My response is optimistic, both for those who profess the Christian faith and for those who do not. Christianity still has vitality; it is by no means, as some argue, a lost cause. Being a Christian in today's consumerist society has intrinsic value and is beneficial to all, believers and non-believers alike. If the human being of the 21st century wishes to be vindicated, he or she must seriously consider Christianity. To do so, it is essential to return to contemplation, mysticism, aesthetics and liturgy.

To continue to illuminate our environment, Christianity needs to undergo an intense process of spiritual renewal, to return to its roots, to contemplate without rest the crucified and risen Christ. Paradoxically, in order to renew itself, Christianity must secularize and declericalize, and look to the first Christians, those who lived before the alliance between religion and politics, altar and throne, was established in the fourth century.

I argue that a society that undergoes a process of secularization without the guidance of Christianity runs the risk of falling into an impasse, plunging into extreme individualism, purposelessness and a deep existential sadness. In short, decadence. Therefore, my position is clear: let us secularize Christianity and open the process of secularization to transcendence. Let us collaborate between believers and non-believers, foster dialogue and eliminate the ideological prejudices and harmful polarization that has arisen in the wake of the woke culture.

Healthy secularization does not exclude God

A healthy secularization that opens the doors to transcendence does not exclude God. In this essay, I confront the theses of modern atheism with the mystical experiences of so many people over the centuries. I argue that Christian faith is not based solely on rational evidence, but on personal experience and divine revelation. I also insist on the importance of faith as a fundamental element for understanding the full meaning of human existence and for building a more just and compassionate society.

I conclude this essay with a fervent call for the construction of a culture of love, grounded in the essential values of Christianity. This culture must be inclusive, welcoming of diversity, promote sincere dialogue and be wide open to spirituality. In my view, Christianity is not a threat to modern society, as has been said; rather, it is an inexhaustible source of inspiration for forging a more humane, just and caring world.

The meaning of Christianity

AuthorRafael Domingo Oslé

Editorial: La esfera de los libros

Pages: 296

Year: 2025

Our society has the capacity to advance more rapidly and find a more effective balance if it transforms itself into a space that is simultaneously more secular and more transcendent. It must learn to be more technical and at the same time more human, more active and also more contemplative. In short, it must aspire to be a place of greater happiness and well-being.

Can a vibrant Christianity illuminate the secular age? Definitely. Not, however, a tired Christianity that victimizes, nor a fearful one that hides or lacks clarity and purpose. What our society really requires is a revitalized, energized, bold and transformative Christianity that deserves the enthusiastic and eternal recognition of Jesus Christ.

La entrada ¿Tiene sentido el cristianismo en la actualidad? se publicó primero en Omnes.

According to this vision, a real poisoned candy, increasing human freedom consists exclusively in creating new spaces of choice. I am freer if I can work in any country of the European Union than if I can do so only in my own country; if I can change my sex when I so decide than if I cannot, or if I can marry one or more persons belonging to one of the different affective genders (bisexual, pansexual, polysexual, asexual, omnisexual, etc.) than if only the heterosexual option is possible. A woman who can decide to terminate a pregnancy with complete freedom for unlimited reasons (economic, psychological, aesthetic) is considered freer than if she has to justify them or flatly rejects abortion, who can decide whether or not to consume drugs than if she cannot, or to distribute pornography without any restriction than if she can.

Taken to its ultimate consequences, this individualistic vision of freedom culminates when one conquers the space of one's own freedom, that is, when one can make the decision to end one's own life and therefore one's own capacity to make decisions. In this way, the circle is perfectly closed.

Freedom and independence

This myopic vision of freedom is based on an ethic that its great advocate, the American philosopher Ronald Dworkin, called ethical independence.. Ethical independence grants absolute personal sovereignty in the area of what Dworkin calls foundational matters (life, sex, religion, among others), so that, in these matters, a person should never accept someone else's judgment in place of his own. Therein lies his dignity.

To implement this social model, public authorities must refrain from dictating ethical convictions to their citizens about what is better or worse to achieve a successful life. Since freedom is a foundational matter, no government should limit it except when necessary to protect life (not embryonic, not terminal), the safety or freedom of others (especially to enforce non-discrimination). This individualistic conception seeks at all costs to eradicate any kind of ethical paternalism that might favor one choice over others.

In the end Dworkin unwittingly fell into his own trap. His requirement that public authorities should refrain from dictating ethical convictions to their citizens constitutes, in itself, the imposition of an ethical conviction. Apart from this structural error, which damages the pillars of its own intellectual construction, it seems to me that this way of understanding freedom and the ethics that sustain it is enormously reductionist, thus impoverishing the very meaning of freedom and morality. Moreover, the alleged ethical neutrality sought by Dworkin is impossible to achieve given the intrinsic connection between morality and politics.

It is true that freedom of choice is one of the most important expressions of our human freedom, and as such it must be protected, although not absolutely, but freedom is more, much more, than mere choice. Freedom is also found, and I believe in a purer and more sublime state, in the capacity to accept.

In the key of acceptance

He acts with a wonderful freedom who accepts his parents and siblings, his land and his culture, his language and his history, his illness, his dismissal, even if he has not decided about it. He acts with great freedom who accepts the fact of having been born without having been asked, and leaving this world without knowing the precise moment. The acceptance of reality as it is, and above all the acceptance of the founding reality, that is, of God, of his paternity and mercy, is, in my opinion, the greatest act of human freedom, and the one that opens wide the doors of Love.

The individualistic vision disconnects freedom from the common good, from solidarity and love. There is an intrinsic connection between the particular good and the common good, private and public morality, love of self and love of others, for the unity of love, of good and therefore of morality is indestructible. It comes from the factory. This unity of love and goodness makes the right exercise of freedom a purely solidary one, even though decision-making may be individual. Therefore, a solidary vision of freedom in no way reduces individual freedom, but rather enhances it, since it allows for a broader decision-making process, thinking of the good of others, of the political community, of humanity, and not only of one's own interests. It is a freedom founded on love, which is the source of freedom.

The 21st century has been called the century of solidarity, just as the 20th century was the century of equality and the 19th century was the century of freedom. The time has come to develop a framework for an authentic freedom of solidarity, which is the maximum expression of the correct exercise of individual freedom.

La entrada Hacia una libertad solidaria se publicó primero en Omnes.

A good number of ideas, concepts and values have, at the same time, a deep juridical and theological meaning. It is enough to think of words such as law, justice, marriage, covenant, satisfaction, oath, freedom, dignity, obedience, solidarity, authority, tradition, redemption, punishment, person, but also intercession, grace, confession and sacrament, the latter concepts being juridical rather than theological. Because of this common denominator, it is sometimes difficult to determine whether the origin of a concept is jurisprudential or theological.

Christianity and law, in the West, have gone hand in hand after their first embrace at the beginning of the Christian era. Although somewhat more distant, Christianity and law continued together during the long process of secularization of modernity that began with the Protestant Reformation, since this process, in part (only in part), has its roots in the famous parable of Jesus: "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's.".

Some contributions of Christianity to law are original while others shed new light on existing concepts or ideas (e.g. the idea of justice or property). Some contributions are theological (e.g., care for the created universe), others more spiritual (e.g., sense of forgiveness, compassion and mercy), others more moral (e.g., religious freedom and human rights), others historical (e.g., the division of Europe into sovereign states), others anthropological (e.g., the centrality of the human person), others structural (e.g., the separation of Europe into sovereign states), others anthropological (e.g., the separation of the human person). The development of law and secular legal systems was and continues to be decisive for the development of law and secular legal systems. 

Special mention should be made of the contribution of the Second Scholasticism, particularly the School of Salamanca, which shed light on issues that also affect our times, such as the globalization of interdependence, colonialism, the exercise of power, human rights, cosmopolitanism, just war, Eurocentrism or the rules of the market.

The School of Salamanca exhorts us to a closer analysis of the scientific method as an instrument in the search for truth, and shows us the role of universities in the development of peoples, as well as the role of intellectuals in the decision-making process of any political community. 

The impact of Protestantism on Western legal culture was also colossal. The foundations of modern democratic theories, the founding ideals of religious freedom and political equality, the principle of federation, the emergence of the modern welfare state, the defense of procedural guarantees and rights, the conversion of the moral duties of the Decalogue into individual rights, the doctrine of constitutional resistance against tyranny, or the idea of a written constitution as a kind of political covenant owe much to the Protestant Reformation. 

As John Witte Jr. rightly explains, certain basic theological postulates of Protestantism have had important legal consequences, such as, for example, the fact that the political community is constituted by a covenant between the rulers and the people before God, whose content is shown by the divine and natural laws and specifically the Decalogue; or the fact that Church and State must be institutionally separate but united in their purpose and function, and, therefore, also in the defense of the rights and liberties of the people, including organized constitutional resistance.

In our secular and global age, Christianity must continue to illuminate the law, protecting and strengthening its meta-legal foundations, but without exploiting or despoiling the autonomous structure of legal systems. There is no single model of Christian legal order that Christianity must promote in order to fulfill its mission.

The Christian influence concerns rather the spiritual dimension of law, the spirit of law, even if some contributions may have concrete practical implications, for example, dignity. For its part, secular law must continue to illuminate Christianity by providing a refined juridical technique in the resolution of conflicts and by promoting the defense of human rights.

La entrada Derecho y cristianismo: ¡unidos para siempre! se publicó primero en Omnes.

The celibacy spiritual life is not properly an act of human choice, but the free acceptance of a divine invitation. The human person does not choose between getting married and being celibate, as he chooses, on the other hand, between getting married and remaining single.

What the celibate really does is to accept, with an unconditional yes, fruit of a loving and free discernment, a divine proposal of eternal spousal love.

Celibacy is accepted in the same way as the Son of God freely accepted his passion and death out of love for his Father, or the Virgin Mary, the divine design to be the Mother of the Redeemer. Yes was indispensable for the development of a plan lovingly designed by the Father from all eternity.

The celibacy contributes to the sanctification of the world and all creation in a different way than marriage. They are two complementary spousal modes: one sacramental, the other donational.

Marriage forms a family; celibacy cares for humanity as a family. Marriage divinizes human love. Celibacy humanizes divine love. Marriage begets carnal children; celibacy, spiritual children. Marriage propagates and educates the human species, celibacy the offering.

The celibate person must value marriage highly, but must also learn to transcend it. For this reason, celibacy exalts marriage. Without the institution of marriage, there is no celibacy, but pure singleness; and without celibacy, marriage is easily degraded and trivialized.

The celibate person loves all human beings, beginning with those to whom he owes the most: his parents, relatives and friends. But in the celibate heart there is no room for an exclusive love other than God himself.

In this sense, celibacy is a sort of falling in love with the divine. The celibate person directs all his or her erosthat is, his desire for possessive love, towards God, and from God, towards others, this time already in the form of agape. The married person loves God in his or her spouse; the celibate, on the other hand, loves everyone in God.

Celibacy as a gift

It is true that the celibacy is not only a gift but also a task that demands total continence. But this joyful duty does not imply the repression of the sexual impulse but rather its liberation through the education of the affections and the redemption of one's ego with the grace that flows from the gift received.

A celibacy not properly discerned or not nourished with the love of God day by day, like a burning bonfire, runs the risk of turning into a caricature of celibacywith disastrous consequences for the ecclesial and human community. I refer to the facts.

Celibacy and marriage

The person who has received the precious gift of celibacy admires and loves the institution of marriage, even if he or she realizes in the depths of his or her soul that it is only and exclusively for God.

The sacramentally married person, for his part, admires and loves the gift of celibacy in the world, also for his children, as a sign and a foretaste of the kingdom of Heaven. But let each traveler follow his own path, as the poet said, for there is no such a thing as too much, too little.

The celibate person should have in much the capacity of effort and sacrifice of the married person for her spouse and children; the married person, on the other hand, should admire the contemplative capacity of the celibate, her total detachment, even living in the midst of the world, and her desire to give herself to every human being, to every child of God, without distinction of race, color or religion.

Marriage and celibacy thus constitute two ways of living the same and unique Christian vocation in a holy way: the first emphasizes the union of Christ with his Church, the second the certain and actual presence of Christ's kingdom among us.

*The print magazine Omnes January 2024 delves into the topic of celibacy with competent authors, and notes on the teaching of the Popes and the Tradition of the Church.

La entrada Nobleza y esplendor del celibato cristiano se publicó primero en Omnes.

The document confirms without fissure the traditional doctrine of canonical marriage and makes very clear at all times the moral doctrine of the Catholic Church that considers sexual relations maintained outside of marital intimacy to be contrary to divine law. 

What the Declaration does do, however, is to broaden the liturgical-theological concept of blessing. To this end, it distinguishes the liturgical blessing, which actualizes, at its level, the Paschal Mystery of Christ, from the non-liturgical blessing, which could be called a "prayer of blessing," which is part of the framework of Christian prayer, as an expression of the Church's acceptance and accompaniment of all people, which implores the grace of the Holy Spirit who, through Christ, descends from the Father.

With this expansion of the meaning of the blessings (otherwise present in the Catechism, 2626), the Declaration focuses on the Church as a merciful Mother, who unconditionally welcomes those children who, with humble hearts, come to her for spiritual help.

In the same way that a mother always embraces a child regardless of his or her behavior, situation or circumstance, the Mother Church also welcomes, loves and prays, in imitation of the Virgin Mary, for every person who approaches the "field hospital" in search of protection. 

It is the mission of the Church to facilitate that the action of the Holy Spirit be infused in souls by giving a prudent, positive and practical response to children who find themselves in irregular situations. A child can exclude himself, rejecting the love of God and his Church, but the Church never abandons a child of hers, because God never does.

This is why Pope Francis has given a moral status to the process of accompaniment.

Herein lies, in my opinion, the great contribution of the pontificate of Francis to moral theology. Moral theology not only helps to discern what is right from what is wrong, but it must also facilitate the sometimes tortuous path out of error in order to be able to fulfill the will of God with renewed enthusiasm.

Very much in line with the magisterium of Pope Francis, the Declaration seeks to avoid the tiresome and inopportune casuistry that arises from elevating to the rank of a universal norm what in reality are particular situations (however generalized they may be), and which as such require tailored practical discernment. It is one thing to have events objectively sinful (e.g. sexual relations outside of marriage) and it is quite another matter if there are objectively sinful (e.g. sexual relations outside of marriage) and it is quite another matter if there is situations objectively sinful.

Certainly, there are situations that facilitate sin and rejection of God (e.g., non-marital cohabitation), but that does not mean that any person in such a situation is necessarily in sin (e.g., those who decide to live as siblings). Therefore, these situations require special discernment and qualified accompaniment.

A fundamentalist approach to moral theology, which calls for a rigid and unthinking adherence to established norms and rules, prevents us from giving proper pastoral care to people in such situations, leaving them in a dead end.

Confusion and charity

It is true that doctrinal confusion must be avoided, as this statement makes clear, but it is also true that the possible confusion of a few cannot lead to hindering the acts of charity of the Mother Church towards her neediest children.

The Declaration leaves no doubt on this point: "Precisely to avoid any form of confusion or scandal, when the prayer of blessing is requested by a couple in an irregular situation, even if it is conferred outside the rites foreseen by the liturgical books, this blessing is never to be performed at the same time as the civil rites of union, nor in connection with them. Not even with the vestments, gestures or words proper to a marriage. The same applies when the blessing is requested by a same-sex couple." 

The Church, the Declaration insists, is the "sacrament of God's infinite love. It is a holy and mother Church, full of sinners, of people who advance by "small steps". In each new step, the beauty of God's saving love shines forth and the tenderness of the Church, which feels herself to be a mother, a very mother. Therein lies her strong evangelizing appeal and the splendor of her message.

La entrada Bendiciones litúrgicas y plegarias de bendición se publicó primero en Omnes.

This teaching is currently contained, among many other documents, in the pastoral constitution Gaudium et spes of the Second Vatican Council (esp. nos. 23-32) and the Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles laici of St. John Paul II. The Catechism of the Catholic Church(Nos. 1897-1917) offers a wonderful synthesis of it all. 

The crux of this doctrine can be summarized as follows: every Christian, through the fulfillment of his civic duties, must assume in conscience, with full freedom and personal responsibility, his own social commitment to animate the temporal order in a Christian way, respecting his own laws and autonomy. This willing duty to promote the common good through a voluntary and generous commitment is inherent in the dignity of the human person. 

Among the central issues affecting public life, the Church has always recalled the primacy of the person over society and the State, the preeminence of morality over law and politics; the defense of life from the moment of conception to its natural end, the centrality of the married family, the right and duty to work in dignified conditions; the right to health and education, private property with its social function as a necessity and guarantee of freedom in solidarity; the care of the planet as the common home of humanity, the need to develop a free, solidary and sustainable economic system, the construction of a just and stable peace through the establishment of an international community ordered by law.

A public life marked by secularism

Unfortunately, in the West, public life is far removed from the Christian principles that animated it at its birth and from the moral principles formulated by the natural law and the doctrine of the Church, which we have just outlined. This has been expressed by important thinkers such as Joseph Ratzinger, Charles Taylor, Jean-Luc Marion or Rémi Bragueamong many others. 

Our era has been described as secular, postmodern, post-Christian, post-truth and transhumanist. And all these adjectives are correct, all of which respond to a common denominator: living as if God did not exist and as if human beings had the right to take his place: the homo deus. 

Our public spaces, especially in some countries such as France, have become completely secularized; religions have been relegated to the private sphere if not to privacy; natural law is seriously questioned and even rejected outright by some Christians (just think of the famous No In the last few years, metaphysical thinking has been replaced by a weak and relativistic thinking, which is considered to be the most appropriate for an open and pluralistic society.

Moral conscience is treated as mere subjective certainty.

Political authority has been detached from any binding moral principle beyond human rights, which are no longer considered as natural requirements, but as products of human consensus, and therefore modifiable and extendable to the protection of acts contrary to nature.

Legal positivism stifles legal systems and suffocates citizens. 

The matrimonial family has become one of the many options within an offer that is already knocking on the door of polygamy as another mode of family unity. The abortion has been established as a right, yes, in a legal abortion!

The right to education is being trampled on by the public authorities, who use it as an instrument of social indoctrination. 

A discourse of political correctness has become widespread, restricting freedom of expression and imposing ways of speaking and behaving even in the most liberal academic spheres. There is constant pressure to live together according to ideological uniformity. 

Truth is considered a factory product that is produced in the laboratories of powerful people who only seek to dominate the world at any price. In the debate of many modern and advanced democracies, the denial of truth coexists with the dictatorship of the majorities.

The result is the so-called cancellation culture that has gone so far as to validate revenge as a political weapon. Populism is rampant in the public space. Meanwhile, religious practice has fallen alarmingly.

Moreover, the physical persecution that Christians are suffering in the world is similar to that suffered by our brothers and sisters in the faith during the Roman imperial era. The annual report presented by the organization Open Doors notes that the total number of Christians killed in 2022 was 5,621 and the total number of churches attacked under different levels of violence reached 2,110.

Christians committed to the truth

Thus, transforming public life today requires not only great ideas, but also and above all great people, exemplary and courageous Christians who are recognized in parliaments and public forums for their unwavering commitment to the truth, for their deep respect for all people regardless of the ideas they defend, for their ability to forgive seventy times seven, for their strong commitment to the poor and most needy and for their outright rejection of any form of political corruption. 

Our times demand a handful of magnanimous citizens, authentically free, who ennoble the public space with their good deeds, making it a place of encounter with God and service to humanity.

La entrada Cristianos en la médula de la vida pública se publicó primero en Omnes.

United to Christ in his Church

Unity is the property of a being that prevents it from being divided. The strongest and deepest bond of unity is love, because it is of a clearly divine character. For this reason, to speak of unity is to speak of love and to speak of love of unity is to talk about the unity of loveGod is love, that is, the unity of the one God, who is love: "God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him" (1 John 4:16).

Catholics know by faith the mystery of God's unity in the Trinity of persons, that is, in a communion of love. Since God is one, the Father who loves is one, the beloved Son is one, and the Holy Spirit, the bond of love, is one. We also know by faith that Jesus Christ is true God and true Man in the unit of his divine Person and that his Mystical Body, the Church, is one: one is the faith, one is the sacramental life, and one is the apostolic succession. 

It is Christ who, through the life-giving action of the Holy Spirit, gives unity to his Mystical Body, the Church. For this reason, the Church, as St. John Paul II reminded us, "lives by the Eucharist" (Ecclesia de Eucharistia 1), which unites us sacramentally to Christ and makes us sharers in his Body and Blood until we form one body. Every baptized person participates in this sacred mystery of unity.

United with the Pope in the Church of Christ

Love for the unity of the Church is manifested in a very particular way in union with the Roman Pontiff, "the perpetual and visible principle and foundation of unity, both of the bishops and of the multitude of the faithful" (Lumen Gentium 23). 

For this reason, Catholics must live in profound union with the Pope, in full communion with him, regardless of race, language, color, place of birth, intelligence, ability, character, taste or personal sympathy. This is a purely spiritual union, and therefore a stable, permanent one, which cannot depend on the vicissitudes of life, on the emotional attraction produced by the disposition or talent of a particular Pope, nor on the intellectual satisfaction generated by his teachings. True love for the Pope, for the sweet Christ on earth, as St. Catherine of Siena called him, is more divine than human. Hence it should be asked of God as a gift to be received, which the Holy Spirit gives to each one so that it may bear fruit in works of service to the Church. 

This union with the Pope must be manifested in a profound respect and filial affection for his person, constant prayer for his intentions, uninterrupted listening to his doctrine, prompt obedience to his dispositions and disinterested service in everything he requests.

Not being more papist than the Pope

When a Pope's way of being and governing appeals to us and we feel that "there is chemistry," we can thank God because those positive emotions that arise in us will facilitate a greater prayer of petition for the Roman Pontiff. The emotionally positive is a powerful engine that paves the way to virtue. 

When the way of being and governing of a particular Pope does not fully satisfy us or when we do not share some of his decisions in matters of opinion, it will be the moment to go emotionally and intellectually against the current, to purify our intention, and to increase and redouble our prayer for his person and intentions until we reach the goal of a better life. state of love and constant prayer for the Pope which has nothing to do with passing emotions or changing arguments. To love the Pope does not mean to be more papist than the Pope, but to live united to his person and intentions in Christ.

This union with the Pope, as head of the episcopal college, is also manifested in the union with each and every one of the bishops in communion with the Pope, as successors of the apostles. As St. Ignatius of Antioch (Letter to Smyrnians 8.1): "let no one do apart from the bishop anything that concerns the Church". The Church, as Pope Francis has reminded us, is essentially communion and therefore "synodal", because we all walk together (Discourse 18.9.21, among many others).

Conclusion: unity as gift and task

Living unity in the Church and with the Pope is a gift that God gives to humble hearts, truly free, that live completely in the Church and with the Pope. eucharistic (St. Justin, Apology 1, 65), within the Heart of her Son and nourished by him. In addition to being a divine gift, unity also constitutes a most pleasurable task, which requires a continuous effort and demands, each day, a new conquest, in which, once again, heaven and earth are united.

La entrada Unidos al Papa de todo corazón se publicó primero en Omnes.