THE VALUE OF A DEMOCRACY LIES IN VALUES IT ESPOUSES

VATICAN CITY, FEB 24, 2000 (VIS) - Made public today was the Holy Father's Message, dated February 23 and written in English, to the participants in the Sixth Plenary Session of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, currently meeting in Rome on the theme "Democracy - Reality and Responsibility."

The Pope underscores the academy's "important contribution" in spreading the Church's social doctrine" so that "it is brought to bear witness on the different cultural, economic and political situations facing men and women."

On the theme of democracy, John Paul II writes: "At the dawning of the Third Millennium, a serious question confronts democracy. There is a tendency to see intellectual relativism as the necessary corollary of democratic forms of political life. In such a view, truth is determined by the majority and varies in accordance with passing cultural and political trends." In contrast, he writes "those who are convinced that certain truths are absolute and immutable are considered unreasonable and unreliable."

"As Christians we firmly believe that 'if there is no ultimate truth to guide and direct political activity, then ideas and convictions can be easily manipulated for reasons of power. ... A democracy without values easily turns into open or thinly disguised totalitarianism. ... The value of a democracy stands or falls with the values which it embodies and promotes'."

Touching upon "the phenomenon of globalization," the Pope stresses that only "the free and responsible participation of all citizens in public affairs" leads to "healthy" political communities. However, he warns, "smaller social units ... must not be namelessly absorbed into a greater conglomeration. ... Rather, the proper autonomy of each social class and organization, each in its own sphere, must be defended and upheld. This is nothing other than the principle of subsidiarity."

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