Rules Must Bind the Powerful First

An institution publishes a rule and expects immediate compliance. Junior staff follow it, applicants are rejected under it and local offices reorganise their work around it. Then a powerful sponsor, senior office-holder or favoured partner encounters the same restriction. Suddenly the rule is described as flexible, exceptional or never intended for this particular circumstance.

The damage reaches beyond one decision. People learn that the written standard describes what ordinary actors must do while relationships determine what power may avoid. Staff stop treating policy as a reliable guide. Governing bodies receive technically compliant papers whose real decision was made elsewhere. Those with access seek exceptions; those without access carry the consequence.

Rules must bind the powerful first. This does not mean that every situation is identical or that responsible authority can never grant an exception. It means that the power to interpret, depart, waive or act urgently must itself be governed. A rule earns trust when people can see that office, influence, money, expertise and spiritual or political status do not silently change the standard.

On 26 September 2026, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Holy See, addressed the United Nations General Assembly under its theme, “Restoring trust, managing transformation: a United Nations that delivers for all.” He described trust as an ongoing process grounded in human dignity, justice, mutual respect and dialogue. He…