John 19, 17-24 + CSDC and CV

John 19, 17-24 + CSDC and CV 

CV 15 a. Two further documents by Paul VI without any direct link to social doctrine — the Encyclical Humanae Vitae (25 July 1968) and the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi (8 December 1975) — are highly important for delineating the fully human meaning of the development that the Church proposes. It is therefore helpful to consider these texts too in relation to  Populorum Progressio. The Encyclical Humanae Vitae emphasizes both the unitive and the procreative meaning of sexuality, thereby locating at the foundation of society the married couple, man and woman, who accept one another mutually, in distinction and in complementarity: a couple, therefore, that is open to life [27].

Notes: [27] Cf. nos. 8-9: AAS 60 (1968), 485-487; Benedict XVI, Address to the participants at the International Congress promoted by the Pontifical Lateran University on the fortieth anniversary of Paul VI’s Encyclical  Humanae Vitae, 10 May 2008. 

The fight against terrorist activity cannot be limited solely to repressive and punitive operations

CSDC 514 b. International cooperation in the fight against terrorist activity “cannot be limited solely to repressive and punitive operations. It is essential that the use of force, even when necessary, be accompanied by a courageous and lucid analysis of the reasons behind terrorist attacks”.[1083] Also needed is a particular commitment on the “political and educational levels” [1084] in order to resolve, with courage and determination, the problems that in certain dramatic circumstances can foster terrorism: “the recruitment of terrorists in fact is easier in situations where rights are trampled and injustices are tolerated over a long period of time”[1085].

Notes:  [1083] John Paul II, Message for the 2004 World Day of Peace, 8: AAS 96 (2004), 119. [1084] John Paul II, Message for the 2004 World Day of Peace, 8: AAS 96 (2004), 119. [1085] John Paul II, Message for the 2002 World Day of Peace, 5: AAS 94 (2002), 134.

(John 19, 17-24) Jesus the Nazorean, the King of the Jews  

 [17] and carrying the cross himself he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull, in Hebrew, Golgotha. [18] There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle. [19] Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, "Jesus the Nazorean, the King of the Jews." [20] Now many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. [21] So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write 'The King of the Jews,' but that he said, 'I am the King of the Jews.'" [22] Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written." [23] When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four shares, a share for each soldier. They also took his tunic, but the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top down. [24] So they said to one another, "Let's not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it will be," in order that the passage of scripture might be fulfilled (that says): "They divided my garments among them, and for my vesture they cast lots." This is what the soldiers did.

CSDC 398. Authority must enact just laws, that is, laws that correspond to the dignity of the human person and to what is required by right reason. “Human law is law insofar as it corresponds to right reason and therefore is derived from the eternal law. When, however, a law is contrary to reason, it is called an unjust law; in such a case it ceases to be law and becomes instead an act of violence”.[816] Authority that governs according to reason places citizens in a relationship not so much of subjection to another person as of obedience to the moral order and, therefore, to God himself who is its ultimate source.[817] Whoever refuses to obey an authority that is acting in accordance with the moral order “resists what God has appointed” (Rom 13:2).[818] Analogously, whenever public authority — which has its foundation in human nature and belongs to the order pre-ordained by God [819] — fails to seek the common good, it abandons its proper purpose and so delegitimizes itself.

Notes: [816] Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I-II, q. 93, a. 3, ad 2um: Ed. Leon. 7, 164: “Lex humana intantum habet rationem legis, inquantum est secundum rationem rectam: et secundum hoc manifestum est quod a lege aeterna derivatur. Inquantum vero a ratione recedit, sic dicitur lex iniqua: et sic non habet rationem legis, sed magis violentiae cuiusdam”. [817] Cf. John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris: AAS 55 (1963), 270. [818] Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1899-1900. [819] Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 74: AAS 58 (1966), 1095-1097; Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1901.

[Initials and Abbreviations.- CSDC: Pontifical Council for Justice And Peace, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church; -  SDC: Social Doctrine of the Church; - CV: Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in truth)]