At 11:00am this morning (5:00am EST), in the Consistory Hall at the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father received in audience the National Association of Magistrates on the occasion of the approaching 110th anniversary of that Association's foundation.
Illustrious Ladies and Gentlemen,
I offer a cordial greeting to you, to your President, who I thank for his words, to the Central Organizing Committee and to the entire National Association of Magistrates. You have been in existence for 110 years: this provides you with an occasion to celebrate and to take stock, a moment in which you can confirm your intents and recalibrate your objectives in the light of a context that has changed.
For over a century, through initiatives focused on culture, welfare and social security, the National Magistrates Association supervises the proper functioning of the delicate and precious function of the magistrate. At the same time it fulfills an important task of monitoring democratic rules and promoting constitutional values, at the service of the common good. By promoting these values, through internal debate and press releases, national conferences, your magazine and dialogue with other institutions, you make a significant contribution to the most relevant issues concerning the administration of justice. The membership of your Association, which includes about 90% of Italian magistrates, makes you privileged interlocutors, in particular for the legislative bodies of the State, because it allows you to draw on a wide range of professional experiences, giving you a direct knowledge of the life of citizens and other critical points.
We live in a context characterized by tensions and lacerations, which risk weakening the very estate of the social fabric and weakening the civic consciousness of many others, with a withdrawal into the private that often generates disinterest and becomes a breeding ground for illegality. The claim of a multiplicity of rights, including those of third and fourth generations connected to new technologies, is often accompanied by a poor perception of their duties and a widespread insensitivity to the primary rights of many, even multitudes of people. For these reasons, the primary value of justice - which are indispensable for the proper functioning of every are of public life and fo everyone to lead a serene life - should be reaffirmed with constancy and determination, in attitudes and practices.
The philosophical tradition presents justice as a cardinal virtue, and the cardinal virtue par excellence, because other virtues also contribute to its realization: prudence, which helps to apply the general principles of justice to specific situations; prudence and temperance, which perfect its attainment. Justice is therefore a virtue, that is, an internal clothing of the subject: not an occasional dressing or something to be worn for parties, but clothing that must always be worn, because it covers and envelops you, influencing not only concrete choices, but also intentions. And it is a cardinal virtue, because it indicates the right direction and, like a pivotal point of reference, it is a point of support and meeting. Without justice, all social life remains jammed, like a door that can no longer open up, or ends up grinding and creaking in muddled movement.
Therefore, all the positive energies present in the social body must contribute to the attainment of justice, because each person is in charge of discovering this energy, the main requirement for achieving peace. To you, magistrates, justice is entrusted in a very special way, because not only do you practice it with alacrity, but you also promote it without growing tired; it is not in fact an order already realized which must be preserved, but rather a goal towards which we strive every day.
I am aware of the many difficulties you encounter in your daily service, hampered in its effectiveness by the lack of resources for the maintenance of the structures and for the recruitment of personnel, and by the increasing complexity of legal situations. Every day you must then deal with the overabundance of laws, which can cause overlapping or conflict between different laws, old and new, national and supra-national; and, on the other hand, with legislative gaps in some important issues, including those relating to the beginning and the end of life, to family law and the complex reality of immigrants. These critical issues require the magistrate to assume responsibility that goes beyond his normal duties, and demands that he establishes the events and pronounces himself on them with even greater accuracy.
In a time in which the truth is so often counterfeited, and we are almost overwhelmed by a whirlwind of fleeting information, it is necessary that you be the first to affirm the superiority of reality on the idea (cf Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 233); in fact, "reality is simple, while the idea is elaborated (EG, 231). Your commitment to ascertaining the reality of the facts, even if made more difficult by the amount of work entrusted to you, is therefore always punctual, accurately reported, based on an in-depth study and on a continuous updating effort. You will be able to make use of the dialogue with the various extra-juridical knowledge, to better understand the changes in society and in the life of the people, and be able to implement with skill, where necessary, an evolutionary interpretation of the laws, based on the fundamental principles established by the Constitution.
In a social context in which more and more is perceived as normal, without any scandal, the search for individual interests even at the expense of the collective, you are called to offer a sign of disinterested dedication that your Statute recalls, beginning with its first article, and made possible by the important prerogative of independence, which has always been protected by your National Association. External independence, which leads to firm affirmation of its non-political character (cf Statute, article 2), keeps away favouritism and currents which pollute choices, relations and appointments; and internal independence (cf Statute, article 1) frees you from seeking personal advantages, capable of rejecting pressure, signalling or direct solicitation to unduly influence the timing and methods of administration of justice (Statute, art. 2).
Precisely the times and the ways in which justice is administered touch the living flesh of people, especially those most in need, and they leave signs of relief and consolation, or wounds of forgetfulness and discrimination. Therefore, in your precious task of discernment and judgment, always try to respect the dignity of every person, without discrimination and prejudices of sex, culture, ideology, race or religion (Statute, Article 9). Your gaze on those you are called to judge is always a look of goodness. Mercy in fact always has the best in judgment (Letter of James 2:13), the Bible teaches us, reminding us that a careful look at the person and his needs is able to grasp the truth in an even more authentic way. becoming increasingly inclusive, attentive to the poor and to their integration: in fact, having to give everyone what is due, we can not forget the extreme weakness that affects the lives of many and influences their choices.
The high moral concern, expressed with clarity in your Code of Ethics, always animates your action, because you are more than officials; you are models before all citizens and especially towards younger people. For this I congratulate you because you remember the magistrates who suffered and lost their lives in the faithful performance of their duties. To each of them I also address a particular and grateful memory today.
May the Lord bless all of you, your work and your families. Thank you.
(Original text in Italian)
Greetings of His Holiness, Pope Francis
addressed to the Italian National Association
of Magistrates
Illustrious Ladies and Gentlemen,
I offer a cordial greeting to you, to your President, who I thank for his words, to the Central Organizing Committee and to the entire National Association of Magistrates. You have been in existence for 110 years: this provides you with an occasion to celebrate and to take stock, a moment in which you can confirm your intents and recalibrate your objectives in the light of a context that has changed.
For over a century, through initiatives focused on culture, welfare and social security, the National Magistrates Association supervises the proper functioning of the delicate and precious function of the magistrate. At the same time it fulfills an important task of monitoring democratic rules and promoting constitutional values, at the service of the common good. By promoting these values, through internal debate and press releases, national conferences, your magazine and dialogue with other institutions, you make a significant contribution to the most relevant issues concerning the administration of justice. The membership of your Association, which includes about 90% of Italian magistrates, makes you privileged interlocutors, in particular for the legislative bodies of the State, because it allows you to draw on a wide range of professional experiences, giving you a direct knowledge of the life of citizens and other critical points.
We live in a context characterized by tensions and lacerations, which risk weakening the very estate of the social fabric and weakening the civic consciousness of many others, with a withdrawal into the private that often generates disinterest and becomes a breeding ground for illegality. The claim of a multiplicity of rights, including those of third and fourth generations connected to new technologies, is often accompanied by a poor perception of their duties and a widespread insensitivity to the primary rights of many, even multitudes of people. For these reasons, the primary value of justice - which are indispensable for the proper functioning of every are of public life and fo everyone to lead a serene life - should be reaffirmed with constancy and determination, in attitudes and practices.
The philosophical tradition presents justice as a cardinal virtue, and the cardinal virtue par excellence, because other virtues also contribute to its realization: prudence, which helps to apply the general principles of justice to specific situations; prudence and temperance, which perfect its attainment. Justice is therefore a virtue, that is, an internal clothing of the subject: not an occasional dressing or something to be worn for parties, but clothing that must always be worn, because it covers and envelops you, influencing not only concrete choices, but also intentions. And it is a cardinal virtue, because it indicates the right direction and, like a pivotal point of reference, it is a point of support and meeting. Without justice, all social life remains jammed, like a door that can no longer open up, or ends up grinding and creaking in muddled movement.
Therefore, all the positive energies present in the social body must contribute to the attainment of justice, because each person is in charge of discovering this energy, the main requirement for achieving peace. To you, magistrates, justice is entrusted in a very special way, because not only do you practice it with alacrity, but you also promote it without growing tired; it is not in fact an order already realized which must be preserved, but rather a goal towards which we strive every day.
I am aware of the many difficulties you encounter in your daily service, hampered in its effectiveness by the lack of resources for the maintenance of the structures and for the recruitment of personnel, and by the increasing complexity of legal situations. Every day you must then deal with the overabundance of laws, which can cause overlapping or conflict between different laws, old and new, national and supra-national; and, on the other hand, with legislative gaps in some important issues, including those relating to the beginning and the end of life, to family law and the complex reality of immigrants. These critical issues require the magistrate to assume responsibility that goes beyond his normal duties, and demands that he establishes the events and pronounces himself on them with even greater accuracy.
In a time in which the truth is so often counterfeited, and we are almost overwhelmed by a whirlwind of fleeting information, it is necessary that you be the first to affirm the superiority of reality on the idea (cf Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 233); in fact, "reality is simple, while the idea is elaborated (EG, 231). Your commitment to ascertaining the reality of the facts, even if made more difficult by the amount of work entrusted to you, is therefore always punctual, accurately reported, based on an in-depth study and on a continuous updating effort. You will be able to make use of the dialogue with the various extra-juridical knowledge, to better understand the changes in society and in the life of the people, and be able to implement with skill, where necessary, an evolutionary interpretation of the laws, based on the fundamental principles established by the Constitution.
In a social context in which more and more is perceived as normal, without any scandal, the search for individual interests even at the expense of the collective, you are called to offer a sign of disinterested dedication that your Statute recalls, beginning with its first article, and made possible by the important prerogative of independence, which has always been protected by your National Association. External independence, which leads to firm affirmation of its non-political character (cf Statute, article 2), keeps away favouritism and currents which pollute choices, relations and appointments; and internal independence (cf Statute, article 1) frees you from seeking personal advantages, capable of rejecting pressure, signalling or direct solicitation to unduly influence the timing and methods of administration of justice (Statute, art. 2).
Precisely the times and the ways in which justice is administered touch the living flesh of people, especially those most in need, and they leave signs of relief and consolation, or wounds of forgetfulness and discrimination. Therefore, in your precious task of discernment and judgment, always try to respect the dignity of every person, without discrimination and prejudices of sex, culture, ideology, race or religion (Statute, Article 9). Your gaze on those you are called to judge is always a look of goodness. Mercy in fact always has the best in judgment (Letter of James 2:13), the Bible teaches us, reminding us that a careful look at the person and his needs is able to grasp the truth in an even more authentic way. becoming increasingly inclusive, attentive to the poor and to their integration: in fact, having to give everyone what is due, we can not forget the extreme weakness that affects the lives of many and influences their choices.
The high moral concern, expressed with clarity in your Code of Ethics, always animates your action, because you are more than officials; you are models before all citizens and especially towards younger people. For this I congratulate you because you remember the magistrates who suffered and lost their lives in the faithful performance of their duties. To each of them I also address a particular and grateful memory today.
May the Lord bless all of you, your work and your families. Thank you.
(Original text in Italian)
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