Throughout the history of humanity, government leaders have always promised that they can bring peace and justice to the world.
It can be tempting to put all of our hope in them, believing that humans are able to fashioning the world as we see fit.
However, the reality is that we will be sorely disappointed.
Hope in humanity
Pope Benedict XVI commented on this topic in his encyclical, Spe salvi, explaining the pitfalls of putting our hope in political leaders and their promises.
Since man always remains free and since his freedom is always fragile, the kingdom of good will never be definitively established in this world. Anyone who promises the better world that is guaranteed to last for ever is making a false promise; he is overlooking human freedom.
While it is true that political structures are important, they cannot grant salvation:
The right state of human affairs, the moral well-being of the world can never be guaranteed simply through structures alone, however good they are. Such structures are not only important, but necessary; yet they cannot and must not marginalize human freedom. Even the best structures function only when the community is animated by convictions capable of motivating people to assent freely to the social order. Freedom requires conviction; conviction does not exist on its own, but must always be gained anew by the community.
Pope Benedict XVI explains that when politics and human governance are seen as the pathway to hope, it will inevitably infringe on human freedom:
Freedom must constantly be won over for the cause of good. Free assent to the good never exists simply by itself. If there were structures which could irrevocably guarantee a determined—good—state of the world, man's freedom would be denied, and hence they would not be good structures at all.
Above all, we need to place our hope in God.
Politicians may promise a rosy future, but if it is a future divorced from God, then it is no future at all.
