There is a new document from the Vatican against corruption entitled bluntly as “The Fight against Corruption.” It offers new lights towards a “better understanding” of this phenomenon, “identify the best methods for countering” this evil, and to forward “the contribution that the Church can make” towards its eradication. (n. 1) Actually it is a result of the international conference of “high-level officials of international organizations, specialists and scholars, ambassadors to the Holy See, professors and experts” organized by the same pontifical council held in the Vatican last summer of 2006.
Though “the phenomenon of corruption has always existed, nonetheless it is only in recent years that awareness of it has grown at the international level”. (n. 2) Corruption which is not limited by politics or geography “makes societies less just and less open” is a sounding conclusion. It therefore makes the person or a society less human and hinders the promotion of his/her complete dignity. In fact “the Church considers corruption to be a very serious fact that distorts the political system. The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church offers a very negative judgment: “Corruption radically distorts the role of representative institutions, because they are used as an arena for political bartering between clients’ requests and governmental services. In this way political choices favor the narrow objectives of those who possess the means to influence these choices and are an obstacle to bringing about the common good of all citizens” (No. 411). Corruption is listed “among the causes that greatly contribute to underdevelopment and poverty” (No. 447) and sometimes it is also present within the very mechanisms by which aid is given to poor countries.” (n. 5) Very clear are the “connections between corruption and an absence of culture, between corruption and functional limitations of institutional systems, between corruption and the index of human development, between corruption and social injustices. This is not merely a process that weakens the economic system: Corruption hinders the promotion of the person and makes societies less just and less open.” (n. 4)
But how could corruption be eradicated? How could we identify it, so that, like sickness we could cure it? Put into the fore by this document are: “transparency” and “human ecological balance.” Like any internal sickness of the body which can be discovered by x-ray, CT scan, and MIR, corruption, can be more identified by transparent lifestyle of any individual, social, political, or corporate groups. It admits an obvious fact that “a ready climate [for corruption] is fostered by a lack of transparency in international finances by the existence of financial havens and by the disparity between the level at which corruption is fought — often limited to the level of single states — and the level at which corruption is carried out, usually at the supranational and international levels. It is also facilitated by limited cooperation between states in the fight against corruption, by the excessive differences in the norms of various legal systems, by the lack of media coverage of corruption in parts of the world, and by the lack of democracy in various countries. Without a free press, without democratic systems of checks and balances, without transparency, corruption is made that much easier.” (n. 3)
Transparency, on the one hand, is like a means or an “x-ray check up” to discover some illnesses in the body, and on the other, it is also the cure and a deterrence for further corruption. The identification of the sickness is very important in curing that sickness.
Another way of curing the body is the overall “ecological balance” of the body. “The Church’s social doctrine proposes the concept of “human ecology” (“Centesimus Annus,” 38), which can also be a useful criterion in the fight against corruption.” It explains that “the attitudes of corruption can be satisfactorily understood only if they are seen as the result of a breakdown of human ecology. If the family is not put in a position to fulfill its educational role, if laws contrary to the authentic good of men and women — such as those against life — miseducate citizens concerning what is good, if the pace of justice is excessively slow, if basic morality is weakened by tolerance of transgressions, if living conditions have deteriorated, if schools do not stimulate personal growth and do not create independence, it is not possible to guarantee “human ecology”; and the absence of human ecology allows the phenomenon of corruption to thrive.” (n. 7)
The health of the body is present when the balance and equilibrium in our body’s systems and functions are in place; when the contrary happens, the body feels sick. So as in a social body, like our society, international or national, “it must not be forgotten that corruption implies a whole series of relationships and complicity; it involves the numbing of consciences, blackmail and threats, unwritten agreements and conspiracies that first involve, overall, people and people’s moral conscience, and after, their structures.” – a breakdown of human ecology. (n. 7) It is in this context that the “task of the moral education and formation of citizens, and for the duty of the Church, which — with her communities, institutions, movements and associations, and with the presence of individual members of the faithful in every segment of modern society — can play an ever more significant role in preventing corruption. The Church can cultivate and promote the moral resources that will help to build a “human ecology” in which corruption will not find an hospitable habitat.” (n. 7)
So transparency and human ecology are the areas of battle. What are the weapons? The church’s social teachings: “all its fundamental guiding principles, which it puts forth as indications of personal and collective behavior, placing them on the front-line in the battle against corruption. These principles are the dignity of the human person, the common good, solidarity, subsidiarity, the preferential option for the poor, the universal destination of goods. Corruption stands in radical contrast to all these principles” (n. 8 ) Convincing are its statement that “the whole of the Church’s social doctrine proposes a perspective of social relationships that is completely at odds with the practice of corruption.” (n. 8 )
While this is true in the level of knowledge and theory, it is not enough to know the causes of the sickness and the solutions in our “health of the body” analogy. To have good health, concrete actions are necessary, like diet, exercise or the regular taking of right medicines. “The fight against corruption requires a greater conviction, by means of the consensus given to moral evidence, and a greater awareness that this fight will provide important social advantages.” (n. 9) In the concrete it means to actualize the “the characteristics of virtuous behavior in men and women, and also to encourage these characteristics; to think of the fight against corruption as a value, and also as a need; that corruption is an evil, and that it also involves a great price; that rejecting corruption is a good, and also an advantage; that abandoning corrupt practices can lead to development and well-being; that behavior marked by honesty is to be encouraged and behavior marked by dishonesty is to be punished. In the fight against corruption it is very important that responsibility for illicit acts be exposed, that the guilty be punished with reparative measures aimed at restoring socially responsible behavior. It is likewise important that there be rewards for countries and economic partnerships that work in conformity with an ethical code that does not tolerate corrupt practices.” (n. 9)
What a high aim, perhaps a lifetime. There is a need to organize to awaken one’s consciousness, perhaps into advocacies, symposia, exposes, rallies both in the local and international levels. “On the international level, the fight against corruption requires that people work together to increase transparency in economic and financial transactions and to enact within different countries uniform legislation in this area.” (n. 10) Also, “since organized crime knows no borders, international cooperation between governments also needs to increase.” (n. 10)
These are but to mention the few suggestions of the relevant and timely document. Yet, the urgency of solutions seems to be obvious: now is high time to cure it. It is like cancer in global society that spreads quite in an alarming rate. When it is not discovered through “transparency” it could attack the whole body in no time. Once transparency becomes a lifestyle, and “formation of a civil conscience” and “education of citizens to a true democracy” human ecological balance could be achieved through the right application of the social teachings of the church which has given much light to political activity and various countries. Truly they are guiding beacons of light in this already dark and sick world.
Other Links: On human ecology; Corruption a Threat to democracies; Lack of Democracy, decline in Morals add to Corruption
