I find the remark by Erik von Kuenhelt-Leddihn (see post below) that the Church looks at man as being stupid rather than wicked a very impressive observation. I could not agree more with it because four centuries after the Reformation and two and a half centuries after the French Revolution men in Catholic countries continue to look at other men - in modern language, their fellow-citizens - as being stupid rather than wicked
What the prime-minister did recently on board of a plane was clearly an act of stupidity for which he has already apologized and all of us, from the bottom of our hearts, have already pardoned him ("O homem apeteceu-lhe fumar um cigarro, pá, que mal é que isso tem?"). Certainly, in our eyes, his smoking on board of plane was not a sin - the sin of granting himself a privilege which, according to laws he is supposed to be the chief endorser in the country, cannot be granted to anybody.
If what he did were considered a sin in our eyes, he would already have been forced to resign on the grounds that he is clearly unfit to uphold the laws of the Nation - and this would most likely be his fate in any Western, non-Catholic country.
After the chief of ASAE, who violated the law banning smoking in restaurants the very first hour it went into effect, it is now the prime-minister who violates the law prohibiting smoking in airplanes - and nothing really happens. (I fear that this episode will be reported in some British press in the days ahead and the readers will condescendingly smile on us). Words - not any action - is the only consequence. (Actually this is another characteristic of Catholic culture: words are more important than action).
Like the Church, I strongly believe that men are rather stupid than wicked, thanks God. Whose men? All of us - the populaça -, in the sense that we grant to ourselves a lower status than to those who are in power in this mostly Catholic country.
What the prime-minister did recently on board of a plane was clearly an act of stupidity for which he has already apologized and all of us, from the bottom of our hearts, have already pardoned him ("O homem apeteceu-lhe fumar um cigarro, pá, que mal é que isso tem?"). Certainly, in our eyes, his smoking on board of plane was not a sin - the sin of granting himself a privilege which, according to laws he is supposed to be the chief endorser in the country, cannot be granted to anybody.
If what he did were considered a sin in our eyes, he would already have been forced to resign on the grounds that he is clearly unfit to uphold the laws of the Nation - and this would most likely be his fate in any Western, non-Catholic country.
After the chief of ASAE, who violated the law banning smoking in restaurants the very first hour it went into effect, it is now the prime-minister who violates the law prohibiting smoking in airplanes - and nothing really happens. (I fear that this episode will be reported in some British press in the days ahead and the readers will condescendingly smile on us). Words - not any action - is the only consequence. (Actually this is another characteristic of Catholic culture: words are more important than action).
Like the Church, I strongly believe that men are rather stupid than wicked, thanks God. Whose men? All of us - the populaça -, in the sense that we grant to ourselves a lower status than to those who are in power in this mostly Catholic country.
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