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What’s a Catholic approach to politics, especially at a time that feels so tense?
St. Pope Paul VI addressed this issue in his 1965 encyclical, Gaudium et Spes, also written in a time of great political tension. In the U.S., issues like the War on Poverty and the Voting Rights Act dominated the news. John F. Kennedy had been assassinated not long before, and internationally the Vietnam War had begun and the Cold War was at its peak.
Perhaps these events inspired his urging toward respect and love for those with whom we disagree politically. Here is the advice he gave, and it’s as true today as almost 60 years ago.
1“Love thy neighbor as thyself”
Jesus’ instructions are straightforward, but not easy! Yet Paul VI urged a renewed consideration for our neighbors, that is, for each person who comes into our lives:
Everyone must consider his every neighbor without exception as another self, taking into account first of all His life and the means necessary to living it with dignity, so as not to imitate the rich man who had no concern for the poor man Lazarus.
In our times a special obligation binds us to make ourselves the neighbor of every person without exception and of actively helping him when he comes across our path, whether he be an old person abandoned by all, a foreign laborer unjustly looked down upon, a refugee, a child born of an unlawful union and wrongly suffering for a sin he did not commit, or a hungry person who disturbs our conscience by recalling the voice of the Lord, 'As long as you did it for one of these the least of my brethren, you did it for me' (Matt. 25:40).
2Respect and love when we disagree
What about when we think differently about politics or religion? Even more strongly, he urged Catholics to stick to showing respect and love:
Respect and love ought to be extended also to those who think or act differently than we do in social, political and even religious matters. In fact, the more deeply we come to understand their ways of thinking through such courtesy and love, the more easily will we be able to enter into dialogue with them.
"Respect and love" does not mean compromising our principles, of course, but treating each human person with the dignity they deserve as a beloved child of God:
This love and good will, to be sure, must in no way render us indifferent to truth and goodness. Indeed love itself impels the disciples of Christ to speak the saving truth to all men. But it is necessary to distinguish between error, which always merits repudiation, and the person in error, who never loses the dignity of being a person even when he is flawed by false or inadequate religious notions. God alone is the judge and searcher of hearts, for that reason He forbids us to make judgments about the internal guilt of anyone.
Not contempt. Or derision. Not judgment or anger or hatred. The Catholic way to show up in the political arena is with steadfast love and respect, trying to see where others are coming from no matter how much we disagree with them.
A neighborly reminder
It sounds simple on paper, but it’s not always our natural response, is it? But this call to love and respect is an authentic Catholic response to politics, as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) reminded America with its new initiative: “Civilize It.”
This “Civilize It” initiative calls on Catholics to lead the way in “charity, clarity, and creativity.” The goal is to remind voters that we are all neighbors, and that it’s on us to keep discussions about politics friendly during the 2024 election season.
We can take the pledge here, and all of us can find our own ways to vote for kindness and courtesy this election year.
