Mattarella, democracy is not violating minority rights
“Democracy is not limited to its operating rules, while the definition and respect of the “rules of the game” remain essential. Because – as Norberto Bobbio recalled – the minimum conditions of democracy are demanding: generality and equality of the right to vote, its freedom, alternative proposals, irrepressible role of elected assemblies and, last but not least, limits to the decisions of the majority, in the sense that they cannot violate the rights of minorities and prevent them from becoming, in turn, majorities”. This was stated by President Sergio Mattarella speaking at the Catholic Social Week in Italy.
The president continued by stating: “Tosato contested Rousseau’s assumption, according to which the general will could not find limits of any kind in the laws, because the popular will could change any norm or rule. He did so with very clear words: ‘We all know by now that the presumed general will is in reality nothing but the will of a majority and that the will of a majority, which considers itself representative of the will of all the people, can be, as has often been demonstrated, more unjust and more oppressive than the will of a prince.’ A firm no, therefore, to state absolutism, to an authority without limits, potentially domineering. Awareness of limits is an essential factor of loyal and indispensable democratic vitality”. The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, said this in his speech at the 50th Social Week of Catholics in Italy currently underway in Trieste.
Zuppi: “Danger of populism, it can deprive us of democracy”
“The Encyclical Fratelli tutti offers us a concrete, possible, attractive, shared horizon. A single people. Therefore, we look with concern at the danger of populisms that, if we do not remember the past, can deprive us of democracy or weaken it!”. Thus Cardinal Matteo Zuppi during the opening ceremony of the Social Week of Italian Catholics, in Trieste. “Participation, the heart of our Constitution, allows and requires the human flourishing of individuals and society, increases the sense of belonging, teaches us to have a heart that beats with others, despite our differences”, he stated.
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