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GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 1963 Supernation Proposed To Guard Rights POPE JOHN XXIII chose for his papal coat of arms his family insignia of a tower flanked by two lilies, with the addition of the Lion of St. Mark. The Lion of St. Mark is the emblem of Venice, where the new Pope, as Angelo Cardi nal Giuseppe Roncalli, had been Patriarch since 1953. An open book held by the lion has the Latin inscription; “Peace to you, Mark my evangelist.” Completing the design are the Papal tiara and the keys of St. Peter. societies on their own initiative and on their mvn responsibility in order to achieve their desired objectives. (20» We ourselves stated in the encyclical "Mater et Magistra" that, for the achievement of ends which individual human beings cannot attain except by association, it is necessary and indispensable to set up a great variety of such intermediate groups and societies in order to guarantee for the human person a sufficient sphere of freedom and responsibility. (21) The Right to Emigrate and Immigrate Every human being has the right to freedom of movement and of residence within the con- i.ncs of his own country; and, when there are just reasons for it, the right to emigrate to other countries and take up residence there. (22) The fact that one is a citizen of a par ticular state does not detract in any way from his membership of the human family as a whole, nor from his citizenship of the world community. Political Rights The dignity of the human person involves the right to takp an active part in public affairs and to contribute one's part to the common good of the citizenry. For, as our prede cessor of happy memory. Pius XII, pointed out: The human individual, far from being an object and, as it were, a merely passive element in the social order, is in fact, must be and must continue to be, its subject, its foundation and its end. (23) The human person is also en titled to a juridical protection of his rights, a protection that should be efficacious, impartial and inspired by the true norms of justice. As our predecessor Pius XII teaches: That perpetual privi lege proper to man, by which every individual has a claim to the protection of his rights, and by which there is assigned to each a definite and particular sphere of rights, immune from all arbitrary attacks, is the logical consequence of the order of justice willed by God. (24) Rights and Duties Necessar* il.v Linked in the One Per son The natural rights with which we have been dealing are, how ever, Inseparably connected, in the very person who is their subject, with just as many re spective duties; and rights as well as duties find their source, their sustenance and their in violability in the natural law which grants or enjoins them. For example, the right of every man to life is correlative with the duty to preserve it: his right to a decent standard of living with the duty of living it becomingly; and his right to investigate the truth freely, with the duty of seeking it arid of possessing it ever more com pletely and profoundly. Reciprocity of Rights and Du! os Beiwc 'n Persons Once this Is admitted, it is also clear that in human society to one man’s right there corre sponds a duty in all other per sons: the duty, namely, of ac knowledging and respecting the right in question. For every fundamental human right draws its indestructible moral force from the natural law. which, in granting it. imposes a eon responding obligation. Those, therefore, who claim their own rights, yet altogether forget or neglect to carry out their respective duties, are peo ple who build with one hand and destroy with the other Mutual Collaboration Since men are social by na ture they are meant to live with others and to work for one an other's welfare. A well-ordered human society requires that men recognize and observe their mutual rights and duties. It also demands that each con tribute generously to the estab lishment of a civic order in which rights and duties are pro gressively more sincerely and effectively acknowledged and fulfilled. It is not enough, for example, to acknowledge and respect every man’s right to the means of subsistence: One must also strive to obtain that he actu ally has enough in the way of food and nourishment. The society of men must not only be organized but must also provide them with abun dant resources. This certainly requires that they observe and recognize their mutual rights and duties: It' also requires that they collaborate together in the many enterprises that modern civilization either allows or en courages or even demands. The dignity of the human per son also requires that every man enjoy the right to act freely and responsibly. For this reason, therefore, in social relations man should exercise his rights, fulfill his obligation: and, In the countless forms of collabo ration with others, aat chiefly on his own respnsibility and initiative. This is to be done in such a way that each one sets on hi3 own decision, of set pur pose and from a conciousness of his obligation, without being moved by force or pressure brought to bear on him exter nally. For any human society that is established on relations of force must be regarded as in human, inasmuch as the person ality of its members is repressed or restricted, when in fact they should be provided wjith ap propriate incentives and means for developing and perfecting themselves. Social Life in Truth. Justice, Charity and Freedom A political society is to be considered well-ordered, benefi cial and in keeping with human dignity if it is grounded on truth. As the Apostle Paul ex horts us: "Away with falsehood then; let everyone speak out the truth to his neighbor; mem bership of the body binds us to one another.’’ (25) This demands that reciprocal rights and du ties be sincerely recognized. Furthermore, human society will be such as we have just described It, if the citizens, guided by Justice, apply them selves seriously to respecting the rights of others and dis- charging their own duties; if they are moved by such fervor of charity as to make their own the needs of others and share with others their own goods: If, finally, they worlc for a pro gressively closer fellowship in the world of spiritual values. Human society is realized in freedom, that is to say, in ways and means in keeping with the dignity of its citizens, who ac cept the responsibility of their actions, precisely because they are by nature rational beings. Human society, venerable brothers and beloved children, ought to be regarded above all as a spiritual reality: in which men communicate knowledge to each other in the light of truth: in which they .can enjoy their rights and fulfil their duties, and are inspired to strive for moral good. Society should en able men to share in and enjoy every legitimate expression of beauty, and encourage them constantly to pass on to others all that is best in themselves, while they strive to make their own the spiritual achievements of others. These are the spiritual values which continually give life and basic orientation to cultural expressions, economic and social institutions, political movements and forms, laws, and all other structures by which society is outwardly established and constantly developed. God and the Moral Order The order which prevails in society is by nature moral. Grounded as it is in truth, it must function according to the norms of justice, it should be inspired and perfected by mu tual love, and finally it should be brought to an ever more re fined and human balance in freedom. Now an order of this kind, whose principles are universal, absolute and unchangeable, has its ultimate source in the one true God, who is personal and t ranscends human nature. Inas much as God is the first truth and the highest good. He alone is that deepest source from which human society can draw its vitality, if that society is to be well-ordered, beneficial, and in keeping with human dig nity. (26) As St. Thomas Aqui nas says: "Human reason is the norm of the human will, according to which is goodness is measured, because reason de rives from the eternal law which is the divine reason itself. It is evident then that the goodness of the human will depends much more on the eternal law than on human reason." f 27j Characteristics of the Present Our age has three distinctive characteristics. First of all, the working classes have gradually gained ground in economic and public affairs. They began by claiming their rights in the so cio-economic sphere; they ex tended their action then to claims on the political level; and finally applied themselves to the acquisition of the benefits of a more refined culture. Today, therefore, workers all over the world refuse to be treated as if they were irrational objects without freedom, to be used at the arbitrary- disposition ot others. They insist that they be always regarded as men with a share in every sector of hu man society: in the social and economic sphere, in the fields of learning and culture, and in public life. Secondly, it is obvious to everyone that women are now taking & part in public life. This is happening more rapidly, per haps, in nations of Christian civilization, and, more slowly but broadly, among peoples who have inherited other traditions or cultures. Since women are be coming ever more conscious of their human dignity, they will not tolerate being treated as mere material instruments, but demand rights befitting a hu man person both in domestic and in public life. Finally, the moncm world, as compared with the recent past, has taken on an entirely new appearance in the field of social and political life. For since all nations have either achieved or are on the way to achieving independence, there will soon no longer exist a world divided into nations that rule others and na tions that are subject to others. Men all over the world have today—or will soon have—the rank of citizens in independent nations. No one wants to fee! subject to political powers lo cated outside his own country or ethnic group. Thus in very- many human beings the inferi ority complex which endured for hundreds and thousands o. years is disappearing, while in others there is an attenuation and gradual fading of the cor responding superiority complex which had its roots in social- economic privileges, sex or po litical standing. On the contrary, the con viction that all men ar© equal by reason of their natural dig nity has been generally ac cepted. Hence racial discrimi nation ran no longer be jus tified, at least doctrinally or m theory. And this is of funda mental importance and signifi cance for the formation of hu man society according to those principles which we have out lined above. For, if a man be comes conscious of his rights, he must become equally aware of his duties. Thus he who pos sesses certain rights has like wise the duty to claim those rights as marks of his dignity, while all others have the ob ligation to acknowledge those rights and respect them. When the relations of human society are expressed in terms of rights and duties, men be come conscious of spiritual val ues. understand the meaning and significance of truth, jus tice, charity and freedom, and become deeply aware that they belong to this world of values. Moreover, when moved by such concerns, they are brought to a better knowledge of the true God who is personal and trans cendent, and thus they make the ties that bind them to God the solid foundations and su preme criterion of their lives, both of that life which the; live interiorly in the depths o' their own souls and of that in which they are united to other men in society. Human society can be neither well-ordered nor pros perous unless it has some peo ple invested with legitimate au thority to preseve its institu tions and to devote themselves as far as is necessary to work and care for the good of all. Those, however, derive their authority from God. as St. Paul teaches in the words, "Authority comes from God alone.’’ (28) These words of St. Paul are explained thus by St. John Chrysostom:'What are you saying? Is every ruler appoint ed by God? I do not say that, he replies, for I am not deal ing now with individual rulers, but with authority itself. What I say is, that it is the divine widsom and not mere chance that has ordained that there should he government, that some should command and others obey. (29) Moreover, since God made men social by nature, and since no society can hold together unless some one be over all, directing all to strive earnestly for the com mon good, every civilized com munity must have a ruling au thority, and this authority, no less than society itself, has its source in nature, and has, con sequently, God for its au- self. (31) But authority is not to be thought of as a force lacking all control. Indeed, since it is the power to command accord ing to right reason, authority must derive its obligatory force from the moral order, which in turn has God for its first source and final end. Where fore our predecessor of happy memory, Pius XII. said: "That same absolute order of beings and their ends .which presents man as an autonomous person, that is, as the subject of in violable duties and rights, and as at once the basis of society and the purpose for which it exists, also includes the state as necessary society invested "‘ith the authority without which it could not come into being or live. . . . And since this absolute order, as we learn from sound reason, especially from the Christian faith, can have no origin save in a per sonal God who is our Creator, it follows that the dignity of the state’s authority is due to its sharing to some extent in the authority of God him self. 31 Where the civil authority uses as its only or its chief means either threats and fear of punishment or promises of rewards, it cannot effectively move men to promote the com mon good of all. Even if it did so move them, this would be altogether opposed to their dignity as men, endowed with reason and free will. As au thority is chiefly concerned wiWi moral force, it follows that civil authority must ap peal primarily to the conscience of individual citizens. th?J is, to each one’s duty to collaborate readily for the common good of all. Since by nature all men are equal in human dignity, it follows that no one may be coerced to perform interior acts. That is in the power of God alone, who secs and judges the hidden designs of men's hearts. Those therefore who have au thority in the state may oblige men m conscience only if their authority is intrinsically relat ed with the authority of God and shares in it. 132) By this principle the dignity <>f the citizens is protected. When, in fact, men obey their rulers, it is not all as men that they obey them, but through tlicir obedience it is