Vatican Condemns Racism, Singles Out S. Africa

In a major policy study ordered by Pope John Paul II, the Roman Catholic Church on Friday condemned racism as “a wound in humanity’s side that mysteriously remains open.”

The 16,000-word document, prepared by the Pontifical Justice and Peace Commission, singles out South Africa as the worst example of institutionalized racism and suggests that the policy of strict racial separation there might be effectively combatted with international sanctions.

“Racism and racist acts must be condemned,” the commission says in the document, which is titled “The Church and Racism: Towards a More Fraternal Society.” It says that “the application of legislative, disciplinary and administrative measures, or even appropriate external pressure, can be timely.”

Calling anti-Semitism “the most tragic form that racist ideology has assumed in our century,” the commission laments its survival even after the Holocaust.

“As if some had nothing to learn from the crimes of the past, certain organizations, with branches in many countries, keep alive the anti-Semitic racist myth, with the support of networks of publications,” it says.

Presenting the document, Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, president of the Vatican commission that deals with social issues, called it “magisterial.” It does not carry the Pope’s signature, but John Paul ordered the study and approved its conclusions as an official statement to be used as a teaching instrument, Etchegaray said.

The church, the document says, “wants first and foremost to change racist attitudes, including those within her own communities.”

The document outlines historic and contemporary kinds of racism, noting current discrimination in some countries against aboriginal peoples, refugees, ethnic minorities and foreign workers. All forms of racism, it warns, are “a sin against the specific message of Christ.”

“All racist theories are contrary to Christian faith and love,” the document says. “And yet, in sharp contrast to this growing awareness of human dignity, racism still exists, and reappears in different forms. It is a wound in humanity’s side that mysteriously remains open.”

It warns that new forms of racism may emerge as a result of such technologies as in-vitro fertilization and genetic engineering.

“It is important that laws determine as soon as possible the limits which must not be surpassed so that such ‘techniques’ will not fall into the hands of abusive and irresponsible powers who might seek to ‘produce’ human beings selected according to racial criteria or any other characteristic,” the commission says.

The document mentions a number of countries by name and others indirectly. Without identifying the Soviet Union directly, it notes that “some countries impose undue harassments and restrictions on the free emigration of Jews.”

The study also complains about “some predominantly Muslim states” where nonbelievers are subjected to the strict religious laws as the majority of the population. In addition, the document derides instances in which “entire populations are kept uprooted, as refugees, from the country where they had legitimately settled.”

A footnote observes that the Pope “has often recalled that the Palestinian people have the right to a country, as do the Jewish people.”

The document mentions the United States by name in a section noting how bishops in different countries have fought against racism. Despite progress toward racial equality in the United States, the document says, “much still remains to be done to eliminate completely racial prejudice and behavior, even in what can be considered one of the most interracial nations of the world.”