An interesting encyclical, “Caritas in veritate,” from Pope Benedict on Tuesday has expressed the need for a global government with “real teeth” that could manage the global economy and “open up the unprecedented possibility of large-scale redistribution of wealth on a world-wide scale”:

“There is a strongly felt need … for a reform of the United Nations Organisation, and likewise of economic institutions and international finance, so that the concept of the family of nations can acquire real teeth … there is urgent need of a true world political authority.”

This toothy international body would, according to the Pope, serve “to bring about integral and timely disarmament, food security and peace, to guarantee the protection of the environment and to regulate migration.” Further:

[The global government] would need to be universally recognized and to be vested with the effective power to ensure security for all, regard for justice, and respect for rights.

Obviously it would have to have the authority to ensure compliance with its decisions from all parties, and also with the coordinated measures adopted in various international forums.

I’ve been suggesting for some time that we’re headed in this direction; it’s especially interesting that the Pope (an international personality and powerful figure himself) is now advocating it. I anticipate that such a thing is not the end of nation-states, but will entail an international economic body that controls a new international reserve currency (after the dollar fails and is replaced). Though nation-states would remain technically “sovereign,” the global body would have de facto control of anything important from an international perspective, since nations would be economically dependent on the global body. Talk about having a quick way to deal with difficult nations and avoid war! It’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out; my guess is that the big economic crash coming in the teens will set the ball rolling more rapidly.