Joseph Cardinal Höffner CHRISTIAN SOCIAL ... - Ordo Socialis

Church as guardian and preacher of the moral order is also recognized in that the Church is
called „the incorruptible conscience of the state and the economy“: „not ancilla, not domina,
but conscientia rei publicae et rerum publicarum“ (Minister Adolf Grimme at the investiture
of the Landesbischof, Hanns Lilje, l947).
f) The ideal case (harmonious collaboration of Church and state while preserving their mutual
autonomy) has probably been realized only seldom historically. Incidentally, the transition to
the ‘lame’ separation will probably be a fluid one, since in general the concrete configuration
of the relation between Church and state covers a wide area.
§ 3 Church and Political Party
l. The attitude of the Church towards political parties, which are indispensable in a representative
democracy, is determined by the principles that govern the relation of Church to state and
politics in general. In themselves, political parties are ‘secular’ institutions which are not subject
to guidance by the Church. Many platform planks and decisions of a political party will
appear ‘indifferent’ in the light of Catholic faith and moral teaching. The reminder of the Second
Vatican Council that „various legitimate though conflicting views can be held concerning
the regulation of temporal affairs“ (Gaudium et spes, 75) holds here. In such cases, „no one is
allowed...to appropriate the Church’s authority for his opinion“ (ibid., 43). In the ideologically
pluralistic society of the present, the Church will also, of course, occasionally be confronted
with policies of political parties against which it must raise objections as guardian of
the doctrine of faith and morals.
2. From these considerations, four conclusions can be deduced:
a) Presupposing that no party in a given state offends against the Catholic doctrine of faith
and morals in platform or policy, Catholics are free to join whichever party they wish.
b) In order to forestall the erroneous opinion that party and Church are the same, it would be
welcome from the standpoint of the Church if the attitude of all, or at least most, parties permitted
Catholics to enter their ranks without reservations of conscience. For experience
teaches that a Catholic political party is easily equated with the Church and Christianity, in
spite of all emphasis upon its non-ecclesiastical nature.
c) If a political party pursues ends that contradict the Christian doctrine of faith and morals,
Catholics are forbidden to participate in or vote for it. The superficial catchword, „religion has
nothing to do with politics“, is false. Pius XI responded appropriately that there is a kind of
politics that infiltrates the churches and overturns the altars. Political parties therefore determine
their nearness to or distance from the Church by their platform and by their policy.
d) Since it can be possible in an ideologically pluralistic society that the platforms of the existing
political parties contradict the Catholic doctrine of faith and morals in essential points,
it may prove necessary for Catholic citizens to band together into their own political party or
to form a party together with non-Catholic Christians. This party would not be an ‘ecclesiastical
institution’, nor a denominational or clerical party, but a political one, which would be
responsible for the well-being of the entire nation. If it calls itself ‘Christian’, that does not
mean ecclesiastical tutelage, but profession of the principles of Christian social teaching. Today,
not a few hold the thesis, consciously or unconsciously, that only the adherents of liberalism,
socialism, humanism, or some other secular trend are entitled to become politically active,
but not the adherents of the Christian faith, at least not according to the principles of their
faith. If Catholic citizens wanted to become politically active, they would have to give up
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