One of Europe’s foremost Catholic political thinkers has called for a
new generation of politicians to defend and promote orthodox Christian
ideals.
“We need people with conscience in politics,” said Rocco Buttiglione,
the vice-president of the Italian Parliament’s Chamber of Deputies to
CNA.
“And, I think the great reservoir of values today is in the Christian
people and we must tell them, you must make politics, you must enter
into politics, you must make with your hands the future of the land.”
Buttiglione made political headlines around the world in 2004 when
his nomination as Italy’s representative to the European Union’s
commission was blocked due to his Catholic beliefs on such issues as
homosexuality. It is an episode that doesn’t seem to have embittered his
view of political life.
“Good things have a high price, but they are worth it, of course. If
you want to be Catholic in politics, sometimes you have to make
sacrifices and value your conscience more than your position, more than
your seat in politics. But, would you trust a man that put his political
career higher than his conscience?”
Already several young Catholic politicians in Italy are responding to the challenge laid down by Buttiglione and others.
“Politics must be done by heroes,” said Simone Budini, the
24-year-old co-founder of a new Italian political party, Giovani Liberi e
Forti (Young, Free and Strong). The new party is based on Catholic
social principles.
“Heroes are men who are in politics because they love their city and
they are ready to give their lives for their city. And, nowadays, we
have the opposite example.
We've got people who are ready to sell their city to have pleasure for their lives.”
As well as being a frontline politician, Rocco Buttiglione is also a
renowned academic.
In fact, he is a professor of political science at
Saint Pius V University in Rome as well as a member of the Vatican’s
Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.
And it is from this standpoint
that he observes worrying historical parallels for contemporary
politics.
“I think that we very often forget that democracy is a very delicate
creature,” he stated pointing toward the first flourishing of democracy
in ancient Greece which collapsed after 171 years.
“And, what is the reason that Greek democracy died? Because of moral
relativism, corruption,” he said adding that the moral relativists of
today are, in fact, the intellectual descendents of the sophists of
ancient Greece.
“Western democracies run the danger of dying because political activity is not based on principals.”
Despite the dire predictions, the 63-year-old academic and politician is not without hope for the future. The key to success, he said, lies with a five-letter word – truth.
Despite the dire predictions, the 63-year-old academic and politician is not without hope for the future. The key to success, he said, lies with a five-letter word – truth.
“We must bring truth to politics again. We must be able to tell the
truth to the people. Very often politicians don't tell the truth. Very
often politicians tell the people what they want to hear. And, what the
people very often want to hear is not the truth.”