The Legacy of Pope John Paul II:
The Splendor of Truth (Veritatis Splendor): Part II

By Cardinal Justin Rigali

The Church: Teacher of Sound Moral Theology
The Pope and the Bishops who are in communion with him form the Magisterium, the teaching body of the Church. The Second Vatican Council, in the Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church (Christus Dominus), teaches: “The bishops also have been designated by the Holy Spirit to take the place of the apostles as pastors of souls and together with the Supreme Pontiff and subject to his authority, they are commissioned to perpetuate the work of Christ, the eternal Pastor. For Christ commanded the apostles and their successors and gave them the power to teach all peoples, to sanctify men in truth and to give them spiritual nourishment. By virtue, therefore, of the Holy Spirit who has been given to them, bishops have been constituted true and authentic teachers of the faith and have been made pontiffs and pastors” (no. 2). The Catechism of the Catholic Church adds: “The Magisterium of the Pastors of the Church in moral matters is ordinarily exercised in catechesis and preaching, with the help of the works of theologians and spiritual authors” (no. 2032). The role of teaching is significant in the work of the Church, and one of the important roles of the bishops.

Aware of the growing concern over moral relativism, as well as a pervasive moral laxity in contemporary society, Pope John Paul II dedicated great effort to directing modern men and women to seek the truth of moral teachings as offered by the Church. His encyclical Veritatis Splendor was an appeal to the human family to recognize within itself a longing for something greater. The first part of the encyclical recounted the question posed to Jesus by the rich young man: “What more must I do?” Christ’s response to the rich young man was an invitation to the entire human race, a call to turn away from worldliness and to follow in the path of Christ: an invitation to embrace the moral life rooted in Christ.

In the second part of the encyclical, Pope John Paul II explained the teaching authority of the Church. “The Church has faithfully preserved what the word of God teaches, not only truths which must be believed but also about moral action, action pleasing to God (cf. 1 Th 4:1)” (no. 28). At the same time, Pope John Paul II acknowledged the important work of theologians which “has borne fruit in interesting and helpful reflections about the truths of faith to be believed and applied in life, reflections offered in a form better suited to the sensitivities and questions of our contemporaries” (no. 29). However, Pope John Paul II then stated his concern about erroneous theological teachings: “[T]here have developed certain interpretations of Christian morality which are not consistent with ‘sound teaching’ (2 Tm 4: 3)... Nevertheless, in order to ‘reverently preserve and faithfully expound’ the word of God, the Magisterium has the duty to state that some trends of theological thinking and certain philosophical affirmations are incompatible with revealed truth” (no. 29). In order to understand the purpose of our late Holy Father in authoring this encyclical, it is necessary to review what the Church teaches about human freedom and natural law.

Freedom and Law
Our late Holy Father observed that those issues which draw the most debate center on human freedom. Pope John Paul II lauded the appreciation of human freedom as one of the positive achievements of modern culture (cf. 31). However, he noted: “Certain currents of modern thought have gone so far as to exalt freedom to such an extent that it becomes an absolute, which would then be the source of values. This is the direction taken by doctrines which have lost the sense of the transcendent or which are explicitly atheistic” (no. 32). Pope John Paul II went on to explain that there is a misinterpretation of the supremacy of the individual conscience, which leads to a “radically subjectivistic conception of moral judgment” (no. 32).

Pope John Paul II reminded the faithful that “Revelation teaches that the power to decide what is good and what is evil does not belong to man, but to God alone. The man is certainly free, inasmuch as he can understand and accept God’s commands” (no. 35). The Pontiff added: “God’s law does not reduce, much less do away with human freedom; rather, it protects and promotes that freedom” (no. 35).

Of grave concern to our late Holy Father were the concepts which posited a complete sovereignty of reason in the domain of moral norms regarding the right ordering of life in this world (cf. 36). “Such norms would constitute the boundaries for a merely ‘human’ morality; they would be the expression of a law which man in an autonomous manner lays down for himself and which has its source exclusively in human reason” (no. 36).

Ever conscious of human dignity, and particularly aware of the dominion of mankind over creation, Pope John Paul II noted the necessity of understanding this within the proper context of God’s dominion over the human race. “Not only the world, however, but also man himself has been entrusted to his own care and responsibility. God left man ‘in the power of his own counsel’(Sir 15:14), that he might seek his Creator and freely attain perfection... Indeed, just as man in exercising his dominion over the world shapes it in accordance with his own intelligence and will, so too in performing morally good acts, man strengthens, develops and consolidates within himself his likeness to God” (no. 39).

As we noted in our previous reflection on the first part of this encyclical, the invitation to follow Christ is an invitation to live a moral life. “At the heart of the moral life,” wrote Pope John Paul II, “we thus find the principle of a ‘rightful autonomy’ of man, the personal subject of his actions. The moral law has its origin in God and always finds its source in him: at the same time, by virtue of natural reason, which derives from divine wisdom, it is a properly human law” (no. 40). Humans beings are free. Yes, but, that freedom becomes actualized only when men and women seek to understand and fulfill in their lives the law, the will, the commandments of God.

The encyclical continues with discussion on the “alleged conflict between freedom and law” (no. 46). In the diverse understandings of nature, of the material world, of man’s activities and of culture, various theories have arisen concerning the freedom of human persons and the morality of human actions which downplay the role of natural law. Pope John Paul II emphasized that the natural law refers directly to the proper and primordial nature of the human person (cf. 50). “The natural moral law expresses and lays down the purposes, rights and duties which are based upon the bodily and spiritual nature of the human person. Therefore this law cannot be thought of as simply a set of norms on the biological level; rather it must be defined as the rational order whereby man is called by the Creator to direct and regulate his life and actions and in particular to make use of his own body” (no. 50).

Pope John Paul II noted as well that natural law is both universal and immutable. The universality of natural law is evidenced as it expresses the dignity of the human person and lays the foundation for his fundamental rights and duties and inasmuch as its precepts and authority extend to all humanity (cf. 51). Furthermore, Pope John Paul II wrote of the immutability of natural law: “It is right and just, always and for everyone, to serve God, to render him the worship which is his due and to honor one’s parents as they deserve. Positive precepts such as these, which order us to perform certain actions and to cultivate certain dispositions, are universally binding; they are ‘unchanging’” (no. 52).

When we recognize that the Church proclaims a morality revealed by Jesus Christ, who “is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb 13:8), we then know that the Church cannot take lightly its commission to teach, instruct, admonish or reprove. Popular opinion and attitudes may change over time. We see much of this in our contemporary society. However, natural law, that which is directed toward the genuine good as commanded by God, cannot change. One who embraces a moral life, accepting the invitation of Christ to follow Him, adheres to this and lives joyfully in the freedom of the children of God.
December 8, 2005