Peace & Justice

“The thought of Jesus being stripped, beaten, and derided until his final agony on the cross should prompt the Christian to protest against similar treatment of their fellow human beings. Of their own accord, disciples of Christ will reject torture, which nothing can justify, which causes humiliation and suffering to the victim and degrades the tormentor.”

-- Pope John Paul II, before the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva, June 1982

“Whatever is hostile to life itself, such as any kind of homicide, genocide, abortion, euthanasia and voluntary suicide; whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, physical and mental torture and attempts to coerce the spirit; whatever is offensive to human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution and trafficking in women and children; degrading conditions of work which treat laborers as mere instruments of profit, and not as free responsible persons: all these and the like are a disgrace, and so long as they infect human civilization they contaminate those who inflict them more than those who suffer injustice, and they are a negation of the honor due to the Creator.”

-- “Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World,” Second Vatican Council

As Congress works to strike a deal on President Obama’s federal budget proposal, let’s take a time out from the partisan spin and cable news punditry.

The budget debate should not be about abstract economic theories or tired ideological battles. It’s about choosing our priorities as a country and restoring belief in government that serves the common good.

Catholic Charities USA and other faith-based advocates for the poor have praised President Obama’s budget for a reason. It represents a fundamental shift away from decades of policies that made life easier for elite corporate executives and much harder for the poor and working class. It also recognizes that blind faith in the free- market is a fallacy built on quicksand.

This isn’t the specter of socialism. This is about stitching together fraying social safety nets that protect the most vulnerable and making sure the economy works for all Americans. By making critical investments in decaying public infrastructure, healthcare, education and other essential programs that impact the dignity of the human person, President Obama’s budget affirms many essential Catholic values in the public square.

News Analysis
During a single week this month, Barack Obama agreed with Russian President Medvedev to negotiate a new nuclear arms treaty this year, told a big crowd in Prague that he would seek a ban on all nuclear tests as part of a global non-proliferation strategy and emphasized his goal of a world without nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, North Korea fired a rocket over Japan into the Pacific in what was widely seen as a test of a long-range missile that someday could carry a small nuclear warhead.

VATICAN CITY

Pope Benedict XVI called on nations to end the production, stockpiling and use of land mines and cluster bombs.

He also expressed his support for programs and measures that "guarantee the necessary assistance to victims of such devastating weapons."