Picture of Mario Alexis Portella

Mario Alexis Portella

Mario Alexis Portella is Archdiocesan Chancellor of Florence and a Minor Canon of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore and Adjunct Professor of Canon Law at St. Phillip Neri Seminary in Gricigliano, Italy. He has a doctorate in canon law and civil law from the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome; he also holds an MA in Medieval History from Fordham University, as well as a BA in Government & Politics from St. John’s University. He is author of 'Islam: Religion of Peace?: The Violation of Natural Rights and Western Cover Up' and 'Ethiopian and Eritrean Monasticism: The Spiritual and Cultural Heritage of Two Nations'.
While Grotius had the best of intentions, he inadvertently paved the way for the atheistic philosophy of the Enlightenment and today’s effective altruism that has reduced the human person to
Paradoxically, the present-day misconstrued idea of secular individualism, which was fully developed during the Enlightenment, has its roots in early Christianity.
The surrendering individual rights was contingent on whether or not the legitimate political authority can effectively protect those from an aggressor — in our present-day case, the coronavirus.
The dilemma in today’s western culture is that in Europe there is no historical point of reference to the natural law as a founding principle of government.