In an Italian-language virtual keynote address to the Union of Italian Catholic Jurists (video), the Secretary of State of the Holy See “praised the fundamental contribution of Catholic jurists in reshaping the legal framework at a national and international level in the aftermath of the Second World War,” Vatican News reported.

Cardinal Parolin said that “this took place due to the ‘rediscovering’ the ancient doctrine of natural law which germinated in the Jewish-Greek-Roman culture and was subsequently enhanced by the Christian thought—as opposed the doctrine of positive law,” according to the report. The natural law “also underlies the principle of the protection of the weaker subjects in society and the connected principle of solidarity.”