The Catholic Church provides guidance on political engagement and the role of Catholics in public life, emphasizing principles that should guide their participation 1 2 3. While the Church does not endorse specific political parties or candidates 4, it offers a framework for Catholics to form their consciences and evaluate political platforms 3 5. This framework is rooted in the Church’s social teaching, which includes principles such as the dignity of the human person, the common good, subsidiarity, and solidarity 3.

Political Endorsements

1. Importance of Moral Convictions: The Church encourages Catholics to be guided by their moral convictions rather than by political affiliations 1. When necessary, Catholics should work to transform their political parties, ensuring that these parties do not lead them to neglect fundamental moral truths or approve intrinsically evil acts 1.
2. Active Participation: Catholics are called to actively participate in political life by running for office, working within political parties, communicating their concerns to elected officials, and joining advocacy networks 6. Even those who cannot vote have the right to have their voices heard 6.
3. Evaluating Candidates: Catholic voters should examine candidates’ positions on issues affecting human life and dignity, as well as issues of justice and peace 5. They should also consider candidates’ integrity, philosophy, and performance, looking beyond party politics and campaign rhetoric 5.
4. The Role of the Church: The Church does not seek to exercise political power or eliminate freedom of opinion on contingent questions 7. Instead, it aims to instruct and illuminate the consciences of the faithful, particularly those involved in political life, so that their actions serve the integral promotion of the human person and the common good 7.
5. Social Teaching: The Church has developed a tradition of thought and practical guidelines called the social teaching of the Church, which addresses the rapid changes in contemporary society 8. Individual Christians are urged to continue their personal involvement in the quest for justice and peace, guided by the Church’s Magisterium 8.

Judicial Appointments

1. Qualities of Judges: The Church emphasizes the importance of justice, equity, and charity in the administration of law 9. Ecclesiastical judges, for example, should possess not only the requisite knowledge but also great self-mastery and virtue 9.
2. Service to Truth: The administration of justice is considered a service to truth and an exercise of a duty belonging to the public order 10. Judges are entrusted with the law for its logical and normal application 10.
3. Natural Law: Saint Ivo based his duty as a judge on the principles of natural law, which every conscience can discover through reason, and on positive law, which finds in natural law its fundamental principles 11. Law is established for the good of persons and peoples, and its principal function is to safeguard the inalienable dignity of the individual in all stages of life 11.
4. Upholding Human Rights: Jurists are called to denounce situations where the dignity of the person is not recognized and to recall the foundations of law to the minds and consciences of all 12. This is crucial for the common good, which surpasses the sum of individual goods 12.
5. Truth and Humanity: The truth that a judge is called to ascertain involves the concrete individual, who is endowed with inalienable dignity because he is God’s image 13. Penal sanctions must guarantee the security of society without attacking the dignity of man, and the sentence must not shatter the hope of redemption 13.

Conclusion

The Church does not make political endorsements but provides Catholics with a framework for engaging in political life based on moral convictions and the principles of Catholic social teaching 1 3. In judicial appointments, the Church emphasizes the importance of upholding justice, truth, and the dignity of the human person 13 11. Both areas reflect the Church’s broader mission to promote the common good and serve humanity 1 14.