VATICAN - The Pope’s teaching at the Wednesday Audience: “As the Lord rules the world in truth and justice (cf. Ps. 35:7), likewise the king, his visible representative on earth according to the Biblical perspective, must imitate God’s actions.

Vatican City (Fides Service) - Psalm 71, one of the ‘royal psalms’ meditated by the Fathers of the Church and reinterpreted in a messianic key, was the subject of the Pope’s teaching at his general Wednesday audience this morning, 1 December.
This solemn prayer opens (1-11) with “and intense choral call to God to grant the sovereign a gift which is fundamental for good government, justice - the Pope explained -. This is expressed above all towards the poor who on the contrary are usually the victims of power... As the Lord rules the world in truth and justice (cf. Ps. 35:7), likewise the king, his visible representative on earth according to the Biblical perspective, must imitate God’s actions.”
For the Bible the violation of the rights of the poor is an act against God, a religious crime, “because the Lord is the protector and guardian of the poor and the oppressed, of widows and orphans”. After passionately imploring for the gift of justice, “the Psalm extends its horizons to contemplate the messianic-royal kingdom as it unfurls in time and space ... a kingdom which is fruitful and serene, therefore, but always under the banner of the capital values: justice and peace. These are the signs of the Messiah’s entrance into our history.” (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 1/12/2004 - Righe 16; Parole 226)