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6.1. Civil Society, Political Society
62. The Church recognizes and supports the State's
indispensable duty to defend and promote human rights. Political institutions
have the natural responsibility to provide a fair juridical framework so that
all the social communities can cooperate in achieving the common good. The
principle of subsidiarity itself is a principle of the common good.
This common good has to be considered on the broadest level as being universal.
Therefore, human rights—and especially the rights of the family—can only
develop by acting in conformity with solidarity. "The teaching of the
Church has elaborated the principle of subsidiarity, according to which ‘a
community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a
community of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather
should support it in case of need and help to coordinate its activity with the
activities of the rest of society, always with a view to the common good'52".53
63. The Universal Declaration not only explicitly
recognizes the distinction between the society and the State, but it
also gives value to the contribution to the common good by many communities
that make up what Tocqueville called "civil society" in contrast with
"political society". The raison d'être of political society is the
exercise of power with recourse to coercion, if necessary. It is for this
reason that the exercise of power should be strictly controlled by
constitutional rules. The State cannot intervene in the areas where the
initiative of individuals, communities and undertakings is sufficient.
64. This distinction confirms the well-grounded principle of
subsidiarity. Whereas political society has constant recourse to power, its
agents and rules, civil society makes use of affinities, voluntary alliances
and natural forms of solidarity. This distinction thus clarifies the rich
reality of the family: it is the central nucleus of civil society; it surely
has an important economic role but its roles are many and, above all, it is a
community of life, a natural community. Moreover, since it is founded on
marriage, it presents a cohesion that is not necessarily found in the
intermediate bodies.
65. During the last decades, a negative impact has been
produced because the family has suffered the same attacks which the State has
made on other intermediate bodies by suppressing them and trying to govern them
in its own image. When the State claims the power to regulate family bonds and
emits laws that do not respect this natural community, which is prior to the
State,54 it is feared that the State may make use of
families in its own interests, and instead of protecting them and defending
their rights, it will weaken or destroy them in order to dominate peoples.
66. The Universal Declaration warns about these
deviations. It recognizes the right of a man and a woman to marry 55
and to found a family. In line with the teaching of the Second Vatican Council,
Pope John Paul II recalled that the family is the "first and living cell
of society".56 The Declaration emphasizes that
this "fundamental and natural" 57 cell requires
the protection not only of the State but also of society. Therefore, the Declaration
promotes the development of the family in the midst of other communities,
while stressing the unique character of this natural institution.
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