The politics of the Catholic Church

By Hon.Ayah Paul Abine
Christ was killed because his teachings were seen as challenging the established order. To give a human face to his work and to ensure continuity, he chose twelve apostles and later seventy-two other disciples. This was akin to government and public service. Several centuries after Christ, the Pope, Christ successor, became the world’s leader, and ended up dividing the world into two with Papal Bulls.

Even when the Pope was restricted to the Vatican states after the unification of Italy, the Papacy maintained, and still maintains, its political power alongside the clerical power. That explains why we have a Vatican ambassador to Cameroon as elsewhere today. It certainly could not have been other, in that clerical power is intangible for want of the means to enforce dogmas or clerical injunctions.

Unfortunately, the political power of the church is very high limited, and almost ineffectual, because of the absence of pragmatic enforcement authority. Necessarily, therefore, the church has to use the political set-up or some unorthodox means in the eyes of the literal political order, to enforce its political stance on issue in a particular geographical expression. Some persons see and brand this as interface in polities. And they do it to their own detriment. Pilate and others stood to judge Christ for interfering in public order and evil authority. But to their dismay it is they that were being judged and found wanting. The tables turned against them today they stand accused of the murder of an innocent man.

While respecting their opinion, one may wish to contend that denouncing and even fighting against their moral teaching of the church, is the very essence of the existence of the church. This core role has been enhance by the recent doctrine of the church on their total development of the human person, as against the previous dominate preoccupation with the salvation of souls only. This is absolutely salutary as it would be preposterous to hold that, even if the church sees that some political conduct is likely to result in human suffering or fatalities, her role should be to get into the church and pray for the entry into heaven of those persons’ souls.

It would appear that the new position of the church is wholly consistent with the contemporary history of the world. Until recently, the mainstay of the United Nations was conflict-resolution. But they have now adopted conflict-prevention as their modus operandi. One would, therefore, hasten to opine that the church would be failing in her mission, if she stood idly by in the face of impending social upheavals, on the sole pretext that some adversary or interested political party would take exception to its action. As long as the church stay clear of partisan politics and her members groomed in the pursuit of truth and justice, the nation can enjoy some credibility and then render equitable services to its citizens

We are always appalled at the destruction and frustration that are the aftermath of civil strikes in this Cameroon. The last straw that broke the camel’s back unearths so much that has been smoldering in the doldrums. What you get in response sometimes is obstinacy and the hardening of hearts toward human plight. Who else but the church could have softened the hearts with the word of God? The idea of a lay state syndrome leeway to prowl round looking for someone to devour, then the fate of Sodom and Ghomorah is not distant from us. God forbid!

In the final analysis, one can confidently conclude that few wise virgins would argue against the twinning of the political and clerical functions of the church. The successful exercise of the latter is dependent on the fruitful results from the application of the other. And to guarantee those results is to take or ensure the taking of preventive political measures likely to stand in their way. Instability has destabilized our economy and plunged many into misery at short notice while some politicians pant and grasp for breath. But these are irregularities that could have been forestalled had the church played her role as a referee and moral regulator. Without the spiritual guidance of the church our checks and balances would be hollow promises. The missing link ought to be filled by the church to hold otherwise is to send the church packing.