Pope: Growing nationalism undermining common good

"Unfortunately, we have before our eyes situations in which some nation states implement their relations in a spirit more of opposition than of cooperation."  "The way in which a nation welcomes migrants reveals its vision of human dignity and its relationship with humanity".  Warning over a "new season of nuclear confrontation".

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - The "re-emergence, almost everywhere in the world, of factions that are aggressive towards foreigners, especially immigrants", the "growing nationalism that neglects the common good" and thus "risks undermining already  consolidated forms of international cooperation" and also the" new season of disturbing nuclear confrontation" that "erases the progress of the recent past" : these are the realities that the Church looks at "with concern", indicated this morning by Pope Francis in his address to participants in the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences taking place in the Vatican, on the subject of Nation, State, Nation-State  .

Francis noted that "unfortunately, before our very eyes "we have situations in which some nation states implement their relations in a spirit more of opposition than of cooperation" and that "many tensions arise from an excessive revindication of sovereignty on the part of states, often precisely in areas where they are no longer able to act effectively to protect the common good".

"The Church - he said - observes with concern the re-emergence, almost everywhere in the world, of factions that are aggressive towards foreigners, especially immigrants, as well as the growing nationalism that neglects the common good.  Thus there is the risk of compromising already established forms of international cooperation, the aims of international organizations are undermined as a space for dialogue and encounter for all countries based on mutual respect, and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals unanimously approved in the General Assembly of the United Nations on 25 September 2015".

The Pope then noted that "the way in which a nation welcomes migrants reveals its vision of human dignity and its relationship with humanity.  Every human person is a member of humanity and has the same dignity.  When a person or family is forced to leave their land, they must be welcomed with humanity.  I have said many times that our obligations towards migrants are based on four verbs: welcoming, protecting, promoting and integrating.  The migrant is not a threat to the culture, customs and values of the receiving nation.  He or she also has a duty to integrate into their host nation".

"Even the migration issue, which is a permanent feature of human history, revives the reflection on the nature of the nation-state.  All nations are the result of the integration of successive waves of people or groups of migrants and tend to be images of humanity's diversity while being united by values, common cultural resources and healthy customsA state that arouses the nationalistic feelings of its own people against other nations or groups of people would fail in its mission.  We know from history where they lead similar detours;  I think about the Europe in the last century”.

In the current situation of globalization, he underlined, "the nation-state is no longer able to procure the common good of its people alone.  The common good has become global and the nations must associate themselves for their own benefit" and constitute "a special authority legally and concordantly constituted" that can favor this.  

The Pope pointed out some of these global challenges: climate change, new forms of slavery, peace and, as positive examples not to be lost, he cited the cooperation and peace lived between the different countries in Europe and the vision of Simón Bolivar of a Latin America as a great homeland capable of enhancing all peoples.

"Humanity would thus avoid the threat of recourse to armed conflicts whenever a dispute arises between nation-states, as well as evading the danger of economic and ideological colonization of the superpowers, avoiding the overwhelming of the strongest over the weakest, paying attention to the global dimension without losing sight of the local, national and regional dimensions".

Francis then expressed his anxiety about the "new season of nuclear confrontation" that seems to be opening up, "because it erases the progress of the recent past and multiplies the risk of wars, also due to the possible malfunctioning of highly advanced technologies that are always subject to the imponderable, natural and human".  

The State, he concluded, is therefore called "to greater responsibility.  While maintaining the characteristics of independence and sovereignty and continuing to pursue the good of its population, today it is its task to participate in building the common good of humanity, a necessary and essential element for the global balance.  This universal common good, in turn, must acquire a more pronounced juridical value at international level.  I certainly do not think of a universalism or a generic internationalism that neglects the identity of individual peoples: this, in fact, must always be valued as a unique and indispensable contribution to the greatest harmonic design".