Given the long history of papal encyclicals, it was not that long ago that they used to argue against the separation of church and state. The one issued in 1832 attributed the desire ?to break the mutual concord between temporal authority and the priesthood? to ?shameless lovers of liberty?. The latest one, issued after a gap of 18 years, shows how the ground has shifted in the intervening years. Published on the eve of world leaders? meeting in L?Aquila, it says that neither does the church have technical solutions to offer nor does it claim to interfere in any way in the politics of states. But in taking the global economic crisis head-on, that too in the classical language of charity and truth, one suspects that the intervening years may not have been quite as transformative as it first appears. In this effort, the Pope is keeping company with religious leaders ranging from the Dalai Lama to the Grand Mufti of Egypt, from the Patriarch Kyrill of Moscow to Swami Ramdev (it?s hard to identify the Pope?s equivalent in the polytheistic universe of the Hindus). From globalisation to outsourcing, development aid to hedge funds, terrorism to family values, their ?sermons? very much seek to shape the politics of states today. Sometimes, their efforts are genuinely trailblazing?such as the Grand Mufti?s initiative to make the institution he heads carbon-neutral. But more often they show nary an expertise and plenty of contradictions to boot.
Take the Pope?s ?considered? reflections in response to the ongoing economic crisis, where we really see the encyclical trying to catch up with changing times, and abysmally failing to do so because of its failure to abandon the baggage of the past. So, globalisation is welcomed for opening up an unprecedented redistribution of wealth. But it is also feared as a force that could cause unprecedented damage to the human family. Migrants are celebrated for their significant contributions to the economic development of both the host country and the country of origin. But the spread of businesses across geographic boundaries via outsourcing, for example, is linked to a weakening morality of investment, a weakening of business responsibility towards workers, suppliers, consumers, the natural environment and broader society. Finally, ?the simple application of commercial logic? is seen as completely inadequate to address the present crisis, with ?man?s darkened reason? turning economy and finance into sinister, shadowy instruments. These strains of Mephistopheles remind us why, some appearances to the contrary, pushing for the separation of church and state, or broadly, religion and public policy, is still important.