Meeting with the representatives of British Society, including the Diplomatic Corps,
politicians, academics and business leaders, Westminster Hall
Meeting with the representatives of British Society, including the Diplomatic
Corps, politicians, academics and business leaders, Westminster Hall Address
of the Holy Father 17 September 2010
Mr Speaker, Thank you for your
words of welcome on behalf of this distinguished gathering. As I address you, I am
conscious of the privilege afforded me to speak to the British people and their representatives
in Westminster Hall, a building of unique significance in the civil and political
history of the people of these islands. Allow me also to express my esteem for the
Parliament which has existed on this site for centuries and which has had such a profound
influence on the development of participative government among the nations, especially
in the Commonwealth and the English-speaking world at large. Your common law tradition
serves as the basis of legal systems in many parts of the world, and your particular
vision of the respective rights and duties of the state and the individual, and of
the separation of powers, remains an inspiration to many across the globe. As
I speak to you in this historic setting, I think of the countless men and women down
the centuries who have played their part in the momentous events that have taken place
within these walls and have shaped the lives of many generations of Britons, and others
besides. In particular, I recall the figure of Saint Thomas More, the great English
scholar and statesman, who is admired by believers and non-believers alike for the
integrity with which he followed his conscience, even at the cost of displeasing the
sovereign whose “good servant” he was, because he chose to serve God first. The dilemma
which faced More in those difficult times, the perennial question of the relationship
between what is owed to Caesar and what is owed to God, allows me the opportunity
to reflect with you briefly on the proper place of religious belief within the political
process. This country’s Parliamentary tradition owes much to the national instinct
for moderation, to the desire to achieve a genuine balance between the legitimate
claims of government and the rights of those subject to it. While decisive steps
have been taken at several points in your history to place limits on the exercise
of power, the nation’s political institutions have been able to evolve with a remarkable
degree of stability. In the process, Britain has emerged as a pluralist democracy
which places great value on freedom of speech, freedom of political affiliation and
respect for the rule of law, with a strong sense of the individual’s rights and duties,
and of the equality of all citizens before the law. While couched in different language,
Catholic social teaching has much in common with this approach, in its overriding
concern to safeguard the unique dignity of every human person, created in the image
and likeness of God, and in its emphasis on the duty of civil authority to foster
the common good. And yet the fundamental questions at stake in Thomas More’s
trial continue to present themselves in ever-changing terms as new social conditions
emerge. Each generation, as it seeks to advance the common good, must ask anew: what
are the requirements that governments may reasonably impose upon citizens, and how
far do they extend? By appeal to what authority can moral dilemmas be resolved?
These questions take us directly to the ethical foundations of civil discourse. If
the moral principles underpinning the democratic process are themselves determined
by nothing more solid than social consensus, then the fragility of the process becomes
all too evident - herein lies the real challenge for democracy. The inadequacy
of pragmatic, short-term solutions to complex social and ethical problems has been
illustrated all too clearly by the recent global financial crisis. There is widespread
agreement that the lack of a solid ethical foundation for economic activity has contributed
to the grave difficulties now being experienced by millions of people throughout the
world. Just as “every economic decision has a moral consequence” (Caritas in Veritate,
37), so too in the political field, the ethical dimension of policy has far-reaching
consequences that no government can afford to ignore. A positive illustration of
this is found in one of the British Parliament’s particularly notable achievements
– the abolition of the slave trade. The campaign that led to this landmark legislation
was built upon firm ethical principles, rooted in the natural law, and it has made
a contribution to civilization of which this nation may be justly proud. The central
question at issue, then, is this: where is the ethical foundation for political choices
to be found? The Catholic tradition maintains that the objective norms governing
right action are accessible to reason, prescinding from the content of revelation.
According to this understanding, the role of religion in political debate is not so
much to supply these norms, as if they could not be known by non-believers – still
less to propose concrete political solutions, which would lie altogether outside the
competence of religion – but rather to help purify and shed light upon the application
of reason to the discovery of objective moral principles. This “corrective” role
of religion vis-à-vis reason is not always welcomed, though, partly because distorted
forms of religion, such as sectarianism and fundamentalism, can be seen to create
serious social problems themselves. And in their turn, these distortions of religion
arise when insufficient attention is given to the purifying and structuring role of
reason within religion. It is a two-way process. Without the corrective supplied
by religion, though, reason too can fall prey to distortions, as when it is manipulated
by ideology, or applied in a partial way that fails to take full account of the dignity
of the human person. Such misuse of reason, after all, was what gave rise to the
slave trade in the first place and to many other social evils, not least the totalitarian
ideologies of the twentieth century. This is why I would suggest that the world of
reason and the world of faith – the world of secular rationality and the world of
religious belief – need one another and should not be afraid to enter into a profound
and ongoing dialogue, for the good of our civilization. Religion, in other words,
is not a problem for legislators to solve, but a vital contributor to the national
conversation. In this light, I cannot but voice my concern at the increasing marginalization
of religion, particularly of Christianity, that is taking place in some quarters,
even in nations which place a great emphasis on tolerance. There are those who would
advocate that the voice of religion be silenced, or at least relegated to the purely
private sphere. There are those who argue that the public celebration of festivals
such as Christmas should be discouraged, in the questionable belief that it might
somehow offend those of other religions or none. And there are those who argue –
paradoxically with the intention of eliminating discrimination – that Christians in
public roles should be required at times to act against their conscience. These are
worrying signs of a failure to appreciate not only the rights of believers to freedom
of conscience and freedom of religion, but also the legitimate role of religion in
the public square. I would invite all of you, therefore, within your respective spheres
of influence, to seek ways of promoting and encouraging dialogue between faith and
reason at every level of national life. Your readiness to do so is already implied
in the unprecedented invitation extended to me today. And it finds expression in
the fields of concern in which your Government has been engaged with the Holy See.
In the area of peace, there have been exchanges regarding the elaboration of an international
arms trade treaty; regarding human rights, the Holy See and the United Kingdom have
welcomed the spread of democracy, especially in the last sixty-five years; in the
field of development, there has been collaboration on debt relief, fair trade and
financing for development, particularly through the International Finance Facility,
the International Immunization Bond, and the Advanced Market Commitment. The Holy
See also looks forward to exploring with the United Kingdom new ways to promote environmental
responsibility, to the benefit of all. I also note that the present Government
has committed the United Kingdom to devoting 0.7% of national income to development
aid by 2013. In recent years it has been encouraging to witness the positive signs
of a worldwide growth in solidarity towards the poor. But to turn this solidarity
into effective action calls for fresh thinking that will improve life conditionsin many important areas, such as food production, clean water, job creation, education,
support to families, especially migrants, and basic healthcare. Where human lives
are concerned, time is always short: yet the world has witnessed the vast resources
that governments can draw upon to rescue financial institutions deemed “too big to
fail”. Surely the integral human development of the world’s peoples is no less important:
here is an enterprise, worthy of the world’s attention, that is truly “too big to
fail”. This overview of recent cooperation between the United Kingdom and the
Holy See illustrates well how much progress has been made, in the years that have
passed since the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations, in promoting throughout
the worldthe many core values that we share. I hope and pray that this relationship
will continue to bear fruit, and that it will be mirrored in a growing acceptance
of the need for dialogue and respect at every level of society between the world of
reason and the world of faith. I am convinced that, within this country too, there
are many areas in which the Church and the public authorities can work together for
the good of citizens, in harmony with Britain’s long-standing tradition. For such
cooperation to be possible, religious bodies – including institutions linked to the
Catholic Church – need to be free to act in accordance with their own principles and
specific convictions based upon the faith and the official teaching of the Church.
In this way, such basic rights as religious freedom, freedom of conscience and freedom
of association are guaranteed. The angels looking down on us from the magnificent
ceiling of this ancient Hall remind us of the long tradition from which British Parliamentary
democracy has evolved. They remind us that God is constantly watching over us to
guide and protect us. And they summon us to acknowledge the vital contribution that
religious belief has made and can continue to make to the life of the nation. Mr
Speaker, I thank you once again for this opportunity briefly to address this distinguished
audience. Let me assure you and the Lord Speaker of my continued good wishes and
prayers for you and for the fruitful work of both Houses of this ancient Parliament.
Thank you and God bless you all!