Amidst the public debate with donald trumpthe Pope Leo 14 released this Tuesday (14) a letter warning of the risk of democracies becoming “a tyranny of the majority” or “a mask for the dominance of economic elites”.
The text was sent to participants of a meeting at Vatican on the use of power in democratic societies. Without mentioning the United States directly, the pope stated that democracies only remain healthy when anchored in moral values.
“Without this foundation, (democracy) risks becoming either a tyranny of the majority or a mask for the dominance of economic and technological elites,” said the religious leader in the letter.
The text was released after weeks of growing tension between the pope and Trumpwhich culminated in a fight at a distance. After being called, on Sunday night (12), “terrible” and “weak” by the president of United Statesthe pontiff responded on Monday (13). “I am not afraid of the Trump administration. I will continue to speak out loud about the message of the Gospel,” he said.
Leo 14’s statement was given to journalists during the flight from Rome to Algiers, the capital of Algeria, first leg of your ten-day trip across the African continent. And it was the most explicit confrontation between the two since Robert Prevost was elected pope in May last yearthe first American in history to lead the Catholic Church.
In Tuesday’s letter, the pope stated that the Church teaches that power cannot be seen as an end in itself, “but as a means oriented toward the common good.”
“This implies that the legitimacy of authority does not depend on the accumulation of economic or technological strength, but on the wisdom and virtue with which it is exercised,” said Leão.
The pontiff also urged leaders in democratic societies to avoid any temptation to concentrate power.
“Temperance (…) proves to be essential for the legitimate use of authority, as true temperance contains disordered self-exaltation and acts as a barrier against the abuse of power,” he stated.
