Rule of Law or Rule of God?

Abstract The aim of the article is to examine the attitude of the Catholic church toward the rule of law. To achieve this goal it is necessary to analyze the statements of the magisterium (papal encyclicals and documents of Vatican II ) which mention the rule of law or refer to its correlates (sovereignty of the people, democracy, human rights, religious freedom, and the equality of different opinions). At a general level, we can talk about acceptance of the rule of law since the pontificate of John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council. Nevertheless, some substantive, rather than formal, aspects of the rule of law are currently the subject of controversy between the teachings of recent popes and the dominant tendencies in contemporary law.