“The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness” (Ps. 24:1). God as Creator and Sustainer has complete and total authority over the universe he created, from the smallest atoms to the largest stars. If this is true, then where does civil authority come from?

We have been taught as Americans that we have a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people” (Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address), and that “government deriv[es] their just powers from the consent of the governed” (Declaration of Independence). In simple terms, the American political system is built on the philosophy that governments have authority because the people in a primordial ‘state of nature’ give some secondary rights through a ‘social contract’ to protect the primary ones like life, liberty, and property (Rousseau and Locke). When governments break this social contract, the people are justified in changing the system to suit their needs.

The Church understands something different about this story. A nation’s rulers may be designated by the people through hereditary lineage (monarchy) or popular election (democracy), but their authority does not come from that designation alone. Their authority derives from participation in God’s authority for the common good. Scriptural proofs abound: “By me kings reign…by me princes rule, and the mighty decree justice” (Prov. 8:15-16). The Lord Jesus, speaking to Pontius Pilate on the day of his death, remarks, “You would have no power over me unless it were given from above” (Jn. 19:11). The State’s authority cannot come from the people alone because it has the power to justly compel its citizens into obedience, and no human being can have that power over another without a higher authority (God) in place.

Does this therefore mean that all rulers, whether elected or born, govern with God’s direct blessing? Was Hitler or Stalin God’s anointed regent? No, for immediately after clarifying that all authority comes from God, Pope Leo XIII states, “it is necessary that those who exercise [power] should do it as having received it from God” (Diuturnum 11). God permits human beings to wield authority over others for the sake of the common good (it is better for society to be organized hierarchically than not), but they do not have a blank check to do whatever they want. They should see their authority as a gift and a responsibility to be used justly. They should strive to follow the natural law of their hearts and the sage wisdom of God’s Church.

We as citizens have a default responsibility to obey laws that do not contradict the natural or divine law, and civil disobedience should be the last resort, not the first. Our obedience as Catholics not only proves we’re good Americans, but can help show others the Divine Lawgiver who guides our ‘sweet land of liberty’. The tightrope between acknowledging the State’s legitimate authority without making it into a god is tough to walk in today’s political climate that demands unswerving obedience to one political party, but the Church knows who’s really in charge. “He’s got the whole world in his hands.”

-Fr. Stephen