``dictatorship of 
     relativism'' in the 2005 conclave that elected him. This Pope 
     is simultaneously capable of speaking forcefully about his 
     positions while actively engaging the most ardent dissidents.
       Many link the Pope's focus on the need for religion as a 
     building block of democracy with his boyhood experiences 
     during the Third Reich. British Historian Michael Burleigh 
     reveals Nazi leaders' determination to ``demolish the moral 
     authority of the Catholic Church'' in order to later abrogate 
     citizens' rights. The Pope believes that once religion 
     becomes attenuated and removed from society, then the void is 
     filled by an authoritarian dictatorship and there is no 
     longer a check or balance to political power.
       This concept has also been expressed by President George W. 
     Bush, as he has often said that free people foster peace 
     because they can change out their leaders. There is a similar 
     history with the evolution of dissent in communist Russia, 
     from Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who gave life to the focus on 
     human rights in Russia, to Pope John Paul II.
       Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright writes that 
     part of the failure of the opposition to communism in Vietnam 
     was the fact that the Saigon government repressed Buddhism--
     the ``largest noncommunist institution in the country''--
     leaving an obvious void. She also criticized in her book 
     those who sought to ignore or downplay the role of religion 
     in many of the foreign policy conflicts she dealt with during 
     her time in government, like Northern Ireland, Muslim India 
     and pre-revolutionary Iran, saying, ``Religion is a large 
     part of what motivates people and shapes their views of 
     justice and right behavior.''
       At least in the United States, statistical research backs 
     up the Pope's philosophical and theological perspective. 
     Robert Putnam and David Campbell, in their new work, American 
     Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us, put forward 
     empirical social science research to argue for the value of 
     religion in establishing good behavior and improved 
     citizenship. Their data show when religion matters to people, 
     they are more charitable with their time and their money, and 
     they belong to more civic organizations. The research also 
     correlates positively with political involvement of all 
     ideologies and voting. Interestingly, the data show that the 
     more religious one is, the more likely that person is to feel 
     that tax evasion is ``always wrong.'' These are behaviors 
     which are essential to a smoothly functioning democracy which 
     is engaged in preserving its freedoms. Their research proves 
     empirically what George Washington thought in 1796, that ``of 
     all the dispositions and habits which lead to political 
     prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable 
     supports.''


                          religion and reason

       The Pope's concern for the perils of secularism has led to 
     the second front of his personal diplomacy, the quest for a 
     mutual relationship between reason and religion. His first 
     opportunity to raise this issue came with the Islamic outrage 
     over the publication of a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed by 
     the Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard in 2005. The Pope's 
     comment that ``intolerance and violence can never be 
     justified as response[s] to offenses'' parallels the U.S. 
     State Department's official position, which defended freedom 
     of speech even when it was unpopular to do so. Both the 
     United States and Holy See offered courageous support for 
     journalists the world over. This issue continued as recently 
     as last Fall when a group of extremists attempted to bomb the 
     Swedish newspaper Jyllands-Posten because it had reprinted 
     the cartoon as a demonstration of free speech.
       Months later, Pope Benedict's first foray into the global 
     spotlight after his election featured highly publicized 
     remarks at his former teaching post, the University of 
     Regensburg. The Pope referred to Byzantine emperor Manuel II 
     Paleologus saying Islam is Prophet Mohammed's ``command to 
     spread by the sword the faith he preached'' in an effort to 
     express his concem over the extremism, aggression and 
     immutability reflected in certain Islamic doctrines and parts 
     of the Koran.
       As the sound bite reverberated around the world, evoking a 
     variety of reactions, the broader meaning and intent of his 
     expressions that day have resonated more profoundly as a 
     global discussion and analysis of the Koran, Islam and its 
     relations to the modern world have ensued.
       The crucial point, reinforced constantly since Regensburg, 
     is that reason and religion can--and indeed must--co-exist in 
     the modern world. The only way forward is to continually 
     foster this mutual relationship. What is a quest for 
     rationality tempering fervor and fanaticism in some 
     expressions of Islam and other religious traditions is 
     coupled, at least by the Pope and the Holy See, with more 
     fervor and excitement about religion in the modern, secular 
     state.
       Since Regensburg there have been numerous debates and 
     publications commenting on the issue of the immutability of 
     the word of the Prophet Mohammed expressed in the Koran, on 
     whether Shiite or Sunni Islam is more subject to 
     interpretation and contextualization and about what the 
     Enlightenment meant or should mean for

[[Page E410]]

     Islam. These issues are important and relevant to the 
     discussion of religion in modernity and underscore the 
     urgency of the need for workable doctrines, policies and 
     intellectual frameworks within which to create opportunities 
     for reconciliation and conflict avoidance.
       Again in his address at Westminster Hall, the Pope 
     postulated that advocates of both secular rationality and 
     religious belief ``need one another and should not be afraid 
     to enter into a profound and ongoing dialogue, for the good 
     of our civilization.''
       The harsh reality of the fault line between reason and 
     religion has received greater international attention 
     following the United Kingdom visit. Religious intolerance 
     recently fueled two deadly church bombings in the Middle 
     East. The October 31, 2010 massacre in Baghdad killed more 
     than 50 Syriac Catholics and 23 Coptic Christians were 
     murdered in Alexandria, Egypt on January 1, 2011, all while 
     attending services. These events tragically reaffirm the 
     Pope's UK call for religious freedom.


                               conclusion

       In his five years as pope, Benedict has led a diplomatic 
     mission embracing the positive role of religion in politics, 
     global justice and the peaceful evolution of civilization. 
     Occasionally blunt and sometimes misunderstood, he has not 
     shrunk from the 21st century challenges of secularization and 
     radicalism and has lent his lifetime of theological and 
     philosophical study to help solve these seemingly intractable 
     problems.
       In his address for the celebration of the World Day of 
     Peace on January 1, 2011, delivered almost as the attack in 
     Alexandria was taking place, the Pope highlighted the 
     humanizing and civilizing role of religion in the development 
     of civil society. Pope Benedict XVI said, ``Freedom and 
     respect are inseparable;'' and, moreover, that ``religious 
     freedom is the condition for the pursuit of truth.'' He went 
     on to quote from the Vatican II Declaration on Religious 
     Freedom Dignitatis Humanae: ``in exercising their rights, 
     individuals and social groups are bound by the moral law to 
     have regard for the rights of others.'' Once again, in this 
     message broadly addressed to all people, the Pope reaffirmed 
     the critical linkages of religious freedom and human dignity 
     to the pursuit of justice and peace, and to the truth and 
     objective credibility which reason adduces to the profession 
     of faith.
       Though a relatively older Pope when he was elected, Pope 
     Benedict XVI has shown vigor and spirit in expressing the 
     diplomacy of the Holy See. The September trip to the United 
     Kingdom urged preservation and enhancement of the role of 
     religion in modern society and government, and continues to 
     call for dialogue and the coexistence of religion and reason 
     in today's world.

                          ____________________