The centrality of the human person and the natural inclination of persons and peoples to establish relationships among themselves are the fundamental elements for building a true international community, the ordering of which must aim at guaranteeing the effective universal common good.880Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1911. Despite the widespread aspiration to build an authentic international community, the unity of the human family is not yet becoming a reality. This is due to obstacles originating in materialistic and nationalistic ideologies that contradict the values of the person integrally considered in all his various dimensions, material and spiritual, individual and community. In particular, any theory or form whatsoever of racism and racial discrimination is morally unacceptable.881Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Declaration Nostra Aetate, 5: AAS 58 (1966), 743-744; John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris: AAS 55 (1963), 268, 281; Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio, 63: AAS 59 (1967), 288; Paul VI, Apostolic Letter Octogesima Adveniens, 16: AAS 63 (1971), 413; Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, The Church and Racism. Contribution of the Holy See to the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, Vatican Press, Vatican City 2001. The coexistence among nations is based on the same values that should guide relations among human beings: truth, justice, active solidarity and freedom.882Cf. John XXIII, Encylical Letter Pacem in Terris: AAS 55 (1963), 279-280. The Church's teaching, with regard to the constitutive principles of the international community, requires that relations among peoples and political communities be justly regulated according to the principles of reason, equity, law and negotiation, excluding recourse to violence and war, as well as to forms of discrimination, intimidation and deceit.883Cf. Paul VI, Address to the United Nations (4 October 1965), 2: AAS 57 (1965), 879-880.
International law becomes the guarantor of the international order,884Cf. Pius XII, Encyclical Letter Summi Pontificatus, 29: AAS 31 (1939), 438-439. that is of coexistence among political communities that seek individually to promote the common good of their citizens and strive collectively to guarantee that of all peoples,885Cf. John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris: AAS 55 (1963), 292; John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 52: AAS 83 (1991), 857-858. aware that the common good of a nation cannot be separated from the good of the entire human family.886Cf. John XXIII, Encyclical Letter in Pacem in Terris: AAS 55 (1963), 284. The international community is a juridical community founded on the sovereignty of each member State, without bonds of subordination that deny or limit its independence.887Cf. Pius XII, Christmas Radio Message on a Just International Peace (24 December 1939), 5: AAS 32 (1940), 9-11; Pius XII, Address to Catholic Jurists on the Community of States and of Peoples (6 December 1953), 2: AAS 45 (1953), 395- 396; John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris: AAS 55 (1963), 289. Understanding the international community in this way does not in any way mean relativizing or destroying the different and distinctive characteristics of each people, but encourages their expression.888Cf. John Paul II, Address to the Fiftieth General Assembly of the United Nations (5 October 1995), 9-10: L'Osservatore Romano, English edition, 11 October 1995, p. 9. Valuing these different identities helps to overcome various forms of division that tend to separate peoples and fill them with a self-centredness that has destabilizing effects.
The Magisterium recognizes the importance of national sovereignty, understood above all as an expression of the freedom that must govern relations between States.889Cf. John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris: AAS 55 (1963), 289-290; John Paul II, Address to the Fiftieth General Assembly of the United Nations(5 October 1995), 15: L'Osservatore Romano, English edition, 11 October 1995, p. 10. Sovereignty represents the subjectivity 890Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 15: AAS 80 (1988), 528-530. of a nation, in the political, economic, social and even cultural sense. The cultural dimension takes on particular importance as a source of strength in resisting acts of aggression or forms of domination that have repercussions on a country's freedom. Culture constitutes the guarantee for the preservation of the identity of a people and expresses and promotes its spiritual sovereignty.891Cf. John Paul II, Address to UNESCO (2 June 1980), 14: L'Osservatore Romano, English edition, 23 June 1980, p. 11. National sovereignty is not, however, absolute. Nations can freely renounce the exercise of some of their rights in view of a common goal, in the awareness that they form a “family of nations” 892John Paul II, Address to the Fiftieth General Assembly of the United Nations (5 October 1995), 14: L'Osservatore Romano, English edition, 11 October 1995, p. 10; cf. also John Paul II, Address to the Diplomatic Corps (13 January 2001), 8: L'Osservatore Romano, English edition, 17 January 2001, p. 2. where mutual trust, support and respect must prevail. In this perspective, special attention should be given to the fact that there is still no international agreement that adequately addresses “the rights of nations”,893John Paul II, Address to the Fiftieth General Assembly of the United Nations (5 October 1995), 6: L'Osservatore Romano, English edition, 11 October 1995, p. 8. the preparation of which could profitably deal with questions concerning justice and freedom in today's world.