[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
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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
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``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
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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.
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