When National Sovereignty Is Not An Absolute Right

Read the following as it is: neither sovereignty, nor private property, nor even the right to life are, per se, absolute rights (which is why, in the event of a catastrophe, private property becomes common property, and one can kill in a just war or in self-defense). And that is why sovereignty can be lost, just as a bad father loses parental authority. 
 

Sovereignty is instrumental, not absolute, for it exists to serve the just order, not to impede it. Otherwise, anarchy ensues and, therefore, tyranny, because St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that the political community exists to guarantee order and peace (De Regno, I, 1). 
 

The purpose of government is to ensure peace and orderly unity: the common good. When that purpose disappears, the absence of effective authority causes the body politic to become morally ill and sovereignty to become relative. Many today are dogmatic in their opinions, forgetting the principles, which are not those of the UN, but rather those of the most fundamental natural law analyzed by Thomas Aquinas and the School of Salamanca. This is not mathematics, so there are no certainties of that kind, only possibilities or probabilities (technically, opinions, given the inconclusive nature of the case).
 

It is analogous (a-na-lo-gos, not equal) to the conquest of America. I repeat: analogous (in some ways equal, in some ways different). Because if not, what right did Spain have to invade America? Beyond the Bulls of Pope Alexander and the papal donation, the School of Salamanca, led by theologian Francisco de Vitoria (to be precise, the father of public international law!), decided that Spain had a certain natural right to conquest, even if the cannibalistic and demonic sovereigns of the Americas did not want it.
 

You might say, “But Trump and Melania are not Ferdinand and Isabella, and Maduro is not Montezuma!” And that's true, but actions are analyzed in light of principles, not based on the people who carry them out.
 

At the level of principles (principles, not petrodollars, Zionism, or Monroe Doctrines$), facts may be analyzed (“may be considered,” since it is not dogma, I repeat) based on what the School of Salamanca proposed in the 16th century regarding the “just titles” that Spain had to invade America. 
 

Spain, according to Vitoria, had the right to invade America, among other things because:
 

1. Natural society and communication of goods

“The Spanish have the right to travel through the territories of the Indians and to remain there, as long as they do not cause harm to the barbarians, and the latter cannot prohibit them from doing so.”
 

2. Due to the tyranny of the rulers

The Spanish may intervene on behalf of the local people “in the face of harm to the innocent, such as when the sacrifice of men or the killing of innocent men for the purpose of devouring them is ordered.”
 

3. The true and free choice of citizens 

“If the barbarians themselves, understanding the prudent administration of the Spanish, freely wished—both princes and subjects—to have and receive the King of Spain as their sovereign, this could be and would be a legitimate title and even a natural right.”

4. The reason for allies and friends that allows an invasion 

“Sometimes the barbarians themselves wage war against each other legitimately, and the party that suffered injustice and has the right to declare war can call on the Spaniards for help and share the spoils of victory with them.”
 

This topic was discussed in my book Que no te la cuenten 1. La falsificación de la historia (Don't Let Them Tell You 1. The Falsification of History), Chapter VII.
 

All this, unless there is a better opinion, and with no intention of excommunication 😇.
 

Let us pray, then, as Pope Leo XIV requested, for peace in Venezuela, because, “The good of the beloved Venezuelan people must prevail over every other consideration. This must lead to the overcoming of violence, and to the pursuit of paths of justice and peace, guaranteeing the sovereignty of the country” —  a sovereignty that will be regained once the tyrants fall for once and for all, with or without outside help. 

Fr. Javier Olivera Ravasi is Catholic priest who works in the Diocese of San Francisco, California. He writes at QueNoTeLaCuenten.