Christendom commissioned monarchs to uphold the values of Christianity
Almost every Empire and nation in the history of the world has been built on nationalism, conquest, or world domination. There were two exceptions — Christendom and the United States. Christendom started with Pope Leo III’s crowning of Charlemagne in 800 AD. The Monarch of the decentralized feudal era adopted a specifically Christian vision of man.
Christianity holds that there is an Eternal Law by which God governs all creation. Human beings gain understanding of this law by two complementary methods: through Natural Law (dictated by reason and accessible to all men and not merely Christian) and Revealed Law (found in the teaching of the Church). Christianity opposes any combination of Church and State. But it does mandate that the State create laws that do not conflict with Natural Law or Revealed Law. Natural Law and Revealed Law are presumed to be in harmony. Because of its role as the interpreter of Revealed Law, the Catholic Church exercised enormous influence over Christendom symbolized by papal recognition of each Monarchy. Christendom did not always live up to the principles upon which it was founded. In the 30-Years War (1618 – 1648), an alliance of Lutheran Prussia, Anglican England, Nationalist France, and Islamist Ottoman Empire shattered Christendom by force of arms.
In 1776, the United States became the second nation to be founded on a conception of humankind. Whereas Christendom had built its laws around Revealed Law and Natural Law, the United States discarded Revealed Law (and the need for an authoritative interpretation by a particular Church). The US rather built its lawmaking around Natural Law (“the laws of Nature and of Nature’s God”) and Natural Rights (“that all men have been created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”) This philosophy used to be referred to as Liberalism but is now more accurately described as Populism.
Now, Christendom had a problem with lawmaking. The Church has always taught that not everything contrary to Natural Law (or the moral law) should not be made illegal in Positive Law (human law). Otherwise, every sin ever confessed in a confessional would be liable to prosecution by the State. This would result in a Police State (always opposed by the Church). However, a simple question arises as the result of this guideline.
Which violation of the Natural Law should be made illegal in Positive Law?
There was no answer offered strictly by the principles underlying Christendom. There is no question that as a result Christendom tended at different points to make too many things illegal. For example, the Cathars were prosecuted for heresy when they should have been prosecuted for insurrection. The pagans of Prussia were governed by the “monastic state” of the Teutonic Knights (for their own good). Thus, Christendom lacked a principle that prevented Positive Law from expanding to cover too much of the Natural Law. Furthermore, the Papacy at times used its credibility as the foremost interpreter of Revealed Law to pursue a particular political agenda not mandated by Revealed Law. For people disadvantaged by the Pope’s political agenda, this created a logically unjustified but nevertheless understandable bitterness towards the true Revealed Law itself. This bitterness at times hampered the Church’s primary role of leading people to Heaven.
The principle of Populism resolves these issues.
The principle of Natural Rights restrains the state and provides it with a guideline for what to make illegal (only those things which violate Natural Rights). Populism presumes that Natural Rights and Natural Law have a profound harmony. Catholicism holds that Revealed Law has a profound harmony with Natural Law. Thus, Catholicism can be fully satisfied by the Populism underlying the United States — finding in it a harmony between Natural Rights, Natural Law, and Revealed Law (as interpreted by the Catholic Church).
Furthermore, the Church is in fact more effective if its understanding of Natural Law must be transmitted by evangelization rather than by a formalized mutual recognition by the Church and the Monarchy. The further separation of Church and State that Populism allows permits the Church to focus exclusively on its true role of salvation rather than creating possible confusion through the level of Church participation in the State necessitated by Christendom. The Church can convey timeless principles without the need to get caught up in the particulars over which by its own admission it has no authority.
On the other hand, Populism simply cannot find a justification for Christendom. Christendom was managed primarily by Aristocrats and Monarchs who were not equal before the law with the common people. It is anachronistic to utterly condemn the feudal system because it allowed for a gradual transition from the slavery common during the Roman Empire towards greater liberty. However, this inequality — which can be reconciled to the Catholic Faith since there is a holiness to be found in the roles of Monarchs, Aristocrats, and Commoner — is nevertheless unacceptable to Populists.
Thus, Catholics and Populists can both find satisfaction in the principles underlying the United States. These principles allow for the Church to focus on building the holiness necessary for the City of God. They also allow the State to have the entire Natural Law and Natural Rights framework to more effectively pursue justice in the City of Man.
Has the United States always lived up to the principle of Populism?
No. But neither did Christendom always live up to the principle of Christianity.
But for those committed both to the Catholic faith and the principles of the Declaration of Independence, any nostalgia for a return to Christendom is profoundly misplaced.
The United States is founded on better governing principles. Period.