The Church is clear that it is autonomous and independent from the State. “Although the Church and the political community both manifest themselves in visible organisational structures, they are by nature different because of their configuration and because of the ends they pursue.”

The political community and the Church are mutually independent and self-governing”. This independence results from the fact that the Church is organised in ways that are suitable to meet the spiritual needs of the faithful, while the different political communities give rise to relationships and institutions that are at the service of everything that is part of the temporal common good.

In short the Church is concerned with the spiritual and ensuring that everyone understands their God given purpose, while the State is responsible for secular or worldly matters such as the provision of health, education, roads and ensuring that the society is governed in a manner which promotes the good of all. The autonomy and independence of these two realities is particularly evident with regards to their ends.

The State however has a responsibility to the Church. The duty to respect religious freedom requires that the political community guarantee the Church the space needed to carry out her mission.

The Church summarises its position with the State by advising “for her part, the Church has no particular area of competence concerning the structures of the political community: ‘The Church respects the legitimate autonomy of the democratic order and is not entitled to express preferences for this or that institutional or constitutional solution’, nor does it belong to her to enter into questions of the merit of political programmes, except as concerns their religious or moral implications.”

Next week we look at Cooperation between the Church and State.
Persons interested in purchasing the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, can contact the Justice Desk, Archbishop’s House – 622-6680. Also on sale at the Justice Desk are the Take a Bite Social Justice Programme on DVD and Responses to 101 Questions on Catholic Social Teaching.