Building a civilization of love against a culture of power
In his encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo XIV criticizes the culture of power that undergirds the problem of war and the development of advanced weaponry.
As he puts it, “In our time, a culture of power is taking hold, in which the availability of resources and the ability to dominate tend to dictate the agenda and criteria for decision-making. In this way, the common good of humanity is relegated to the background and the concrete tragedy of peoples at war is reduced to a secondary consideration in relation to strategic interests” (MH 188).
The Pope further notes that this “culture of power infiltrates society, changes relationships and behaviors, and grows by normalizing war, pursuing ever-greater military power, taking advantage of the crisis of multilateralism and fueling a false realism that insists that there is no alternative” (MH 188).
The culture of power that Pope Leo speaks of is evident in the US-Israel war against Iran, where the former’s operative mindset is “Might is right.” This culture is also evident in the ongoing genocide in Gaza, where Israel has pursued its “strategic interests” without due regard for Gaza’s civilian population.
Regrettably, Israel seems to have forgotten what it means to lack a homeland. It appears to be treating the Palestinians like the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites – the peoples driven out of the Promised Land in the book of Joshua.
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Not surprisingly, the culture of power is also present in economic relationships between countries, where industrialized nations strive to dominate developing ones. For example, US President Donald Trump decided to unilaterally impose unreasonable tariffs on US trading partners.
The leaders of less powerful nations had to, so to speak, bend the knee to Trump to secure favorable tariff rates for their countries. The Make America Great Again movement, initiated by Trump, is nothing but another form of imperialism that does not consider the common good.
The culture of power is also one that simply extracts nature’s resources without regard for ecological integrity. Humankind has the power to dominate nature and use it for human interests.
In other words, the culture of power that the Pope speaks about is one in which powerful nations dominate less powerful ones. The power is a desire to control other people’s way of thinking, feeling and acting.
It focuses solely on the needs and wants of the powerful, without regard for others’ needs. It belittles those who dissent or are different and demonizes its perceived enemies. It is neo-colonization, one in which geographic boundaries don’t really matter.
This culture of power is not only evident in the geopolitical order, the military-industrial complex, the neoliberal economic system, and the callous disregard for the environment. Its seeds actually begin in interpersonal relationships.
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We need to remember that love itself is a power. It is a power that seeks God’s will above all, enables one to sacrifice oneself for others, and forgives seven times seven, even if the one forgiven is unworthy.
It is evident in people who, consciously or unconsciously, want to dominate and control others, don’t respect others’ autonomy to decide and act for themselves, and act as if their ideas or way of thinking is always superior to others.
In contrast to the culture of power, Pope Leo calls on peoples to build a civilization of love. For him, grace “inspires active resistance to evil and an astonishing creativity in doing good.”
He adds, “Christians see the darkness and acknowledge it for what it is, yet they do not merely gaze upon it passively, for they know the light and understand that the darkness has not overcome it and cannot defeat it (cf. Jn 1:5).For this reason, even when suffering seems to have the last word, Christians serve the good and are sustained by a theological hope that gives reality both meaning and direction” (MH 211).
For Pope Leo, to build the civilization of love, we are called to be like Nehemiah, who didn’t impose solutions from above and “listened to people’s concerns, coordinated their efforts and addressed any opposition” (MH 8).
We build our civilization of love “through the shared responsibility of all: men, women, priests, artisans, heads of households and young people all play a part. It is an undertaking with God at the center, which rebuilds relationships before rebuilding with stones” (MH 8).
Our common language is “not one of uniformity, but one of communion, namely the harmony that arises when all persons assume their own role and recognize that their strength comes from the Lord” (MH 8).
We need to remember that love itself is a power. It is a power that seeks God’s will above all, enables one to sacrifice oneself for others, and forgives seven times seven, even if the one forgiven is unworthy; a power that sees, hears, and responds to the cries of the poor, the oppressed, and the earth; a power that seeks the flourishing of all and impels one to work for the common good; a power that empowers others; a power that places the good of persons above all else; and a power that is not afraid to be vulnerable, broken, and shared in order to give life.
This power of love is unintelligible to those who don’t know what it means to love. It is impractical to those who see the world through a technocratic paradigm in which “the logic of efficiency, control and profit alone shape personal, social and economic decisions” (MH 92).
It is dismissed as useless sentimentality, an obstacle to progress. Yet it is precisely this power that led Jesus to proclaim the Kingdom, choose the Cross, and rise again in the Resurrection, thereby giving life to all.
We are deeply and infinitely loved by God and given the grace to build a civilization of love.
The task won’t be easy, for we will be swimming against the tide in a world dominated by the culture of power and the technocratic mindset. Our hope lies in Jesus, who tells us not to be afraid, has conquered death, and assures us of his constant presence in his Spirit as we, like Nehemiah, journey to build the city of God.
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