YOUCAT Lesson 377
YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth
377 When must we refuse to
obey the State?
It was Peter who called us to practice only a relative
obedience toward the State when he said, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts of the Apostles 5:29).
If a State should establish laws and procedures that are racist, sexist,
or destructive of human life, a Christian is obliged in conscience to refuse to
obey, to refrain from participation, and to offer resistance. 379
“Render therefore to
Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” Matthew 22:21
[2242-2246,
2256-2257]
The duties of citizens
2242 The citizen is obliged in conscience not to follow the directives of civil authorities when they are contrary to the demands of the moral order, to the fundamental rights of persons or the teachings of the Gospel. Refusing obedience to civil authorities, when their demands are contrary to those of an upright conscience, finds its justification in the distinction between serving God and serving the political community. "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." (Matthew 22:21.)48 "We must obey God rather than men": (Acts of the Apostles 5:29.)49 –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition
When citizens are
under the oppression of a public authority which oversteps its competence, they
should still not refuse to give or to do what is objectively demanded of them
by the common good; but it is legitimate for them to defend their own rights
and those of their fellow citizens against the abuse of this authority within
the limits of the natural law and the Law of the Gospel. (Gaudium et Spes 74
§ 5.)50 –CCC
2243 Armed resistance to
oppression by political authority is not legitimate, unless all the following
conditions are met: 1) there is certain, grave, and prolonged violation of
fundamental rights; 2) all other means of redress have been exhausted; 3) such
resistance will not provoke worse disorders; 4) there is well-founded hope of
success; and 5) it is impossible reasonably to foresee any better
solution. –CCC
2244 Every
institution is inspired, at least implicitly, by a vision of man and his destiny,
from which it derives the point of reference for its judgment, its hierarchy of
values, its line of conduct. Most societies have formed their institutions in
the recognition of a certain preeminence of man over things. Only the divinely
revealed religion has clearly recognized man's origin and destiny in God, the
Creator and Redeemer. The Church invites political authorities to measure their
judgments and decisions against this inspired truth about God and man: --CCC
Societies not
recognizing this vision or rejecting it in the name of their independence from
God are brought to seek their criteria and goal in themselves or to borrow them
from some ideology. Since they do not admit that one can defend an objective
criterion of good and evil, they arrogate to themselves an explicit or implicit
totalitarian power over man and his destiny, as history shows. (Compare Centesimus Annus 45;
46.)51 –CCC
2245 The
Church, because of her commission and competence, is not to be confused in any
way with the political community. She is both the sign and the safeguard of the
transcendent character of the human person. "The Church respects and
encourages the political freedom and responsibility of the citizen." (Gaudium et Spes 76
§ 3.)52
–CCC
2246 It
is a part of the Church's mission "to pass moral judgments even in matters
related to politics, whenever the fundamental rights of man or the salvation of
souls requires it. The means, the only means, she may use are those which are
in accord with the Gospel and the welfare of all men according to the diversity
of times and circumstances." (Gaudium et Spes 76
§ 5.)53
–CCC
2256 Citizens are obliged in conscience not to follow the directives of civil authorities when they are contrary to the demands of the moral order. "We must obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29). –CCC
2257 Every society's judgments and conduct reflect a vision of man and his destiny. Without the light the Gospel sheds on God and man, societies easily become totalitarian. –CCC
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