Relaţia dintre religie şi politică în gândirea catolică actuală: Metz, Küng Ratzinger
The Relationship Between Religion and Politics in Contemporary Catholic Thought: Metz, Küng, Ratzinger

Summary/Abstract: Any reflection on the relationship between religion and politics in the Catholic thought cannot do without reminding the Augustinian distinction between the civitas Dei and civitas terrena. The goal and foundation of any just political community should be the orientation towards the common good. In the contemporary catholic thought, Johann Baptist Metz, proposes a political theology revolving around the concepts of the value of the human person, the necessary refusal, on the part of the Church, of any mundane ideology and the necessary use of the socially critical potential of theological thought. Hans Küng criticizes any politi cization of theology. He insists on the development of an internal pluralism within the Church and advocates a self-limitation of the magisterial intervention in the world in the name of a necessary ”eschatological reserve”. Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict the XVIth, invested with the magisterial authority, relies heavily on official documents of the Catholic social doctrine. He emphasizes the necessity of founding the state on the central value of justice and its acting according to the principle of subsidiarity. In this context, the Christian faith and the Church in particular may have a pedagogical role, as it may guide reason to follow the right priorities. All three thinkers agree on the public significance of the Christian vision of society and on the fact that it may help society both by its critical and by its constructive dimension.

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