Are We Facing a Justice System That Has Lost Its Sacredness?

Regarding the news about the fight against corruption, I was recently in Europe, where allegations of corruption surfaced involving the administration of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who served as Prime Minister of Spain from 2004 to 2011. He is currently under judicial investigation by the National Court for alleged crimes of corruption, influence peddling, criminal organization, and document forgery linked to schemes involving opaque funds and the bailout of the airline Plus Ultra.

Likewise, attention was drawn to the Leire Díez case—also known as the “Cloacas del PSOE” case—which is a judicial investigation opened in Spain in 2025 into an alleged scheme involving the obtaining of confidential information, influence peddling, and actions intended to influence judicial proceedings related to the Party; in other words, whether it involves individuals, institutions, governments, or legal proceedings—as Cervantes would say in Don Quixote—”there’s trouble brewing everywhere”—meaning that problems, flaws, or difficulties exist everywhere and affect everyone equally; thus, no one is spared from facing difficulties.

That is why, during an Anti-Corruption Workshop, I warned those present about the importance of cultivating virtue, because when it comes to corruption, there is no right, no center, and no left—for where “there’s cheese, there are rats and sewers.” Thus, in Latin America as well, do we perhaps have a desacralized justice system, like the European churches, or an empty justice system without guarantees—one into which not even a ray of sunlight enters anymore, where, increasingly, neither faith nor justice is practiced, or it has simply been abandoned to its fate? We must act as in Plato’s Myth of the Winged Chariot, as taught in the Phaedrus dialogue: the charioteer must steer not toward the black horse—desires—but toward the white horse—reason—and not stray from the right path.

This article was originally published in the newspaper “Correo” on Sunday, September 6, 2026. Miguel Ángel Villalobos, professor of philosophy of law, Peru. Student in the 11th International Diploma Course on the Social Doctrine of the Church, Rome 2026.