The Political Theology of a Potestas Indirecta

Abstract

In this paper I confront the social doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, especially its attitude towards politics, with Thomas Hobbes' criticism of a so-called potestas indirecta. A political theology of an indirect power claims to represent a higher legal order, God's law, to which political order with its positive laws is subjected. Hobbes rejects this doctrine because it will divide power and it may lead to civil war. Although the social doctrine of the Church is critical about the basic tendency of modern liberal and democratic thought, it accepts liberal democracy because of a special affinity, precisely the basic attitude that politics has to account for its actions before a forum representing fundamental values.

Notes

1. This doctrine emerges as the church's answer to the medieval struggle between emperor and pope. It gives the church a right to intervene in cases of transgression of divine laws by those who wield power in this world. It is comparable with the United Nations’ power to intervene in cases of violation of human rights. See Barion (1984).

2. The important letters of Pope Gelasius I on this matter can be found in O'Donovan and Lockwood O'Donovan (1999, pp. 178–79).

3. This section is based on Macksey (1912), an article in The Catholic Encyclopedia; any unattributed quotations are taken from this article.

4. ‘In practice the Church, while retaining her right over all subjects, does not – except in some few matters not of moment here – insist upon exercising her jurisdiction over any but her members, as it is clear that she cannot expect obedience from those Christians who, being in faith or government separated from her, see no right in her to command, and consequently recognise no duty to obey. Over those who are not baptised she claims no right to govern, though she has the indefeasible right to preach the Gospel among them and to endeavour to win them over to become members of Christ's Church and so citizens of her ecclesiastical polity’ (Macksey, 1912).

5. ‘In his pronouncement on the paying of taxes to Caesar (cf. Mk. 12:13–17; Mt. 22:15–22; Lk. 20:20–26), he affirms that we must give to God what is God's, implicitly condemning every attempt at making temporal power divine or absolute: God alone can demand everything from man. At the same time, temporal power has the right to its due: Jesus does not consider it unjust to pay taxes to Caesar’ (Compendium, 379).

6. For this interpretation, see especially the work of Hermann Lübbe, in particular Lübbe (1990).

7. Spinoza (2007, chapter 20) takes a further step by maintaining that people are free to say what they think as long as they do not impair the social and political order.