Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale636

While decisive steps have been taken at several points in your history to

place limits on the exercise of power, the nation's political institutions have

been able to evolve with a remarkable degree of stability. In the process,

Britain has emerged as a pluralist democracy which places great value on

freedom of speech, freedom of political affiliation and respect for the rule of

law, with a strong sense of the individual's rights and duties, and of the

equality of all citizens before the law. While couched in different language,

Catholic social teaching has much in common with this approach, in its

overriding concern to safeguard the unique dignity of every human person,

created in the image and likeness of God, and in its emphasis on the duty of

civil authority to foster the common good.

And yet the fundamental questions at stake in Thomas More's trial con-

tinue to present themselves in ever-changing terms as new social conditions

emerge. Each generation, as it seeks to advance the common good, must ask

anew: what are the requirements that governments may reasonably impose

upon citizens, and how far do they extend? By appeal to what authority can

moral dilemmas be resolved? These questions take us directly to the ethical

foundations of civil discourse. If the moral principles underpinning the demo-

cratic process are themselves determined by nothing more solid than social

consensus, then the fragility of the process becomes all too evident - herein

lies the real challenge for democracy.

The inadequacy of pragmatic, short-term solutions to complex social and

ethical problems has been illustrated all too clearly by the recent global

financial crisis. There is widespread agreement that the lack of a solid ethical

foundation for economic activity has contributed to the grave difficulties

now being experienced by millions of people throughout the world. Just as

"every economic decision has a moral consequence",1 so too in the political

field, the ethical dimension of policy has far-reaching consequences that no

government can afford to ignore. A positive illustration of this is found in one

of the British Parliament's particularly notable achievements - the aboli-

tion of the slave trade. The campaign that led to this landmark legislation

was built upon firm ethical principles, rooted in the natural law, and it has

made a contribution to civilization of which this nation may be justly proud.

The central question at issue, then, is this: where is the ethical foundation

for political choices to be found? The Catholic tradition maintains that the

1 Caritas in Veritate, 37.