VATICAN CITY, OCT 4, 2006 (VIS) - Today, the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace published a note entitled "The Fight Against Corruption", which synthesizes the main points of the conference held by this dicastery on this theme this past month of June, with the participation of international officials, diplomats and experts on this phenomenon.
According to a summary on the booklet, it emphasizes that "corruption crosses all social sectors (...) and cannot be attributed only to those who work in the economic sector or only to public officials" and is favored, among other things, "by the disparity between the level at which corruption is fought, often limited to the level of single states, while its range of action is (...) international".
According to the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, corruption distorts the role of the governing institutions, using them as grounds of political exchange between private requests and governmental actions. This way, political choices promote the limited objectives of those having the means to influence them and create obstacles to the realization of common good for all the citizens. Also, corruption is one of the causes contributing to underdevelopment and poverty, depriving the peoples of the fundamental common good that is legality".
To overcome corruption, according to the note, "a positive factor is the passage from an authoritarian society to a democratic society, (...) from centralized to participating society", and warns that this process of social aperture may "demolish the solidity of moral convictions" and "facilitate the exportation of corruption".
The note specifies that the Church "can have an evermore relevant role in the prevention of corruption, efficiently contributing to the moral education and formation of citizens, especially with the fundamental principles of her social doctrine: the dignity of the human person, the common good, solidarity, subsidiarity, a preferential option towards the poor, the universal destination of goods".
As stated in the International Conference in June, the Note by this Dicastery repeats that "the fight against corruption is a value, but also a need; corruption is an evil, but also a cost; refusing corruption is a good, but also an advantage; abandoning corrupt actions may generate development and well-being; honest attitudes should be promoted, the dishonest ones punished".
Therefore on the international level, "since organized crime knows no boundaries, collaboration between governments must be increased, even with agreements on the procedures for confiscating and recuperating what has been illegally gained".
CON-IP/DOCUMENT CORRUPTION/... VIS 20061004 (410)
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