Catholic Cosmopolitanism and Human Rights

Reclaiming “Natural Partnership and Communication”

“…to establish a legal basis for a situation which already existed in which he believed had to be morally acceptable a priori because the Catholic Monarchs were clearly beyond reproach” (Pagden 2017, 4). Alternatively, one could interpret his work as an effort to constrain the excesses of the conquest and direct it to a just end (Chetail 2016, 906; Davis 1997, 487; Taylor 2020, 4–5, 8).…”

“…While the Spanish conquistadors employed unabashed power to exploit and destroy conquered peoples, Vitoria’s work arguably aimed to constrain this abuse and affirmed, rather, the natural rights of the conquered peoples that the Spaniards had infringed. His efforts may have directed the conquistadors to cloak their abusive activity under the semblance of lawful conduct, yet it also provided a solid basis to defend exploited peoples’ rights (Taylor 2020, 252–54). While Vitoria’s work may have been misappropriated to support the interests of the powerful, it can also be reappropriated to assert the rights of the powerless.…”

“…This worldview risks framing international legal norms as arbitrary creations, negotiated only for pragmatic purposes and vulnerable to subtle exploitation by powerful nations for their own gain. Vitoria’s argument appealed to the prior existence of a world commonwealth with a legal order that supersedes national interest (Taylor 2020, 10–13). While his appeal to the natural law (with its Western Christian foundation) as the primary basis for this order may be problematic in a pluralist context, his thinking still has the potential to affirm the precedence of the universal common good and respect for longstanding norms of international behavior.…”

Christian democracy as political spirituality: transcendence as transformation—Italian politics, 1942–1953

“…This applies particularly to the English-language literature. Luckily, in recent years an emerging scholarship in English has recognized the need to understand Christian Democracy and Catholic politics in a deeper vein (Pombeni, 2000;Gehler et al, 2001;Caciagli, 2003;Conway, 2003;Kaiser, 2007;Müller, 2011Müller, , 132-8, 2013Mitchell, 2012;Chappel, 2018;Kosicki, 2018;Invernizzi Accetti, 2019; see also review article by Forlenza 2019a; Taylor, 2020;Driessen, 2021Driessen, , 2014. While this article remains indebted to this emerging literature, it wishes to add a stress on an experiential, existential, and spiritual dimension that was a decisive factor in the shaping of Christian democratic politics.…”