Muy buenos días a todos, good morning and welcome! 

Dear brothers and sisters,

I am pleased to welcome you on the occasion of the Jubilee dedicated to those who, in various capacities, work in the vast field of justice.  I greet the distinguished authorities present, who have come from many countries, representing various courts, and all of you who daily carry out a necessary service for orderly relations between individuals, communities and states.  I also greet the other pilgrims who have joined this Jubilee!  The Jubilee makes us all pilgrims who, in rediscovering the signs of a hope that does not disappoint, wish “to recover the confident trust that we require, in the Church and in society, in our interpersonal relationships, in international relations, and in our task of promoting the dignity of all persons and respect for God’s gift of creation” (Francis, Spes Non Confundit, 25).

What better occasion than this to reflect more closely on justice and its function, which we know is indispensable both for the orderly development of society and as a cardinal virtue that inspires and guides the conscience of every man and woman.  Justice, in fact, is called to play a higher role in human coexistence, one that cannot be reduced to the mere application of the law or the work of judges, nor limited to procedural aspects.

The biblical expression, “Love justice and hate wickedness” (Ps 45:7), reminds us and encourages us to do good and avoid evil. Indeed, how much wisdom is contained in the maxim, “Give to each his due!” Yet all this does not exhaust the deep desire for justice that is present in each of us, the thirst for justice that is the key instrument for building the common good in every human society. In fact, justice encompasses the dignity of the individual, his or her relationships with others, and the communal dimension of coexistence, with its structures and shared rules. It establishes a circularity of social relations, which places the value of every human being at its core and seeks to preserve that value through justice, especially in the face of conflicts that may arise from individual actions or from a loss of communal awareness that affects institutions and structures.

Tradition teaches us that justice is, first and foremost, a virtue, that is, a firm and stable attitude that orders our conduct according to reason and faith (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1804). The virtue of justice, in particular, consists in the “constant and firm will to give their due to God and neighbor” (ibid., 1807). In this perspective, for the believer, justice calls us “to respect the rights of each and to establish in human relationships the harmony that promotes equity with regard to persons and to the common good” (ibid.). Its aim is to guarantee an order that protects the weak – those who seek justice because they have been oppressed, excluded or ignored.

There are many examples in the Gospels in which human actions are measured by a justice that can overcome the evil of abuse.  For instance, there is the persistence of the widow who urges the judge to recover his sense of justice (cf. Lk 18:1-8).  There is also a higher justice that pays the worker of the last hour as much as the one who works all day (cf. Mt 20:1-16); a justice that makes mercy the key to understanding relationships and leads us to forgiveness, welcoming the son who was lost and has been found (cf. Lk 15:11-32); and even more, a justice that calls us to forgive not seven times, but seventy times seven (cf. Mt 18:21-35). It is this power of forgiveness, intrinsic to the commandment of love, that emerges as a constitutive element of a justice capable of combining the supernatural with the human.

Evangelical justice, therefore, does not take away from human justice, but challenges and refines it. It prompts human justice to go ever further, impelling it towards the pursuit of reconciliation. Evil, in fact, must not only be punished but also repaired, and to this end, it is necessary to look deeply at the well-being of individuals and the common good. This task is arduous, but not impossible for those who, aware of performing a service that is more demanding than others, are committed to leading an irreproachable life.

As we know, justice becomes concrete when it reaches out to others, when each person is given their due, until equality in dignity and opportunity among human beings is achieved. However, we are aware that effective equality is not the same as formal equality before the law.  While formal equality is an indispensable condition for the proper exercise of justice, it does not eliminate the reality of growing discrimination, the primary effect of which is precisely the lack of access to justice. True equality, on the other hand, is the possibility given to all to realize their aspirations and to have the rights inherent in their dignity guaranteed by a system of common and shared values – values capable of inspiring the norms and laws on which the functioning of institutions is based.

Today, what compels those involved in the administration of justice is precisely the search for – or recovery of – the values that have been forgotten in our shared life together, as well as their care and respect. This is a useful and necessary process in the face of the emergence of behaviors and strategies that show contempt for human life from its very beginning, deny basic rights essential to personal existence, and fail to respect the conscience from which freedoms flow.  It is precisely through the values that underpin social life that justice assumes its central role in the coexistence of individuals and human communities. As Saint Augustine wrote: “Justice is not such if it is not at the same time prudent, strong and temperate” (Letters 167, 2, 5). This requires the ability to think always in the light of truth and wisdom, to interpret the law profoundly – beyond its purely formal dimension – in order to grasp the deeper meaning of the truth we serve. Striving towards justice, therefore, demands the capacity to love it as a reality that can only be attained through constant attentiveness, radical selflessness and persistent discernment.  When justice is exercised, one places oneself at the service of individuals, society and the state, with full and unwavering dedication. The greatness of justice does not diminish when it is applied to small matters, but it always emerges when exercised with fidelity to the law and with respect for the person, wherever in the world they may be (cf. Saint Augustine, De Doctrina Christiana IV, 18, 35).

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Mt 5:6).  With this beatitude, the Lord Jesus expresses the spiritual tension to which we must be open – not only to obtain true justice, but above all to seek it, especially on the part of those called to accomplish it in different historical circumstances. To “hunger and thirst” for justice means recognizing that it demands personal effort to interpret the law in the most humane way possible. But, above all, it calls for striving toward a “satisfaction” that can only be attained in a greater justice that transcends particular situations.

Dear friends, the Jubilee invites us to reflect also on an aspect of justice that is often overlooked: the reality of so many countries and peoples who “hunger and thirst for justice” because their living conditions are so inequitable and inhuman as to be unacceptable. To the current international landscape, therefore, should be applied the following ever-valid pronouncements: “Without justice, the state cannot be administered; it is impossible to have law in a state where there is no true justice.  An act performed according to law is certainly performed according to justice, and it is impossible for an act to be truly lawful if it is carried out against justice… A state without justice is not a state. Justice is, in fact, the virtue that gives to each person what is due to them. Therefore, it is not true justice that separates humanity from the true God” (Saint Augustine, De Civitate Dei, XIX, 21, 1). May these demanding words of Saint Augustine inspire each of us to express the exercise of justice as a service of the people, to the best of our ability, always with our gaze turned toward God, so as to fully respect justice, law and the dignity of every person.

With this hope, I thank and bless each of you, your families and your work.

Source: vatican.va