Gross National Product, per capita income, stock market prices, and so forth. Society as a whole and in all its diversity is responsible for building up the common good. But it is the government's role to guarantee the minimum conditions that make this rich social activity possible, namely, human rights and justice. This obligation also falls on individual citizens as they choose their representatives and participate in shaping public opinion. The members of the Church, as members of society, have the same right and duty to promote the common good as do other citizens.
Christians ought to fulfil their temporal obligations with fidelity and competence.
They should act as a leaven in the world, in their family, professional, social, cultural and political life. Furthermore, the state has the duty to prevent people from abusing their private property to the detriment of the common good. By its nature private property has a social dimension which is based on the law of the common destination of earthly goods. Whenever the social aspect is forgotten, ownership can often become the object of greed and a source of serious disorder, and its opponents easily find a pretext for calling the right itself into question. To this end, a sane view of the common good must be present and operative in men invested with public authority.