Pope Benedict XVI: There Is An Urgent Need Of A True World Political Authority.

M. Gustave Dore

Dante’s prophetic vision of the whore along side giant seated in the chariot representing the usurpation of the Divinely Ordained Authority of the Holy Roman Emperor by the envy of the papacy (whore) and secular man-made authority (giant)

Just like a fortress set on a steep slope,

securely seated there, ungirt, a whore,

whose eyes were quick to rove, appeared to me;

and I saw at her side, erect, a giant,

who seemed to serve as her custodian;

and they-again, again-embraced each other.

But when she turned her wandering, wanton eyes

to me, then that ferocious amador

beat her from head to foot; then, swollen with

suspicion, fierce with anger, he untied

the chariot-made-monster, dragging it

into the wood, so that I could not see

either the whore or the strange chariot-beast.

Purgatorio xxxii

67. 'In the face of the unrelenting growth of global interdependence, there is a strongly felt need, even in the midst of a global recession, for a reform of the United Nations Organization, and likewise of economic institutions and international finance, so that the concept of the family of nations can acquire real teeth. One also senses the urgent need to find innovative ways of implementing the principle of the responsibility to protect and of giving poorer nations an effective voice in shared decision-making. This seems necessary in order to arrive at a political, juridical and economic order which can increase and give direction to international cooperation for the development of all peoples in solidarity. To manage the global economy; to revive economies hit by the crisis; to avoid any deterioration of the present crisis and the greater imbalances that would result; to bring about integral and timely disarmament, food security and peace; to guarantee the protection of the environment and to regulate migration: for all this, there is urgent need of a true world political authority, as my predecessor Blessed John XXIII indicated some years ago. Such an authority would need to be regulated by law, to observe consistently the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity, to seek to establish the common good, and to make a commitment to securing authentic integral human development inspired by the values of charity in truth. Furthermore, such an authority would need to be universally recognized and to be vested with the effective power to ensure security for all, regard for justice, and respect for rights. Obviously it would have to have the authority to ensure compliance with its decisions from all parties, and also with the coordinated measures adopted in various international forums. Without this, despite the great progress accomplished in various sectors, international law would risk being conditioned by the balance of power among the strongest nations. The integral development of peoples and international cooperation require the establishment of a greater degree of international ordering, marked by subsidiarity, for the management of globalization. They also require the construction of a social order that at last conforms to the moral order, to the interconnection between moral and social spheres, and to the link between politics and the economic and civil spheres, as envisaged by the Charter of the United Nations.' Benedict XVI