Vatican City - Justice, in the Christian perspective, is not merely the application of rules and procedures. It is a virtue born of the order of love, one that helps to build the unity of the community. This is the interpretative key offered by Pope Leo XIV in the address he delivered this morning in the Hall of Benediction on the occasion of the opening of the Judicial Year of the Vatican City State Tribunal. It is the first address of this pontificate to the justice bodies of the tiny microstate, which in recent years has been at the centre of numerous critical issues, owing in part to Leo XIV’s predecessor and to the people with whom he surrounded himself.
In the Hall of Benediction, the Pontiff met members of the State’s Judicial Authority - magistrates, lawyers, officials and collaborators - in the presence also of several representatives of the Italian judicial bodies. For this reason, Leo XIV’s address, among the most significant delivered in this field over the past thirty years, cannot be read as being directed only to the small Vatican legal system. His words also speak directly to the Italian judiciary, which for months has occupied television studios and public debate far more than it has proved itself able to do in offices and courtrooms. And in the background there remains one fact that cannot be forgotten: for years the Italian judiciary has been weighed down by serious phenomena of corruption, together with structural inefficiencies that continue to undermine the credibility of justice.
Leo XIV opens his address by pointing precisely to the style with which this service ought to be exercised: in a “discreet and silent” manner. The Pope thanked those who work in the administration of justice, recalling the value of a task that is decisive not only for the proper functioning of institutions, but also for the very credibility of the State’s legal order.
Justice beyond positive law
The Pope immediately identified a central point of his address: justice cannot be reduced to the technical categories of positive law alone. In a reality such as the Vatican, which exists to guarantee the freedom and independence of the mission of the Holy See, the administration of justice also possesses an ecclesial and spiritual dimension. These are all matters that, in recent years, some had forgotten, placing within the State, in key roles, not only people who were unprepared but also people far removed from the practice of the faith.
To explain this link, Leo XIV drew on the Church’s theological tradition. Quoting Saint Augustine, he recalled that the order of society arises from the “order of love” - ordinata dilectio est iustitia. When God is placed at the centre and the dignity of the other person is recognised, social life too finds its proper orientation. Justice, therefore, is not an abstract principle: it is born of the truth of relationships and of the recognition of the dignity of every person.
“To give each person what is due to them”
In his address, the Pope then recalled one of the most classic definitions of justice, formulated by Saint Thomas Aquinas on the basis of Roman law: justice is the “constant and perpetual will to give to each person what is due to them”. This definition, the Pontiff explained, highlights the stable and objective nature of justice. It does not depend on passing interests or balances of power, but is rooted in the truth of the person and in the pursuit of the common good. In this perspective, justice becomes one of the fundamental conditions for the life of the community: it guarantees balance in relationships and builds trust between people.
The relationship between justice and charity
Another significant passage in the address concerns the relationship between justice and charity, two dimensions which, in the Christian tradition, do not stand in opposition but complete one another. Theology has expressed this relationship with a paradoxical affirmation: “perfect charity is perfect justice”. This means that charity does not replace justice, but brings it to fulfilment. According to Leo XIV, where true justice is lacking, there can be no authentic law either. Law is born, in fact, from the recognition of the truth of being and of the dignity of every person. Only when relationships are ordered according to truth does that communion become possible which is the highest fruit of love.
The trial as a place of truth
The Pope then offered a reflection on the meaning of the judicial process. In a purely technical view, the trial is the space in which opposing claims confront one another. In the perspective indicated by the Pontiff, instead, it becomes an ordered place in which conflict can be brought back within a horizon of truth and justice. Through the regulated exchange between the parties and the impartial intervention of the judge, disagreement is not denied but recomposed within a framework of shared rules. For this reason, Leo XIV underlined the importance of procedural safeguards, the impartiality of the judge, the effectiveness of the right of defence and the reasonable duration of proceedings. These are not mere technical instruments: they are the conditions that make the exercise of jurisdiction credible and strengthen the stability of institutions.
Justice and the mission of the Pope
In the context of Vatican City State, this function assumes a particular significance. The State, in fact, exists to guarantee the independence of the Holy See in the international sphere, as the Lateran Treaty recalls. The administration of justice therefore contributes not only to safeguarding the internal legal order, but also to the credibility of ecclesial institutions and to the protection of that unity which is an essential element of the life of the Church.
A juridical and spiritual service
In the final part of the address, the Pontiff defined the work of Vatican magistrates as a service that is at once institutional and ecclesial. Broadening his gaze beyond the Leonine walls, the Pope recalled that the exercise of justice in the Church cannot be limited to the technical application of the rule. It also requires wisdom, balance and a search for truth in charity. Every trial and every decision must reflect this tension towards truth that lies at the heart of ecclesial life. When justice is exercised with integrity, Leo XIV concluded, it becomes a factor of stability and generates trust in society. Law, applied with rectitude and an ecclesial spirit, thus becomes an instrument capable of building communion and strengthening the unity of the People of God. In essence, Leo XIV reminded Vatican magistrates, and indirectly Italian ones too, that justice is not administered because “you know the right person”, or because “an acquaintance asked me to intervene”, or because “that person has good connections, so they are useful to me and I will help them”. Justice is exercised according to clear principles, founded on truth and not on belonging, convenience or personal relationships. The Pope also made it very clear that the magistrate is the one who applies the law; not the one who fights in television talk shows to obtain advantages in his own cases or to defend a corporation. The magistrate applies the laws, does not write them, and carries out his task in a silent and discreet way.
There is also a passage that speaks to those who report on justice. One cannot recount only what is convenient because the defendant is a friend or, on the contrary, an enemy. The criterion must always remain the search for truth, according to parameters of objectivity. Only in this way is credibility preserved. Leo XIV’s was therefore a very clear address, one that reminded those present that in the Church the law is not aimed at striking people down, but is also something ecclesial. For the Italian judiciary, in all likelihood, nothing will change: over the coming days we shall continue to see magistrates defending falsehoods on television and in the newspapers, bending everything to partisan battles, with the referendum in view. All of this, obviously, because the caste closes ranks and woe betide anyone who touches it. Just imagine if priests and bishops had done something of the kind, fighting against a Council. All hell would have broken loose.
On the Vatican side, however, the question remains open: will those who occupy certain roles feel the weight of conscience to the point of understanding that it is time to step aside? Because the season of fantasy law used to strike at enemies, at least in the Pope’s intention, is over.
fr.V.B.
Silere non possum