Pope Francis Calls for Natural Law & Ethics

Posted by Taylor Marshall 

Our Holy Father Pope Francis recently spoke about the new idol or 'golden calf' of the First World: the quest for money and power (May 16, 2013). The Holy Father proposed that this dire situation requires a return to ethics.

There is one phrase in the Holy Father's speech that I haven't yet seen noted as significant. It is the Holy Father's phrase "natural ethics." The Holy Father speaks of a true "natural ethics" as opposed to a false "ideological ethics."

I wrote my PhD dissertation on Thomas Aquinas' doctrine of natural law and when I read things like this, my Thomist alert system starts going off.I am exhilarated to read this. Personally, I find it refreshing to see Pope Francis as willing to attack materialism and false economies through the lens of natural law and ethics.

If you read the speech, you begin to discern that natural law is between the lines. This signals that Pope Francis will be continuing Pope Benedict's insistence on the authentic natural law tradition of Thomas Aquinas and the Catholic Tradition.

In September of 2011, Pope Benedict addressed the German Bundestag (Parliament) and insisted on a return to natural law as a possible way forward for Germany and Europe. Benedict was greatly mocked and derided for his "archaic ideas," as you may remember. Nevertheless, Benedict was bold and heroic.

It now appears that Pope Francis is willing to continue that same fight against secularism with the same tools.

Personally, I believe the American obsession with "the right of religious freedom" is battle which we will lose. We have a much better footing if we follow Benedict and Francis' lead with a return to the authentic natural law tradition. This is a rich and hallowed tradition and the Church...and it is powerful. For me the battle over a "right to religious freedom" sounds more like Thomas Jefferson and less like Thomas Aquinas.

Bravo to Pope Francis. I will be reading Pope Francis' speeches and I'll keep you posted. If any of you note something related to natural law in Pope Francis' discourses, please let me know via Twitter or Facebook. I look forward to being in touch with all of you. Thank you for reading!

Godspeed,

Taylor

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