The Catholic Church and the Global Shift of Power

Abstract

In the international relations surfaces again the old dialectical opposition between “Regna” (Kingdoms) and “Imperium” (Empire), between national and sub-national political identities and world and transnational political collective identities.

The truth of the matter is that in the restructuring of the global balance the traditional dichotomy of center-periphery is blurring. This is true for the international economy and for world politics, but it is also valid for the Catholic Church, challenged with the extra-European distribution of the Catholics and their presence in critical areas of the globe (as it happens in Middle East). The Church will have to deal with a deep geopolitical and “geo-ecclesial” reconfiguration.