Let us not think that it is an advantage for a Catholic to be apolitical. An interest in politics should simply be an interest in one of the most influential aspects of modern human life. Those who lack this interest, who even boast that they do not have it, are not true Christians. They have not understood the words "I have compassion for the crowd."
Decisions about the borders of countries, and thus about the separation, division, or union of hundreds of thousands of individuals, about the movement and displacement of populations, which often mean everything, even bare physical life, about the prices of bread and working hours, about schools and their organization, and about so many other things are made in politics. How strange we would have to be if we were not interested in all of this. An interest in who does these things, how they do it, and according to what principles they do it. We should also have the desire to participate in their making. Therefore, a fondness for dictators is just another form of selfishly shifting responsibility, a longing for rotten peace, in which there is nothing Christian.
I cannot preach the need for justice, love, and humanity and at the same time be indifferent to the actions of politicians who, through their injustice, destroy thousands of lives and thousands of human existences. I cannot help it, but no one will convince me that today, when the outcome of Tiso's trial is eagerly awaited in Slovakia, the most useful and most apostolic work is being done, for example, by someone giving a lecture on baroque architectural monuments of the 17th century, or on whether the inserted prayer is normally accessible to all Christians or only to a select few. These are also beautiful topics for lectures, but under the given circumstances, they do not take priority. And therefore, I will serve my brothers best not by remaining silent about what might cause offense, but by continually and patiently showing how all daily events hang on the eternal.
(Adolf Kajpr SJ /1902–1959/;
excerpt from the article Is it better to be apolitical?, published in "Katolik", April 20, 1947;
quoted according to the book Presence is God's own time. Refugium 2021)
