Do we need homelands? John Paul II’s ideal of the community of nations

Since the 1990s, a discussion on the status, significance and role of nation state has been going on in many communities. In Europe, this discussion generated the opinion that the only hope for the divided world is to create a post-national, multi-cultural and cosmopolitically liberal society. Let us, however, ask: Does not the idea of a strong nation state return with practical force in the face of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the price war between the US and China, as well as the world’s superpowers outer space and military plans? In our current context John Paul II’s teaching is worth reminding. In the time of difficult challenges, the properly conceived patriotism propagated by the Pope should become a model of a national and civil attitude. True European politicalness is connected with the community of fate, the fruit of which should be solidarity of action in the face of real threats. John Paul II was also aware of this responsibility. Today we know that nobody will replace nation states in this process and no central institutions will substitute a civil community formed by the nation in the execution of difficult tasks. Therefore, we may only repeat after John Paul II that the future of man depends on the family and the nation.