How the Catholic Church gave rise to what
eventually became modern civil law
One of the most
violent films ever made was Mel Gibson’s The
Passion of the Christ. But why was it so violent? Was it simply gratuitous
violence? Sadly, no, the violence reflected life at the time in the Roman
Empire. While Roman citizenship was something that afforded basic protections
not available to conquered peoples and slaves, tens of thousands of people went
to their death for no reason other than what a Roman official choose to do.
Through this
environment traveled the Catholic Church, whose members suffered severely for
no reason other than their belief in Christ, and unwillingness to renounce that
belief. Refusal to renounce faith in Christ, could, and all too often did, mean
a slow and tortuous death. Out of such misery and uncivilized chaos, an
understanding was eventually reached: An
individual has natural rights and is entitled to individual justice.[1] No exact
date can be applied, because this conclusion was reached through a lurching,
evolutionary process, but backdating a quote from Winston Churchill would have
fit at some point in the evolutionary timeline of secular justice:
“Now this is not the end. It is not even the
beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
Pope Gregory was
instrumental in the process of establishing civil law because he wrestled
control of the law of the land from kings, and thereby separated Church and
state. Legal constructs could now form organically without being snuffed out by
the capricious whims of a king or Emperor. Barbaric practices could be curbed.[2] Canon
law could now be developed outside the literal beat-down of insane rulers, and
what law the Romans gave the world could be made whole and healthy.[3]
Finally, in what
can only be thought of today in “Man bites dog” terms, Pope Innocent actually rejected a movement to grant absolute
power to the Pope to be “lord of the whole world.”[4] His
decision not to embrace such powers prevented eroding the notion that individuals
have certain inalienable rights that cannot be overturned by anyone, any ruler,
or any government, regardless of religious affiliation, or lack thereof.
It is fair to say
after a review of the historical record that the Catholic Church helped form
the basis of the legal principals in use today. In most countries of the world,
but not yet all, the historical sacrifices and works of the Catholic Church
helped shape the creation of law that afford basic human rights. We can only
pray for our brothers and sisters in such countries as Cuba and North Korea
that someday they may be afforded the same rights and human dignity through the
law that we enjoy.
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