Nomen antistitis : Carolus

Abstract

A bishop’s mandate derives from Christ through his Vicar on Earth, but then is launched into secular history, whilst retaining, essentially and mainly, a spiritual relevance. His, that is Christ’s kingdom was, and is by definition, not of this world. The Gospels are historical and the events narrated occurred in a certain place, at a certain time. The message contains precepts of great ethical value, but the main thrust is towards Love. Ethics and their human formulation in Law are a vital part of the development of history, but men are moved by a mixture of reason and emotion, and whilst reason governs law and law-making, emotion and the passions move men and women to action or to passivity, at times with no evident reference to reason. Law, with its grounding in human reason, has a background in the actual world of human lives. Law is objective; men are very subjective. It is the task of Law to regulate objectively the subjectivity in human action.