The first words of Robert Prevost are fully in the wake of Agostino. At the center is the “libertas ecclesiae” to testify Christ, without fear of political consequences
«For my Lord I am ready to die, so that his Church can live free in peace. Do me what you want, to your infamy and shame. But none of my people, in the name of God, is touched by you. I prohibit this. ” With these words Thomas Becketin Assassination in the cathedral Of TS Eliothe turned to the assassins who were about to kill him on the order of Henry II of England, angry because the archbishop of Canterbury had refused to bend to the Constitutions of Clarendon: statutes with which the monarch wanted de facto Place the English Church under the royal power. Becketkilled in 1170 and canonized by Alexander III Already three years later, the canonization of his predecessor on the chair of Canterbury had in turn requested: Anselmo d’Aosta who, a few decades earlier, had clashed with king Enrico Ialso undergoing exile, to defend the prerogatives of Rome in the dispute on the investiture of the bishops in England. Anselmoproclaimed doctor of the Church in 1720, was a great Benedictine theologian and philosopher, whose thought was largely based on that of Sant ‘Augustine.
And right Augustine it must be traced back to find one of the first elaborations of a concept that will gradually manifest its historical importance: that of Libertas Ecclesiae. “Augustine identifies biblical monotheism with the philosophical views on the foundation of the world that have formed, according to different variants, in ancient philosophy “, wrote the then cardinal Joseph Ratzinger In 2003, and then he added: “The Christian faith is not based on poetry and politics, these two great sources of religion: it is based on knowledge”. Not surprisingly, Ratzingerprofound connoisseur and admirer of Augustinehad always opposed the principle, dating back to Carl Schmittof “political theology”: the idea of a welding, that is, between politics and faith in the belief that those of politics and jurisprudence are secularized theological concepts. The saints, he wrote Augustine In the De civitate dei“On this earth they receive outrages for the truth of God, who is hated to those who love the things of this world”.
In short, it is in the thought of the bishop of hip that sink the constitutive roots of the Libertas Ecclesiae. A concept that does not limit itself to distinguishing the scope of faith from that of politics, but which especially invokes the defense of the Church from the interference of the world. It could therefore prove to be very significant that Leo XIV It is an Augustinian and who has chosen a quote from the hipper as a papal motto. Just yesterday, he also went to visit the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Buon Council in Genazzano, rectum by the Augustinians. The pontifical name that has taken on. In 1888, Leo XIII he published the encyclical Libertasin which, in addition to mentioning Augustine Twice, he wrote: “Among the various types of state, provided they are in themselves capable of providing for the well -being of citizens, no one is tried again from the Church; However, it demands what nature also commands: that individual states hold up without damage to anyone, and above all respect the rights of the Church ».
We don’t know what the papacy of Leo XIVwhich among other things wears a cross with four relics: Sant ‘Augustinehis holy mother MonicaSan Thomas From Villanova, the Blessed Anselmo Polanco (shot by the Marxists) and the venerable Giuseppe Bartolomeo Menochio. But, given the substratum spiritual and cultural from which it comes, it is likely that it can put the principle of Libertas Ecclesiae at the center of his pontificate. On the other hand, it is a question that is returning more and more dramatically current: a node with which the nascent papacy will not be able to confront each other. First of all, the persecution of Christians in numerous parts of the world emerges. According to Open Doors, the situation is particularly alarming especially in some areas of Africa and Asia. All this, while China, in addition to having repeatedly violated the agreement on the bishops with the Holy See, continues to stop prelates and to carry on the so -called “synicization”: an indoctrination process to which Catholics are subjected.
On the other hand, the Pontiff will also have to pay attention to what happens in the West. And this applies both for liberal and conservative political environments. Not infrequently, a certain progressive has in the past claimed and still claims to prescribe to the Church as it should behave. The Obama administration demanded, for example, that the insurance coverage for contraceptives was also guaranteed by Catholic inspiration institutions. The small sisters of the poor therefore started a long legal dispute that, after several years, finally saw them win before the Supreme Court of the United States. But the Pontiff will also have to look at himself from those conservative environments which, even overseas, are sometimes too inclined to prospects linked to the principle of “political theology”.
On the other hand, in the end, the point is precisely this. Can the categorization of “progressiveness” and “conservatism” applied to Catholicism really make sense? Augustine He was not a historicist, like GW Hegel or Karl Marx. “Though Augustine He demonstrates the truth of Christian doctrine in sacred and profane history, the history of the world has no interest and intrinsic meaning for him “, he wrote Karl Löwith. Jesus Christ It is and remains the center of history: that Christ That Leo XIV He repeatedly mentioned both in the speech from the balcony and in his first homily. Because in the end the theme is precisely this: the Libertas Ecclesiaeif correctly understood, is not a privilege or lust for power. It is clear defense of truth from the powers of the world (not only politicians). As he claimed Benedict XVI“Without truth, charity slips into sentimentalism”. And that’s why an Augustinian on the throne of Peter It can be, today, a reason for hope.
