The 2025 Government Shutdown

Day 37: Are YOU Playing Pilate?

by CAPP-USA

The 37-day government shutdown is more than a budgeting failure; it is a profound failure to uphold the common good. The political community exists, as articulated by the Second Vatican Council, “for the sake of the common good, in which it finds its full justification and significance, and the source of its inherent legitimacy.” (Gaudium et Spes, 74) Yet, as the calendar ticks on, this legitimacy becomes damaged.

The Real Crisis: A Political Divide, Not Just a Divided Government

A government shutdown is a symptom of a divided government—but the underlying cause is the more corrosive political divide.

The problem is not that our political structure allows for checks and balances; it is the fundamental chasm separating our lawmakers. We are witnessing the breakdown caused by an increasingly stark disagreement between Democrats and Republicans… about more than just politics and policies.

In 2020, “roughly eight-in-ten registered voters in both camps said their differences with the other side were about core American values”. (Pew Center Research) This ultimately toxic distinction has rapidly widened, turning necessary negotiation into zero-sum competition that has now halted the most basic functions of the state.

How the Shutdown Attacks Human Dignity

When the government shuts down, millions of Americans—from essential workers to those relying on public services—are treated not as citizens, but as political leverage. This crisis illustrates an abandonment of the goal to define and advance a common good.

Catholic social teaching insists that “authentic democracy” is only possible in a state ruled by law and “on the basis of a correct conception of the human person”. (Pope St. John Paul II, 46) The shutdown directly undermines this conception:

• The Dignity of Work: Hundreds of thousands of workers are furloughed or forced to work without pay. As Pope Francis said, there is “no worse material poverty… than the poverty which prevents people from earning their bread and deprives them of the dignity of work”. (Address to CAPP)
• The Abandonment of Public Authority: The shutdown is a failure of those who “hold the reins of government” to uphold their duty of stability and function, which is necessary for “public authority by appropriate laws and sanctions to defend…” the structures of the state. (Pope Pius XI, 67)
• The Failure to Govern: The failure to compromise suggests that for some, the dignity of the person is negotiable, forgetting Pope Francis’s insistence that “the human person and human dignity are not simply catchwords, but pillars for creating shared rules and structures”. (Address to Participants in the 38th Conference of FAO, 1)

The Solution: Return to Principles

To resolve this political divide—and thus end the shutdown—we must move from arguing over entrenched “positions” to embracing the principles of Catholic Social Teaching as a framework for political conduct:

• Human Dignity: Recognizing that every person, including the workers and constituents affected by the shutdown, has inherent value.
• Solidarity: The shutdown is the ultimate lack of solidarity. We must instead embrace the “firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good”. (Pope St. John Paul II, 38) It requires a willingness to live as one, where “[A]ll men and women are called to live as one, each taking care of the other”. (Pope Francis, 3)
• Subsidiarity: While the crisis is at the highest level, the spirit of Subsidiarity—that decisions should be made at the lowest competent level—is thwarted when the central authority is paralyzed. The actions of the largest and highest collectivity are creating a disturbance of right order, disrupting essential services from being performed.

The Call to Action

We cannot sit back, give up, or believe others will “figure it out.” This level of political dysfunction results when Christians and citizens “play Pilate” and wash their hands. We must participate in politics because it is “one of the highest forms of charity because it seeks the common good. And Christian lay people must work in politics”. If politics has become too “tainted,” it is because “Christians have not participated in politics with an evangelical spirit”. (Pope Francis)

The end of Day 37 must be a call to action to restore dignity, solidarity, and the common good to our governing process.