SAN MARINO – I carefully read Lorenzo Muccioli’s contribution “Popolarism, conservatism and populism: the case of San Marino”, present in the book “AA. VV., Christian Democracy, conservatism and the challenge of extremism” and presented in the PDCS Communiqué.
There is no denying it: everything that presents the experience of San Marino to the world seems to me to be an excellent opportunity to give substance to the words that Pope Leo addressed to us during his visit on 22 August approximately: «The Republic of San Marino can be a “laboratory” of good politicswhere, without derogating from the secular nature of the State, one can draw on the principles of Catholic social doctrine: the search for the common good, the universal destination of goods, the harmony of subsidiarity and solidarity, social justice. This commitment appears even more precious today, at a time when the Association Agreement with the European Union is about to become operational and your Republic will find itself in a stable relationship, albeit in a peculiar way, with a complex reality, which will be able to benefit greatly from your contribution.»
The reference then to the fact that the PDCS “is an observer member” of the European People’s Party pushes us to return to the words that Pope Leo addressed to the parliamentarians of the EPP recently: «What does this concretely mean for those who refer to Christian-democratic values in their actions? …Being Christian in politics it doesn’t mean being confessionalbut let the Gospel illuminate the decisions that must be made, even those that do not seem to garner easy consensus. It means working so that the connection between natural law and positive lawbetween Christian roots and political action. Being a Christian involved in politics requires having one realistic lookwhich starts from the concrete problems of people, which is first and foremost concerned with promoting dignified working conditions…; that allows you to overcome the apparently very European fear of starting a family and having children… Being a Christian involved in politics means invest in freedomnot in a trivialized freedom reduced to pleasure, but in a freedom anchored in truth, which protects religious freedom, freedom of thought and conscience in every place and human condition, avoiding fueling «a “short circuit” of human rights», which ends up leaving room for force and oppression.»
It is not the first time that I address the friends of the PDCS, recalling the specificity of their commitment in politics, here in San Marino, as I already asked the “San Marino Catholics” a commitment to defend life, at a time when the pressure to make abortion a right (as it later happened) was becoming increasingly insistent.
Now, reading and rereading Muccioli’s article, I wonder if the «political translation of an educational responsibility developed in the family, in Catholic associations, in civil society» will still be able to give courageous vitality to the commitment to «preserve institutional credibility and coherence of values, renewing itself without distorting itself, continuing to present itself as a point of reference for a large part of the conservative electorate».
In these times when the majority of the San Marino government is represented by Catholics the wounds of abortion (not just decriminalized), of the so-called State-run “sex education.”the rejection of “informed consent“as a right of parents in school interventions on ethically sensitive topics, the brake on the implementation of the Arengo request on theuterus for rent as a universal crime, they seem to us painful signals which make us ask ourselves whether “Our action will be Christian civilization in action”.
I can only make my own the words of HE Monsignor Domenico Beneventi, Bishop of San Marino – Montefeltro: “In a frank and respectful dialogue with all the institutions, we offer our collaboration as a prophetic voice of the Gospel to support the familyto promote aintegral education of the young generations and serve the common good, rejecting the logic of waste, the plague of abortion and the widespread practice of surrogacyreaffirming that the dignity of the person, freedom of conscience and the protection of the weakest are the true cornerstones of civil coexistence. Faced with the rapid change in the cultural paradigm, which increasingly develops a technical and functionalist vision, we cannot remain silent in front of the universal crimes against the life and dignity of every human being.”
I appreciate the effort in trying to support the family in the face of the dramatic crisis in the birth rate, just as we see the desire to respond to the plight of the many young people for whom the use of psychological support has increased exponentially.
And I believe that the “political translation of an educational responsibility developed in the family, in Catholic associations, in civil society” asks everyone an infinitely greater commitment and awareness of what is happening, because individualism, which turns into disinterest, cannot be the hallmark of a people who in history, even recent history, have shown a capacity for hospitality, sharing and freedom that have made this Republic, “very small in size, immeasurable in longevity” a beacon of millenary civilization.
In this task, for which the PDCS «without ever denying its own nature and its origins, remains faithful to a decades-old identity, to solid values that cannot be scratched by time, supported by its own sense of responsibility, by a strong democratic vision, by the urgency of being able to work for the common good and the collective interest» (as the political secretary Gian Carlo Venturini recalled), everyone’s commitment can and must be to rebuild. I can only remember the beautiful words of Pope Leo who, in Magnificent Humanitasrecalls the reconstruction of Jerusalem: «The story shows how the city is reborn not thanks to the initiative of a single person, but through shared responsibility of all the people: priests, artisans, heads of families, women and young people. It is a work that has God at the center and rebuilds bonds even before stones. Ancient Jerusalem is thus found again a common language, not that of uniformitybut that of communion: the harmony that arises when each person takes on their own part and all the people recognize that their strength comes from the Lord”, with a small gloss: “From that day half of my young people worked and the other half were armed with spears, shields, bows, armour; the supervisors were behind the whole house of Judah. Those who rebuilt the walls and those who carried or loaded the burdens with one hand they worked and with the other they held their weapon; all the builders, while working, had their swords girded at their sides” (Neh 4, 10-12).
Only in this way, I believe, «Our action will be Christian civilization in action».
Don Gabriele Mangiarotti
