“Dictatorships are useless and end badly, sooner or later,” said Pope Francis, returning from his visit to Asia and Oceania on September 13. With this simple but powerful expression, we can see two things.
Firstly, dictatorships do not respond to the practical demands of the use of power. From ancient times to the present day, a purely pragmatic analysis of dictatorships – in their various forms – shows that the concentration of power in one person, or in a restricted group, sooner rather than later leads to the restriction of freedoms, popular repression and lack of respect for human rights.
This, among other things, generates a situation of “unstable equilibrium”, that is, of contained social tension that at times may seem “peaceful”, but which, like a pressure cooker, accumulates discontent, resentment, and social dissatisfaction. In practical terms, dictatorships, to be maintained, generate a high cost that we all end up paying. Their social functionality is apparent. And their end is terrible. Sometimes, blood is spilled, thereby evidencing that power has entered into a logic that sacrifices the people it should serve.
From an ethical point of view, moreover, it is easy to see that dictatorships are lubricated by lies, corruption, and the manipulation of the people. National history is reinvented, “mantras” about popular sovereignty are repeated, while in secret, a new oligarchy arises that despotically takes advantage of its privileged position. The people, especially when they are noble and expect some relief from so much social injustice and criminal violence, tend to believe in messianic discourse, in fatuous promises, or in the old strategy based on “bread and circuses.”
The study of dictatorships in their nature and history is instructive. From the fall of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Empire, to the painful experiences of the 20th and early 21st centuries, history repeats itself. Yes, it repeats itself at least in one point: power gone mad devours lives and dignities. Social impotence overwhelms the minds and hearts of many. However, there are always men and women who manage to realize that injustice cannot have the last word. The “longing for justice” – as Horkheimer would say – prevails in the human heart. Thanks to those who are faithful to this anthropological tension, dictatorships – all of them – have their days numbered.
That is why, today, we Catholics have a particular conviction in this regard: we must not favor the formation of restricted groups that appropriate the idea of “people” or the well-known “popular sovereignty.” Whatever their ideological affiliation. On the contrary, “the Church values the system of democracy in so far as it ensures the participation of citizens in political choices and guarantees to those governed the possibility of electing and controlling their own rulers, or of replacing them at any time peacefully. For this reason she cannot encourage the formation of restricted ruling groups which, for private interests or ideological reasons, usurp the power of the State” (John Paul II, Centessimus annus, n. 46).
