VATICAN CITY, OCT. 5, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The Holy See has just published a document on "The Fight Against Corruption," presenting the contribution the Church can make to combat this social ill.
The brief study, published by the Libreria Editrice Vaticana and presented today in several languages, was written by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.
It is the result of the world summit of experts on politics, economics and social ethics, among other fields, convoked last June in the Vatican by this Holy See dicastery, whose president is Cardinal Renato Martino.
According to the text, corruption scorns the human person for "egotistical interests" and "impedes attaining the common good, because it sets it against individualist criteria, of egotistical cynicism and illicit partisan interests."
Helpful in overcoming corruption is the step from "authoritarian to democratic societies, from closed to open societies, from vertical to horizontal societies [and] from centralist to participant societies," explained a statement from the pontifical council.
This does not mean, however, that there is no danger of corruption in open democratic societies, the council said.
It warned that openness can demolish the solidity of moral convictions, while plurality can undo social ties and undermine citizens' ethical consensus, and the loosening of borders can facilitate the importation of corruption.
To avoid these dangers, the social doctrine of the Church proposes the concept of "human ecology," which consists in respect for the fundamental, natural and moral structures that the Creator has given man.
Human ecology
"If the family is not given the capacity to carry out its educational task," the pontifical council said, "if laws contrary to the authentic good of man, such as those that attack life, mislead citizens on the good, if justice proceeds with excessive slowness, if grass-roots morality is weakened by tolerated transgression, if conditions of life are degraded, if the school does not receive and emancipate, it is not possible to guarantee that 'human ecology.'"
And when there is no "human ecology," corruption takes root, warned the text.
In this connection, it added, the Church can contribute to preventing and battling corruption, especially through its work in education and moral formation, based on the principles of social doctrine: the dignity of the human person, the common good, solidarity, subsidiarity, preferential option for the poor and the universal destiny of the goods of the earth.
The Vatican dicastery's note repeats that "the fight against corruption is a value, but also a need; corruption is an evil, but also a cost; refusing corruption is a good, but also an advantage; abandoning corrupt actions may generate development and well-being; honest attitudes should be promoted, the dishonest ones punished."
Therefore, on the international level, "since organized crime knows no boundaries, collaboration between governments must be increased, even with agreements on the procedures for confiscating and recuperating what has been illegally gained."
ZE06100508 - 2006-10-05
Permalink: http://www.zenit.org/article-17831?l=english
Document Focuses on Fight Against Corruption
Written by Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace
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