Father José Luis Narvaja’s recent essay on the political thought of Pope Bergoglio provides some guidelines to understand the Pope’s strategy for the difficult negotiations with China and its global implications.
Narvaja emphasizes that for Bergoglio, politics is the science of constituting and maintaining the polis, the unity of social organization. He thus identifies the Pope’s four principles to achieve “the common good and social peace” (Evangelii gaudium 217-237).
They are, “Time is greater than space” (EG 222-225); “Unity prevails over the conflict” (226-230); “Reality is more important than the idea” (EG 231-233); and “Everything is superior to the part” (EG 234-237).
