At 10:30am today, in the Sala Clementina at the Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience the members of the Superior Council of Magistrates (CSM).
Mister Vice-President,
Dear Counsellors,
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
First, I want to express my most sincere congratulations for the task that has been entrusted to each of you following the renewal of the Superior Council of Magistrates. This task is a responsibility of which you are fully aware, and which constitutes a fundamental point of equilibrium and stability for the exercise of the juridical function.
Jurisdiction plays an increasingly complex role today, considering the multiplication of interests and rights which are asking to be compared and which do not always find a precise and full response to the variety of concrete cases in the realm of legislation.
Globalization itself - as has already been rightly recalled - brings with it some aspects of possible confusion and disorientation, such as occurs when it becomes a vehicle to introduce customs, conceptions, even norms unrelated to the social fabric with consequent deterioration of the cultural roots which should instead be respected; and which as a result of tendencies belonging to other cultures, are economically developed but culturally weakened (cf Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii gaudium, 62). I have spoken many times about ideological colonization when I refer to this problem.
In such a context of profound shock to the cultural roots, it is important that public authorities, and through them also the authority of the courts, make use of the space given to them to provide stability and to strengthen the foundations of human society through the recovery of fundamental values.
To these values, Christianity has offered the most appropriate foundation: the love of God, which is inseparable from love for our neighbour (cf Mt 22:34-40).
Beginning with these foundations, even phenomena such as the expansion of crime, in its economic and financial expressions, is a wound inflicted through corruption, which also affects even the most evolved democracies and can find effective ground. Action is needed not only at the moment when it is discovered, but also in efforts to educate, especially the new generations, offering them an anthropology - which is not based on relativism - and a model for life which is capable of responding to the highest and most profound inspirations of the human heart. To this end, institutions must re-define a long-term strategy oriented toward the promotion of the human person and peaceful co-existence.
In this work of construction, help can be found, and I believe also that this is of prime importance, in all those who exercise juridical function. Though, as you correctly pointed out, courts are called to intervene in cases of a violation of law, it is also true that the reaffirmation of the rule is not only an act addressed to the individual person, but always exceeds the individual case to involve the community as a whole. In this sense, every juridical pronouncement crosses the boundary of an individual case and opens itself up to become an occasion in which the entire community (the people in whose name the sentence is pronounced) is found in that ruling, reaffirming its value and more importantly, identifying itself with it.
Rightly then, at this time, you are placing particular attention on the theme of human rights, which are the fundamental nucleus of recognizing the dignity that is essential to every person. This must be done without abusing the category which wants to return to practices and behaviors which, instead of promoting and guaranteeing human dignity, actually threaten or violate it.
Justice is not accomplished in an abstract sense, but always in considering the person in his or her true value, as a being created in the image of God and called to realize his likeness here on earth.
Among those who have been fascinated by this task - and who have given their lives for it - I also want to remember, together with you Mister Vice-president, the figure of Vittorio Vachelet, who once served in your position and who was killed thirty-five years ago. His human witness as a Christian and a juror is still an inspiration for your commitment to the service of justice and the common good.
May the Lord bless all of you and the work you do. Thank you.
Speech of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
for the meeting with Magistrates
Mister Vice-President,
Dear Counsellors,
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
First, I want to express my most sincere congratulations for the task that has been entrusted to each of you following the renewal of the Superior Council of Magistrates. This task is a responsibility of which you are fully aware, and which constitutes a fundamental point of equilibrium and stability for the exercise of the juridical function.
Jurisdiction plays an increasingly complex role today, considering the multiplication of interests and rights which are asking to be compared and which do not always find a precise and full response to the variety of concrete cases in the realm of legislation.
Globalization itself - as has already been rightly recalled - brings with it some aspects of possible confusion and disorientation, such as occurs when it becomes a vehicle to introduce customs, conceptions, even norms unrelated to the social fabric with consequent deterioration of the cultural roots which should instead be respected; and which as a result of tendencies belonging to other cultures, are economically developed but culturally weakened (cf Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii gaudium, 62). I have spoken many times about ideological colonization when I refer to this problem.
In such a context of profound shock to the cultural roots, it is important that public authorities, and through them also the authority of the courts, make use of the space given to them to provide stability and to strengthen the foundations of human society through the recovery of fundamental values.
To these values, Christianity has offered the most appropriate foundation: the love of God, which is inseparable from love for our neighbour (cf Mt 22:34-40).
Beginning with these foundations, even phenomena such as the expansion of crime, in its economic and financial expressions, is a wound inflicted through corruption, which also affects even the most evolved democracies and can find effective ground. Action is needed not only at the moment when it is discovered, but also in efforts to educate, especially the new generations, offering them an anthropology - which is not based on relativism - and a model for life which is capable of responding to the highest and most profound inspirations of the human heart. To this end, institutions must re-define a long-term strategy oriented toward the promotion of the human person and peaceful co-existence.
In this work of construction, help can be found, and I believe also that this is of prime importance, in all those who exercise juridical function. Though, as you correctly pointed out, courts are called to intervene in cases of a violation of law, it is also true that the reaffirmation of the rule is not only an act addressed to the individual person, but always exceeds the individual case to involve the community as a whole. In this sense, every juridical pronouncement crosses the boundary of an individual case and opens itself up to become an occasion in which the entire community (the people in whose name the sentence is pronounced) is found in that ruling, reaffirming its value and more importantly, identifying itself with it.
Rightly then, at this time, you are placing particular attention on the theme of human rights, which are the fundamental nucleus of recognizing the dignity that is essential to every person. This must be done without abusing the category which wants to return to practices and behaviors which, instead of promoting and guaranteeing human dignity, actually threaten or violate it.
Justice is not accomplished in an abstract sense, but always in considering the person in his or her true value, as a being created in the image of God and called to realize his likeness here on earth.
Among those who have been fascinated by this task - and who have given their lives for it - I also want to remember, together with you Mister Vice-president, the figure of Vittorio Vachelet, who once served in your position and who was killed thirty-five years ago. His human witness as a Christian and a juror is still an inspiration for your commitment to the service of justice and the common good.
May the Lord bless all of you and the work you do. Thank you.
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