By Christopher Wells
Pope Leo XIV today delivered a profound reflection on the concept of justice and its function, in an address to Church and civil legal professionals taking part in the Jubilee for Justice.
Speaking to a large crowd of pilgrims in St Peter’s Square, Pope Leo insisted that justice is °indispensable, both for the orderly development of society and as a cardinal virtue that inspires and guides the conscience of every man and woman.”
Recalling the biblical exhortation to “love justice and avoid evil,” and the traditional definition of justice as “rendering to each one his due,” Pope Leo went on to say that even this form of justice “does not exhaust the profound longing” that is present in every person.
Human dignity and the common good
Justice, Pope Leo explained, unites “the dignity of the person, his or her relationship with others, and the communal dimension of coexistence, with its structures and shared rules”.
Pope Leo recalled, too, that justice is “above all, a virtue; that is, a firm and stable disposition that orders our conduct according to reason and faith,” consisting in “the constant and firm will to render to God and our neighbour what is their due.”
Called to ‘a higher justice’
Yet, while justice disposes us “to respect the rights of each person” and promote the harmony that preserves the common good, Pope Leo said, the Gospel speaks of “a higher justice … that makes mercy the key of interpretation in relationships”, moving one to forgiveness.
“It is the power of forgiveness,” he said, which is “intrinsic to the commandment of love, that emerges as a constitutive element of a justice capable of uniting the supernatural with the human.”
Evangelical justice, the Pope continued, “does not turn away from human justice but questions and reshapes it, challenging it to always go further, because it impels it toward reconciliation.”
The task of not only punishing evil but repairing it, Pope Leo said, is “a demanding task, but not impossible for those … who commit themselves to an irreproachable way of life.”
Then, acknowledging that “growing discriminations” tend toward “the denial of access to justice,” he explained that “true equality is not merely formal equality before the law,” but instead “the possibility granted to all to fulfil their aspirations and see the rights inherent to their dignity guaranteed by a system of shared values”.
The demands of justice in the international order
Significantly, Pope Leo noted that the Jubilee “also invites us to reflect on an aspect of justice not always sufficiently emphasized: namely, the reality of so many countries and peoples who ‘hunger and thirst for justice’ because the condition of their lives are so inequitable and inhuman as to be unacceptable.”
He applied to the present state of the world the words of Saint Augustine, “without justice, the State cannot be governed; it is impossible for there to be law in a State where there is no true justice.”
And he emphasized that justice is the virtue that gives to each his due – not only man, but God. Still quoting Augustine, Pope Leo said, “Therefore, that which takes human beings away from God is not true human justice.”
And he concluded, “May the demanding words of Saint Augustine inspire each of us to always express to the fullest the exercise of justice in the service of the people, with eyes fixed on God, so as fully to express justice, right, and the dignity of persons.” – Vatican News
