Now, onto B16 and his globalism. There seems to be a level of oblivious naivete’ on the part of the past several popes. Have they not known what a force for evil the UN has become? Can they not see that the globalist organizations are almost exclusively anti-life and anti-religion?

Paul VI made a similar dopey remark about the UN being the “obligatory path to world peace.” Even his “conservative” cardinal Ottaviani, supposedly the bastion of orthodoxy during the disastrous Vatican II episode, said something dopey about all nations joining a global republic. This is just the dumbest suggestion, and the popes and their people really should know better.

My only hope is that the popes are surrounded by so many mouth-breathing liberals that they do not get the real scoop about life. We all had better pray for our popes. They do seem a bit oblivious. The Holy Spirit has kept actual catholic dogma from falling into apostasy, but let’s face it, it is not the popes who seem to be protecting orthodoxy.

We must rely on the Holy Spirit, folks, not on men, no matter what kind of hats they wear. I am a faithful and orthodox catholic who thinks that the Holy See would be better off cleaning house and making sure it is functioning properly before trying to advise the various nations of the world how to organize themselves. Clean up your own mess first, Papa.

The difference is Obama and Gordon Brown would not be extolling the virtue of subsidarity. Subsidiarity, the teaching that everything can and should be handled at the lowest level possible (the family , the neighborhood, the city, then the state, etc.) would not be promoted by someone who wants to lord authority over people. Garrett, your comment and those of other Republicans on this blog who feel sucker-punched, make me wonder if you (and others) really read this blog post.

Yet the Pope does it and the spin machine starts and the Catholic apologists come out in defense of the Pope’s sickening encyclical. I’ve read the entire thing, and it’s all disturbing.

But the should be no surprise. May I suggest the book “Ecclesiastical Meegalomania” by John Robbins. Here you will learn that the Roman Catholic Church State’s political and economic thought is very unfriendly to private property rights, free markets, and very small government.

Thus in today’s world with the growing globalization, international trade and political agreements – shucks, even our wars are becoming international – there is a need for a legitimate authority to legitimately govern in this international sphere. That is why the Church backs the reality of the UN, and it was thru the UN that the Nuremburg(sp?) Trials after WWII were set up to prosecute war crimes – this was an international body. This body would then protect human rights from those who are rich and powerful and can manipulate the global economy to their own ends – resulting, in what we have seen, in upsetting global trade, world oil prices, etc etc, all to the detriment of the poorer nations and people. This is an abuse.

So, given that this is an international sphere and money-makers are exploiting the human rights of the poor and others for their own gain, (not to mention drug cartels, international gun runners, etc) there is a need for a legitimate authority with power equal to it’s task – here, international power – to rule in order to protect human rights and the common good of the peoples.

Now, where you are having a problem is that we have been being enlightened about the dangers of the ‘new world order’ over the past few years and we see this as encouraging the abuse of power – ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely’ – and possibly giving reign to the power and authority of the anti-Christ – is this not so?

Even in this, though – we need to look at it in two ways – in our state and our countries, we elect representatives and they rule by force of law for our good to meet the state and national needs. This authority to rule is legitimate and necessary – this is church social teaching. So too, an international body, elected with representatives from each country, is necessary to rule and enforce law on those concerns relating to international issues the more we become a global community. This is what the Pope is teaching

Now, the very fact that someone can come along and ABUSE legitimate authority, does not lessen the legitimacy of the right and need to exercise authority. It is not the presence of an international body of governors that is wrong – it would be the ABUSE of this legitimate authority to rule for one’s own ends instead of protecting human rights and the common good.

To put it another way – homeschooling is legitimate – parents abusing homeschooling is an abuse of their authority, and law makers can’t make laws to outlaw homeschooling based on this abuse by the few. So too, governments are legitimate in their necessary spheres, and even though some people abuse the power they gain in being elected, it does not change the legitimacy of the need and duty to have governments. Do you see?

So yes, while the Pope is teaching only what is true, you can also see the abuse that this would lead too – just like our national, or state or civic leaders can use wisely or abuse their power, but it does not change the fact that their OFFICE is legitimate.

This is the faithful Catholic response to this question… distinguishing between the legitimacy of an international authoritative governing body for an increasingly globalized world, and between the abuse of that office by someone like the anti-christ. Whether or not globalization is a good thing, it is happening , and this then takes the form of a call from God to initiate a global level authority to protect the people from abusers.

Note also , that in the absence of laws now by any international authority, the entire world, as shown by this past economic crisis, is already at the fate of the hands of those who would profit at the world’s expense – the insurance people, the mortgage people, the bansk, etc… this is also an abuse – one that the Lord would have rectified by a legitimate authority.

Secondly, a key word used by the Pope is ‘subsidiarity” and he uses this to ‘qualify or limit’ the exercise of authority. This means that the governing power does not have the right to take away or interfere with the proper use of authority of smaller bodies. So, the international government cannot take over the national government’s duties, nor can the state government take over the family’s responsibilities… This protects from totalitarianism. But note, even in our countries, there are abuses of this.

He is also calling for the social interactions on a global level to be determined by sound morality.

Think also that the Church teaches that all men have the natural law written in their heart, and no amount of sin can destroy it. So, in the formulation of laws, even the US constitution and the UN BIll of Human Rights carry MUCH good as men get together and responsibly seek to determine what is good. That there will be imperfections and abuses is obvious, given original sin and actual sin and differing cultures etc, but basically, the Church also teaches that human nature is good, even if weak or darkened, and there is hope! Especially since, ‘by reason, man shares in God’s providence.’ and Christ has promised to never leave us and acts actively to bring about good in the world.

Anyway, I think when we hold to Church teaching, we can see very clearly that our job is to pray and offer sacrifices for the development of a holier world…!!!!!!!

And there are so many soi-disant Catholic Intelligentsia who want to “conservatize” the Faith to suit their agendas, too. Right about now, they’re , I fear, far more problematic than the liberals. Particularly, say, Weigel and Novak, the sophists supreme.