Abp. Marcel Lefebvre's contributions to the Catholic Church's theology cannot be underestimated nor tossed to the side. Though many neo-conservatives and liberals will cringe up to this, he is among the most important theologians of the 20th century and his orthodoxy is unquestionable. His comments and challenges to Vatican II cannot be easily dismissed when looked at. He is the Great Enunciator of the Faith and his intercession will guide us through the most confusing time in the Church. To toss him aside would be an egregious error to commit. One of the resounding condemnations Abp. Marcel Lefebvre gives is against the democratic ideology that has sprung up in the world today. Especially when we see a so-called Catholic President claiming so much devotion toward this democratic ideology, it has become a form of modern day idolatry.
Lefebvre differentiates between the democratic ideology and the democratic regime. Rousseau's doctrines is summed up subsequently as a "total transfer of every associate, with all his rights, to the whole community" (They Have Uncrowned Him, 47). It is this "liberal postulate of the individual-king...the necessary popular sovereignty" which illegitmizes "every regime that does not have as a basis the popular sovereignty, or that in which governors assure them that they receive power from God" (ibid). Stemming from this comes a crusade to establish the democratic ideology and to do away with the "old regime". It is an ideology that is inspired against, not just monarchical rule, but against the sovereignty of God. Catholic political doctrine acknowledges that all government has been instituted by God to govern and exercise the sword of His wrath (Rom. 13:1-4). This does not mean government is owed unswerving obedience for if the government goes against the divine prerogative, then it must be resisted. This is because government comes from God that it is not an act of rebellion to resist such a government.
Lefebvre shows that this idea of popular sovereignty has been condemned by the Church. Citing Pope Leo XIII, "[a] good number of our contemporaries, walking in the footsteps of those who, in the last century, bestowed upon themselves the title of philosopher, pretend that all power comes from the people; that, as a consequence, authority does not properly belong to those who exercise it, but only by virtue of a popular mandate....Catholics separate themselves from these new teachers; they want to seek in God the right to govern, and they make it derive from Him as from its natural source and its necessary principle." (Diuturnum). Government derives its full authority from God, not from the people who are governed. It is this ideology which Pontius Pilate first invoked. St. Philaret of Chernigov writes, "Pilate now acted in a way that was a clear insult to common sense: he asked for a decision from the people, who had no right to make such a decision." (Homily 41 On the Passion Of Our Lord Jesus Christ) Jesus did not say the people were given authority over Him but that Pontius Pilate was given authority over Him!
The democratic ideology is the ideology of popular sovereignty. This does not mean the democratic regime is necessarily anathema. The democratic regime is the idea of "the participation of the people in the power" (They Have Uncrowned Him, 49). "Without preferring democracy, the [St. Thomas Aquinas] considers that concretely, the best political regime is a monarchy in which all the citizens have a certain part of the power, for example in choosing those who govern under the monarchy. This is, says St. Thomas, 'a government that combines monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy." (ibid)
So what would be an approved democratic regime? The Great Enunciator provides the following considerations: the principle of popular sovereignty is limited to the democratic regime and respects the legitimacy of a monarchy, never asserting itself as the derivative of all power as in the Rouseauist philosophy but acknowledging that God is the final source of authority and the rulers only governing as vicars of the people in accordance that the idea is the people who choose them are choosing them for the reason that they themselves cannot govern. The rights of God and the decalogue are the principle basis of the Constitution and are set down in the Constitution. The government is instituted by God and rules according to the laws of God. Ultimately, democracy "must, all the same, have a King: Jesus Christ" (50-51).
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