Roberto de Mattei
Corrispondenza Romana
August 21, 2019
All attention in Italy at the
moment is focussed on the political crisis. Yet there is another much graver
and vaster crisis, which constitutes the background for the political crisis:
the religious and moral crisis of the West. The political crisis is visible; it
enters our homes through the mass-media and even a distracted eye or ear perceives
it. The religious and moral crisis can be perceived only by those who have a
developed, spiritual sensitivity. Those immersed in the materialism of modern
life, have a refined capacity in appreciating the pleasures of the senses, but
are spiritually darkened, if not completely blinded. The religious and moral
crisis is a crisis that happens when man loses sight of his ultimate end and
the criteria that must guide his actions. A society that is immersed in
agnosticism, dissolves and dies.
In Italy, for example, the government crisis has made
us forget an important date. A hearing is scheduled for September 24th
with the Constitutional Court, to judge the legitimacy of Article 580 of the
Penal Code, which punishes the crime of instigating or aiding suicide. The
highest juridical authority of the Italian State invited Parliament to promulgate
a new law before this date, otherwise it will be the Court itself that will
determine the route to take. But the Court has already affirmed that in certain
cases, suicide may be permitted (and thus “assisted” on the medical and
administrative level) given that: “the
absolute prohibition of assisted suicide ends up, in limiting the sick person’s
freedom of self-determination, in his choice of treatment, including that aimed
at liberating him from suffering.” (Ordinance n.2017 of November 16th, 2019). The
self-determination of the individual is the supreme rule of a society which
ignores the existence of a moral law written in the heart of every man and to
which men and societies must comply if they want to avoid self-destruction.
