It is not a Constitution. They are more
By: Luis Beltrán Guerra G. - 16/04/2025
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This essay is about "Holy Week," which for Catholics is "the last week of Lent, from Palm Sunday until the Resurrection of the Lord." It is also described as "Great and Major." God is, therefore, "the constituent," but at the same time "the constitutionalist," so expert on the subject that he is the author of the first "Magna Carta" intended to govern the humanity he himself created.
Constitutions become a methodology for disciplining politics, "a long road, in the real context, that never ends." Indeed, the world reveals that it has been a fierce struggle to realize the following objectives: 1. The creation of a State; 2. Organizing it and setting limits on power; and 3. Guaranteeing the dignity of the people. It is not difficult to observe that this is an essentially human activity, whose shortcomings lead, without wishing to offend anyone, to imagine a "desperate constituent assembly chasing a rabid dog to dominate it." That was, is, and may God grant that it no longer be our dilemma.
Law professors often speak of "general regulatory systems (applicable to individuals and corporations) and sectoral ones," including those comprised, for example, of canon law. Their recipients are those who voluntarily join the respective segments. Massimo Del Pozzo, from the University of the Holy Cross, and Jorge Castro Trapote, from Navarre, do, in fact, refer to "The Constitutional Order of the People of God," which outlines "the fundamental rights and duties, the guidelines relating to the enjoyment of spiritual goods, and participation and freedom within the People of God." This defines "the core of an entire institutional structure." That is, alongside the "general constitutional order," applicable to all people without exception, there is also "the sectoral order of the Catholic Church." This assessment leads to the discussion of two constituents: "the sovereign people," legitimized by the "Republican Political Constitution," applicable to Catholics and non-Catholics, and "the Ecclesiastical Constitution," applicable only to the latter.
Some questions seem pertinent: Would the normative duality have been healthy? The answer from a concerned person would probably be the assertion that the articles of the so-called "ecclesiastical constitutions" would, in principle, be observed with greater rigor than "republican policies" due to "the fear of God's punishment," which is essentially much more severe. Someone could argue, with relative rationality, that the general and sectoral constitutions would be legitimately applied to the same offense and with two penalties: that of the "Almighty" and that of Civility. Would this be a contributing alternative to the integral development of peoples? A healthy answer would involve observing both regimes, but without ceasing to consider that the religious sanction will be in the other world and the earthly one where one dwells. And since these would be two distinct crimes, nothing seems to oppose this assessment.
For the sake of objectivity, if we were to apply these notes to a real-life context, we would observe that the "religious constitutional charters" created by God and directed toward what the Lord defined as proper human behavior, which presupposes observance of the rules of "Catholicism," would have a very generous number of recipients, that is, those who are passive subjects of the constitutional precepts. Indeed, we read that 47.8% of the Catholics in the world live in the Americas alone: 27.4% in South America: Brazil, with 182 million, 13% of the world total; 6.6% in North America; and the remaining 13.8% in Central America. It is also noted that if we relate the number to population size, Argentina, Colombia, and Paraguay appear to have more than 90%.
That is, if we refer to religious sanctions, the Catholic judge is left to exercise his sanctioning power, of course in accordance with the relevant criteria ("suffering, punishment resulting from the realization of sin: for some, a call to conversion; "a relief for sinners"). If we resort to the advisability of maximizing penalties, we would fall into the issue of "the duality of sanctions," that is, "those derived from the constitutional power of the citizenry and those of the ecclesiastical." We would be talking about "prisons" on the one hand and "Purgatory" on the other, but also about the stay in "hell" (the eternal crystallization of the situation of damnation of those who die, by their own will, removed from the divine plan of salvation of humanity realized in Jesus Christ (Theological Encyclopedic Dictionary, 2003).
It is even written that "the link between 'purgatory and hell' remains an enviable source of hope for all people who recognize that they are weak and sinful souls, who struggle for salvation but do not achieve it. Therefore, God, in his mercy, has undoubtedly provided us with a way to prepare ourselves to enter his presence" (Catholic Controversies, Stephen Gabriel, 2010).
It is an unquestionable truth, and it is not news to point out that humanity is shaken every day by constituents and constituted, legislators and legislated, governors and governed, judges and convicted, and even police and prisoners. Therefore, it is truly necessary, but fortunately not impossible, to observe civil and religious mandates for the sake of their "harmony." Could the cause of "the proliferation of regulations" be, according to Professor María José Fariñas Dulce, "serious challenges for rule of law states, state and theoretical legal systems, given that all of them pivot their normative production on the ideal of formal, hierarchical, and pyramidal legislation, which today no longer corresponds to a complex, changing, and diverse legal reality?"
This essay is not without optimism, which does not mean that the serious difficulties in observing normative precepts, both civil and religious, are ignored. This, combined with their proliferation, supposedly creates greater obstacles to meeting human needs. These are misleading banners for a genius. And only favorable to a few, including those who command us. This assessment leads one to imagine that if this topic were being analyzed in a classroom, a group meeting, a convention, or a rally, it is not out of the question that someone might exhibit the book "Perro Huevero Pero le Quemen el Hocico" (Huevero Dog Although They Burn His Snout) by Juan Francisco Valerio. This work, as we read, was performed at the Villanueva Theater (Havana) and recreates the life of "Matías," a character characterized by his consumption of alcoholic beverages. Unfortunately, during one of the performances, the plot was interrupted by shouts of "Long live the land that produces sugarcane." It should be noted that the Creole discontent over the lack of freedom in Cuba in 1869 was on the agenda at the time. This anecdote reveals human reluctance to comply with the law.
Let us conclude with the titles of some books that reveal the instability of humanity: 1. Stefan Zweig, The Fight Against the Devil, 2. Viktor Frankl, The Search for God and the Meaning of Life, 3. Mark Thompson, Wordless (What Has Happened to the Language of Politics), 4. Terry Eagleton, Hope Without Optimism, 5. Billy Graham, The Journey (How to Live with Faith in an Uncertain World) and 5. Timothy Keller, A Logical Faith.
The reader has the floor.
«The opinions published herein are the sole responsibility of its author».