POLITICAL SERVICE CALLS FOR UNSWERVING MORALITY

VATICAN CITY, NOV 5, 2000 (VIS) - This morning in St. Peter's Square, John Paul II presided at a Eucharistic celebration for the occasion of the Jubilee of Government Leaders and Politicians. Cardinals Angelo Sodano and Roger Etchegaray and four archbishops concelebrated with the Pope.

In his homily, the Holy Father encouraged those present to live their "involvement in politics as a service to others." He affirmed that "political service is lived in a precise and daily commitment which calls for great competence in the fulfillment of one's own duties and unswerving morality in the selfless and accountable exercise of power. On the other hand, the personal integrity of the politician also needs to find expression in a correct conception of the social and political life which he or she is called to serve."
"Yet at the same time," he went on, "there is no justification for a pragmatism which, even with regard to essential and fundamental values of social life, would reduce politics to the mere balancing of interests or, worse yet, to a matter of demagogy or of electoral calculation. If law cannot and must not cover the entire sphere of the moral law, neither can it run 'counter' to the moral law."

The Pope highlighted the need "to rediscover the true meaning of participation and to involve more citizens in seeking suitable ways of advancing towards an ever more satisfactory attainment of the common good." He added that "dialogue remains the irreplaceable instrument for every constructive confrontation."

In closing, the Holy Father reminded government leaders, parliamentarians and politicians that the life of their Patron, St. Thomas More, "is truly an example for all who are called to serve humanity and society in the civic and political sphere."

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