Communitas perfecta
Societas Perfecta ( "Perfect Society" or "Perfect Community") is the name given to one of several political philosophies of the Roman Catholic Church in the fields of ecclesiology and canon law.
The doctrine teaches that the Church is a self-sufficient or independent group which already has all the necessary resources and conditions to achieve its overall goal of universal salvation of mankind. It has historically been used in order to best define Church-State relations.
Its origins can be traced to the writings of Aristotle, who described the Polis as an amalgamation of several urban communities. The idea of "perfect community" was also present in medieval philosophy. In direct reference to Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas mentions the State ( "civitas") [1]) as a perfect community (" Communitas perfecta ").[2]
During Enlightenment period, the Societas Perfecta doctrine was strongly affirmed in order to better protect the Church from secular encroachments. It was also mentioned in the Magisterium of Pope Pius IX. And especially Leo XIII, in his encyclical Immortale Dei, explains this teaching in relation to the Church:
[...] It is a perfect society of its own kind and their own right, since it everything for their existence and their effectiveness is necessary, in accordance with the will and power of the grace of their Founder in and of itself owns. As the goal of the Church is more sublime, its power is always far superior, and it can therefore not be considered less than the Civil state, as to not be in a state of subordination.[3]
The two perfect societies correspond to two forces, the Church and State:
The one responsible for the care of the divine dimension, the other for the human. Each one is in the highest of its kind: each has certain limits within which it moves, borders that emerged from the nature and purpose of each of the next two forces showed.[4]
Until the Second Vatican Council, the doctrine of the two perfect societies of Leo XIII was held to be official in theological studies. During the Council itself, as well as in the new code of Canon law, the doctrine is no longer explicitly mentioned. In the modern Catholic post-conciliar theology, it hardly has any role at all. Its abandonment was somewhat controversial.
In any event, Pope Paul VI mentioned it and summarized it in the 1969 motu proprio Sollicitudo omnium ecclesiarum on the tasks of the papal legate :
It cannot be disputed that the duties of Church and State belong to different orders. Church and state are in their own area perfect societies. That means: They have their own legal system and all necessary resources. They are also, within their respective jurisdiction, entitled to apply its laws. On the other hand, it must not be overlooked that they are both aiming at a similar welfare, namely that the people of God is to obtain eternal salvation.[5]
References
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- ^ The translation of "civitas" with "state" at this point, see Aroney, Nicholas, "Subsidiarity, Federalism and the Best Constitution : Thomas Aquinas on City, Province and Empire. "Law and Philosophy, Vol 26, pp. 161-228, 2007
- ^ Summa I-II q 90 a 3
- ^ Leo XIII.: Circular "Immortale Dei" in: Human and Community Christlicher review, Freiburg (Switzerland) 1945, p. 571-602, paragraph 852
- ^ Ibid Paragraph 857
- ^ Quoted from Listl, Church and State, p. 227
Sources
- Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde, State - Society - The Church, in: Writings on the State - Society - Church III, Freiburg 1990, p. 113-211
- Joseph Listl, Church and State in the recent Catholic Church Law, Berlin 1978