Catholic Church and Democracy: a Problematic Relationship

Abstract

The article presents the positions of the Magisterium on democracy from the Second Vatican Council. From this presentation is clear that, in addition to the recognition of democratic values based on the dignity of the human person created in the image and likeness of God, and human rights relating thereto, the Council had not innovated in relationto tenets of the traditional doctrine of the Catholic Church formed in modern times in response to the rise of the modern state and liberal revolutions. The church is a Societas perfecta, whose spiritual power is rooted in the revelation of God and the power that Christ sent to Peter and his successors. The State, even in its liberal form, must comply with the dictates of natural law. For John Paul II a democracy that does not bind and binding on the choices to the truth (of the church) is transformed into a new totalitarianism, which claims are based on simple voting.