Nothing is irreversible: Aleteia reopens the question of societal laws, against the current of fatalism

Context

We reported (N°4, W29) on the promulgation of the law on dying assistance voted on July 15, 2026, the referral to the Constitutional Council by Sébastien Lecornu, and the reaction of Cardinal Aveline qualifying this law as a "serious breaking point". Seven days later, Aleteia publishes an in-depth contribution that questions the postulate of the irreversibility of societal laws.

The Facts

The Aleteia article of July 22, 2026, "Are societal laws really irreversible?", gathers several observations. In the United States, the Dobbs v. Jackson ruling (June 24, 2022) overturned Roe v. Wade, fifty years later. In France, the Veil law of 1975 was originally presented as derogatory to the principle of respect for every human being from the moment of conception; it has been gradually transformed into a fundamental right, with its inclusion in the Constitution on March 8, 2024. The narrative of irreversibility serves to discourage democratic debate.

Doctrinal Analysis

The magisterium offers a clear framework here. John Paul II, in Evangelium vitae n° 73 (March 25, 1995), recalls that a civil law that seriously contradicts the objective moral law cannot oblige in conscience and must be fought through legitimate democratic means. He takes up the formula of Saint Augustine, lex iniusta non est lex (De libero arbitrio I, 5, 11), and that of Saint Thomas Aquinas, who speaks of legis corruptio when human law deviates from natural law (S. Th. I-II, q. 95, a. 2). The Catechism specifies, at n° 2273: "the inalienable rights of the person must be recognized and respected by civil society and political authority". A law contrary to these rights establishes no irreversible acquisition.

Stakes for the Church and the Faithful

The conviction of irreversibility morally disarms Catholics. Yet recent European history contradicts this postulate: Poland strengthened its pro-life legislation in 1993, Hungary inscribed the protection of life from the moment of conception in its fundamental law of 2011. In France, the conscience clause of doctors and the announced refusal of the Little Sisters of the Poor to apply dying assistance show that the battle is also being fought in intermediate bodies.

Critical Reading and Blind Spots

Aleteia does not claim that repeal is achievable in the short term in France. The real magisterial lever is not primarily legislative, but anthropological: the conversion of consciences, patient, generational. The risk would be to confuse political struggle with Christian hope. A repeal is not a conversion.

To Meditate and Act

Never yield to fatalism. Reread Evangelium vitae n° 73. Support intermediate bodies (associations, religious orders) that today carry the conscience clause.