A book by Professor Libero Gerosa Diritti e popoli in Giovanni Paolo II. Principi fondamentali e prospettive future, has been published in 2013 by Europress of Lugano and Marcianum Press of Venice in collaboration with the John Paul II Pontificate Centre for Research and Documentation in Rome. The author is a professor of Canon law at the Faculty of Theology in Lugano and the director of the Institute of Canon Law and the Comparative Law of Religion (DiReCom).
The publication consists of three studies related to the teaching of John Paul II. The first study states that the new hermeneutics of Canon law can be found in the magisterium of the Pope. Professor Gerosa explains the main principles of this hermeneutics. In the second study the author shows the relationship between human rights and the rights of the nations. This relationship should be developed in international politics to guard the identity of nations. In the third study the author discusses the problems of the secular character of the State and the public nature of religion, showing prospects of significant legislative changes to be made in the understanding of the relationship between the State and the Church.
Studies are preceded by an introduction of Professor Brian E. Ferme, who emphasizes that the relationship between justice and law was one of the central topics of the teaching of John Paul II. The law in the Church is for preserving justice that is rooted in God and in the human dignity. In the afterword Professor G. Weigel points out that for John Paul II moral culture is crucial for the proper development of democracy and the free market. The Church in the twenty-first century forms the moral culture teaching about the objective moral law inscribed in human nature. She forms it by her testimony given to the Gospel for the increasing of common good in a pluralistic society. Professor Weigel calls Pope John Paul II “one of the most original political thinkers of modern times.”
The book presents another interesting perspective of John Paul II’s teaching on current legal and socio-political issues.