In the wake of a global pandemic, Western democracies have become hugely indebted, weak, self-loathing riven by incessant migration and beset by an identity crisis. What went wrong?
The rise of political and spiritual disunity in early modern Europe coincides with what Patočka calls
the desire to “project […] the division of Europe upon a division of the world” — in a word, colonialism.
In the twelfth and final part of the Theologians on Modern Politics series, we would like to highlight the details of Pope Pius XII’s political thinking.
It is our belief that the Western liberal elite’s irrational hatred of Hungary’s political culture is driven by a deeply entrenched sense of insecurity regarding its own legitimacy.
European society has forged a culture that, in a manner
previously unknown to humanity, excludes God, the divine logos from the public conscience. He is denied altogether, or judged to be irrelevant to public life since His existence cannot be materially demonstrated.
The teachings of Pope Benedict XVI are an appeal to the individual to ponder on God’s unwritten law inscribed in his or her heart so that he or she may better contribute to the common good of society.
Of course, violations of the rule of law must not lead to corruption or abuse of power in the member states. However, a schematic “transfer” of the institutions that serve the rule of law to the EU level could particularly endanger the essence of the rule of law.
The rule of law debates could have a drastic effect on the future of the European Union. The systematic transfer of institutions serving justice and enforcing the rule of law to the European level may endanger democracy and in particular the original concept of the rule of law.
Christian political theology rejects the optimistic Enlightenment belief in progress, for it seeks to remember those who have fallen out of collective memory, itself defined in the modern age by the myth of progress. Remembrance is one of the most important concepts in Christianity.
