Four popes, two saints, one Church

JOHN DI CAMILLO: Catholic organizations must journey and profess with the cross . . .

John A. Di Camillo

Popes John XXIII and John Paul II were declared saints on April 27. Pope Francis presided and Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI attended. The canonization comes at a time of danger to religious liberty in our pluralistic and increasingly secularized country, with economic strains and laws that threaten the Catholic identity of health care ministries.

The words of these four pontiffs, from the Second Vatican Council to today, call on us to uphold the integrity of Catholic identity and mission and the natural moral law when collaborating with others.

In his encyclical Mater et Magistra (1961), John XXIII spoke clearly: “In their economic and social activities, Catholics often come into contact with others who do not share their view of life. In such circumstances, they must, of course, bear themselves as Catholics and do nothing to compromise religion and morality. Yet at the same time they should show themselves animated by a spirit of understanding and unselfishness, ready to cooperate loyally in achieving objects which are good in themselves, or can be turned to good” (#239).

He repeated this in his encyclical Pacem in Terris (1963). Make no mistake: We are called to be in the world, cooperating for the achievement of good while avoiding the commission of evil.

A life of activity in the world should not be a capitulation to evil, even when the latter is enshrined in civil law. In his encyclical Evangelium Vitae (1995), John Paul II wrote plainly about the dangers of a democracy “idolized to the point of making it a substitute for morality.” Citing Saints Thomas Aquinas and Augustine, he acknowledged the rightful role of civil law, including its limits: “Every law made by man can be called a law insofar as it derives from the natural law. But if it is somehow opposed to the natural law, then it is not really a law but rather a corruption of the law” (#72). There is no moral obligation to obey an unjust law; it must be opposed.

John Paul also wrote frankly about the intrinsic evils of direct abortion and euthanasia, and he addressed the cooperation with evil that may arise. He noted that “to refuse to take part in committing an injustice is not only a moral duty; it is also a basic human right” (#74). Nevertheless, we can legitimately work to limit evils in ways that might seem wrong at first blush. For example, Catholics may vote for a law that restricts abortion even if the law does not outlaw abortion. Collaboration with others to achieve good aims, even if it contributes to an evil indirectly, could be licit. However, direct participation in an evil or directly willing an evil “can never be justified either by invoking respect for the freedom of others or by appealing to the fact that civil law permits it” (#74).

In his 2005 encyclical Deus Caritas Est, Benedict XVI applied this concept of collaboration that preserves Christian integrity to the charitable works of the Church, which include her organized ministries: “It is very important that the Church’s charitable activity maintains all of its splendor and does not become just another form of social assistance” (#31). The Body of Christ cannot be reduced to state-defined “charities” and man-made measures.

Speaking last year to the cardinal electors in the first homily after his election, Pope Francis chose the same theme. Catholics and Church ministries must profess Jesus Christ crucified. If we do not, “we profess the worldliness of the devil.” We should beware of idolatrizing government standards, industry norms, professional standards, or any other human construct that might presume to supplant or subvert the Church’s mission — or to suppress the exercise of Catholic religious and moral precepts. Catholic organizations must journey, build, and profess with the cross, or they are worldly: “We may become a charitable NGO, but not the Church, the Bride of the Lord,” he said.

Aware of the challenges to religious liberty in our nation, let us heed the calls of John, John Paul, Benedict, and Francis to witness and profess Christ’s teachings in their integrity as we go about our work in the world. In a time of many needs and opportunities for collaboration, may we contemplate John’s words in Pacem in Terris: “Catholics who, in order to achieve some external good, collaborate with unbelievers or with those who through error lack the fullness of faith in Christ, may possibly provide the occasion or even the incentive for their conversion to the truth” (#158).

Our collaborative activities should not convert the Church to the world. May they always be occasions and incentives for the conversion of the world to Christ.

JOHN A. DI CAMILLO is a staff ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia.