A THEORY OF TRANSNATIONAL AUTHORITY : Analysis of Holy See Discourse in the United Nations

This study proposes that the present religious institution of the Holy See—part sovereign state, part universal moral actor—operates in an authority association with the United Nations, whose international legal authority is founded in the UN Charter. Transnational legal theory, history and discourse analysis are used to analyse modern documents from UN and Vatican archives concerning the Holy See’s UN authority activity. The evidence demonstrates that the Holy See has acquired recognition as a universal voice of moral authority in the global forum, acting as mouth-piece of the divine. This present-day authority is rooted in the ancient cultivation of spiritual-temporal authority partnerships that ruled over the known empire, and the ability of the Holy See to successfully assert moral preeminence over such political rulers in order to protect humanity, and ultimately, retain power. The Holy See’s acquired UN authority is thus indispensably reliant upon ancient religious primacy dogma that directs the Roman pope to operate as moral guide over governance authority on behalf of the 'common good', which has proved to be an effective mechanism to secure influence. Documents reflect these same patterns and objectives, this time in association with the authority of the UN with whom it shares a consonant humanitarian mandate. In the present era of globalization and the weakening of sovereign borders, a conclusion is that the religious institution regards UN engagement as an opportunity for the restoration of the broad jurisdictional power that popes once exercised with empire throughout the era of Christendom. The papacy envisions the UN as a promising forum for the establishment of a universal public authority to which it dispenses preeminent moral directives. The second theme of this research offers a conceptual contribution to the knowledge on authority theorization. Analysis of the Holy See’s discourse required a review of scholarship on authority’s cultivation. The magnitude and complexity of descriptions concerning authority prompted the formation of a novel classification system for identifying authority’s characteristics, referred to as the SQN theory of authority, which is reflected in a simple algebraic equation. This hypothetical approach to authority theory, which labels an essential authority characteristic and untangles confusing terminology, suggests a fresh perspective for assessing authority’s ability to command compliance. The research demonstrates that the Holy See has assumed a public function in the UN. The utility of this thesis surfaces when one considers that the UN was established as an intergovernmental attempt to create a framework for peace as set forth in the secular principles of the Charter. Simply as a matter of fairness and equality, other religions, as well as non-European sociopolitical communities, might reasonably question the UN’s influential sanction of the Roman papacy as universal moral authority on the world's most visible international stage. Such standing should at least give pause and invite further critical analysis because there are broader implications to this reality