Seeking Truth, an Essential Condition for Real Democracy

Vatican Information Service

On Friday morning, the Pope received the president and leaders of ACLI, the Christian Associations of Italian Workers, which is celebrating the 60th anniversary of its foundation.

In his address to them, the Pope recalled the three "directives" the association is historically committed to put into effect. The first of these, he said, is "faithfulness to workers," affirming in this context how the Magisterium has always highlighted the human dimension of work, without overlooking "the commandment of rest. To insist, then, that Sunday does not become like all the other days of the week, is to take a stand in favor of civilization."

The Holy Father went on: "From the primacy of the ethical dimension of human work arise other priorities: that of man over work, of work over capital, of the universal destination of wealth over the right to private property; in brief, the priority of being over having."

Benedict XVI highlighted how, in our time, science and technology "present huge possibilities for improving everyone's lives," but warned that "the misguided use of such power can provoke grave and irreparable threats to the future of life itself."

"The defense of life - from conception to natural end — wherever it is threatened, offended or trampled underfoot, is the primary duty of an authentic ethic of responsibility, and this may be coherently extended to all other forms of poverty, injustice and exclusion," he said.

The Pope then identified "faithfulness to democracy" as the second directive. "It alone can guarantee equality of rights for all. Justice is the testing ground of true democracy. That said, it should not be forgotten that the search for truth constitutes the essential condition for a real, not merely an apparent, democracy. 'As history demonstrates, a democracy without values easily turns into open or thinly disguised totalitarianism'."

The association's third directive, said the Holy Father, is "faithfulness to the Church. Only a willing and passionate adherence to the [Church] can guarantee the identity necessary to ensure a presence in all areas of society and the world, without losing the flavor and fragrance of the Gospel."

"As lay people and associated Christian workers," the Pope concluded, "always take care over the formation of your members and leaders, with a view to the special service to which you are called. Remain courageously present in all crucial areas of social life."

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