Catholic social teaching

Catholic social teaching is a body of doctrine developed by the Catholic Church on matters of poverty and wealth, economics, social organization and the role of the state. Its foundations are widely considered to have been laid by Pope Leo XIII's 1891 encyclical letter Rerum Novarum. 
According to Pope Benedict XVI, its purpose "is simply to help purify reason and to contribute, here and now, to the acknowledgment and attainment of what is just…. [The Church] has to play her part through rational argument and she has to reawaken the spiritual energy without which justice…cannot prevail and prosper",(Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est, 28). According to Pope John Paul II, its foundation "rests on the threefold cornerstones of human dignity, solidarity and subsidiarity".(John Paul II, 1999 Apostolic Exhortation, Ecclesia in America, 55). These concerns echo elements of Jewish law and the prophetic books of the Old Testament, and recalls the teachings of Jesus Christ recorded in the New Testament, such as his declaration that "whatever you have done for one of these least brothers of Mine, you have done for Me."Matthew 25:40. 
Catholic social teaching is distinctive in its consistent critiques of modern social and political ideologies both of the left and of the right: liberalism, communism, conservatism, socialism, libertarianism, capitalism, and Nazism have all been condemned, at least in their pure forms, by several popes since the late nineteenth century.
==History==
Key Documents
Rerum Novarum (1891)
Quadragesimo Anno (1931)
Mater et Magistra (1961)
Pacem in Terris (1963)
Gaudium et Spes (1965)
Dignitatis Humanae (1965)
Populorum Progressio (1967)
Solicitudo Rei Socialis (1987)
Centesimus Annus (1991)
Deus Caritas Est (2005)
Caritas in Veritate (2009)
Key Figures
Pope Leo XIII
Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XII
Dorothy Day
Oscar Romero
Pope John Paul II
Joseph Bernardin
The principles of Catholic social teaching, though in most cases far older in origin, first began to be combined together into a system in the late nineteenth century. Since then, successive popes have added to and developed the Church's body of social teaching, principally through the medium of encyclical letters.
===Rerum Novarum and Quadragesimo Anno===
On May 15, 1891, Pope Leo XIII issued his seminal encyclical Rerum Novarum, subtitled "On Capital and Labor". In this document, Leo set out the Catholic Church's response to the social instability and labor conflict that had arisen in the wake of industrialization and had led to the rise of socialism. The Pope taught that the role of the State is to promote social justice through the protection of rights, while the Church must speak out on social issues in order to teach correct social principles and ensure class harmony. He restated the Church's long-standing teaching regarding the crucial importance of private property rights, but recognised, in one of the best-known passages of the encyclical, that the free operation of market forces must be tempered by moral considerations:
: Let the working man and the employer make free agreements, and in particular let them agree freely as to the wages; nevertheless, there underlies a dictate of natural justice more imperious and ancient than any bargain between man and man, namely, that wages ought not to be insufficient to support a frugal and well-behaved wage-earner. If through necessity or fear of a worse evil the workman accept harder conditions because an employer or contractor will afford him no better, he is made the victim of force and injustice.Rerum Novarum, § 45
Rerum Novarum condemned unrestricted capitalism; among the remedies it prescribed were the formation of trade unions and the introduction of collective bargaining, particularly as an alternative to state intervention. It depicted the plight of the nineteenth-century urban poor and recognized that the poor have a special status in consideration of social issues: the modern Catholic principle of the "preferential option for the poor" and the notion that God is on the side of the poor found their first expression in this document.Catholic Encyclopedia (1911): Rerum Novarum.
Forty years after Rerum Novarum, and more than a year into the Great Depression, Pope Pius XI issued Quadragesimo Anno, subtitled "On Reconstruction of the Social Order". Released on May 15 of 1931, this encyclical expanded on Rerum Novarum, noting the positive effect of the earlier document but pointing out that the world had changed significantly since Pope Leo's time. Pius XI reiterated Leo's defence of private property rights and collective bargaining, and repeated his contention that blind economic forces cannot create a just society on their own:
:Just as the unity of human society cannot be founded on an opposition of classes, so also the right ordering of economic life cannot be left to a free competition of forces. For from this source, as from a poisoned spring, have originated and spread all the errors of individualist economic teaching. Destroying through forgetfulness or ignorance the social and moral character of economic life, it held that economic life must be considered and treated as altogether free from and independent of public authority, because in the market, i.e., in the free struggle of competitors, it would have a principle of self direction which governs it much more perfectly than would the intervention of any created intellect. But free competition, while justified and certainly useful provided it is kept within certain limits, clearly cannot direct economic life...Quadragesimo Anno § 88.
Quadragesimo Anno also supported state intervention to mediate labor-management conflicts (a reference to the economic system which Mussolini was attempting to establish in Italy at the time), and introduced the concept of subsidiarity into Catholic thought.
One question which had occupied some Catholics prior to Quadragesimo Anno was whether Leo XIII's condemnation of radical left-wing politics in Rerum Novarum extended only to outright Communism or whether it included milder forms of Socialism as well. Pius made it clear that non-communistic Socialism was included in the condemnation. The Catholic Church thus marked out a distinctive position for itself between free-market capitalism on the right and statist Socialism on the left.
===Pope John XXIII ===
Further development came in the post-World War II period when attention turned to the problems of social and economic development and international relations. On May 15, 1961 Pope John XXIII released Mater et Magistra, subtitled "Christianity and Social Progress". This encyclical expanded the Church's social doctrine to cover the relations between rich and poor nations, examining the obligation of rich countries to assist poor countries while respecting their particular cultures. It includes an examination of the threat of global economic imbalances to world peace. On April 11, 1963, Pope John expanded further on this in Pacem in Terris (), the first encyclical addressed to both Catholics and non-Catholics. In it, the Pope linked the establishment of world peace to the laying of a foundation consisting of proper rights and responsibilities between individuals, social groups, and states from the local to the international level. He exhorted Catholics to understand and apply the social teachings:
:Once again we exhort our people to take an active part in public life, and to contribute towards the attainment of the common good of the entire human family as well as to that of their own country. They should endeavor, therefore, in the light of the Faith and with the strength of love, to ensure that the various institutions—whether economic, social, cultural or political in purpose – should be such as not to create obstacles, but rather to facilitate or render less arduous people's perfectioning of themselves both in the natural order as well as in the supernatural.Pacem in Terris § 146.
This document, issued at the height of the Cold War, also included a denunciation of the nuclear arms race and a call for strengthening the United Nations.
===Second Vatican Council===
The primary document from the Second Vatican Council concerning social teachings is Gaudium et Spes, the "Pastoral Constitution on the Church and the Modern World", which is considered one of the chief accomplishments of the Council. Unlike earlier documents, this is an expression of all the bishops, and covers a wide range of issues of the relationship of social concerns and Christian action. At its core, the document asserts the fundamental dignity of each human being, and declares the Church's solidarity with both those who suffer, and those who would comfort the suffering:
:The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the people of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ.Gaudium et Spes § 1.
Other conciliar documents such as Dignitatis Humanae, drafted largely by American Jesuit John Courtney Murray, have important applications to the social teachings of the Church on freedom today.Catholic Social Teaching: 1891-Present
===Pope Paul VI===
Like his predecessor, Pope Paul VI gave attention to the disparities in wealth and development between the industrialised West and the Third World in his 1967 encyclical Populorum Progressio (). It asserts that free international trade alone is not adequate to correct these disparities and supports the role of international organizations in addressing this need. Paul called on rich nations to meet their moral obligation to poor nations, pointing out the relationship between development and peace. The intention of the Church is not to take sides, but to be an advocate for basic human dignity:
:There can be no progress towards the complete development of individuals without the simultaneous development of all humanity in the spirit of solidarity.Populorum Progressio §43.
:Experienced in human affairs, the Church ... "seeks but a solitary goal: to carry forward the work of Christ Himself under the lead of the befriending Spirit." ... But, since the Church lives in history, she ought to "scrutinize the signs of the times and interpret them in the light of the Gospel." Sharing the noblest aspirations of men and women and suffering when she sees them not satisfied, she wishes to help them attain their full flowing, and that is why she offers all people what she possesses as her characteristic attribute: a global vision of man and of the human race.Populorum Progressio §13.
The May 1971 apostolic letter Octogesima Adveniens addressed the challenge of urbanization and urban poverty and stressed the personal responsibility of Christians to respond to injustice. For the tenth anniversary of the Second Vatican Council (October 26, 1975), Paul issued Evangelii Nuntiandi (). In it he asserts that combating injustice is an essential part of evangelizing modern peoples.
===Pope John Paul II and the new millennium===
John Paul II continued his predecessors' work of developing the body of Catholic social doctrine. Of particular importance was his 1981 encyclical Laborem Exercens.
:On one hand there is a growing moral sensitivity alert to the value of every individual as a human being without any distinction of race, nationality, religion, political opinion, or social class. On the other hand these proclamations are contradicted in practice. How can these solemn affirmations be reconciled with the widespread attacks on human life and the refusal to accept those who are weak, needy, elderly, or just conceived? These attacks go directly against respect for life; they threaten the very meaning of democratic coexistence, and our cities risk becoming societies of people who are rejected, marginalized, uprooted, and oppressed, instead of communities of "people living together."Evangelium Vitae § 18.
While not endorsing any particular political agenda, the Church holds that this teaching applies in the public (political) realm, not only the private.
Laborem Exercens qualifies the teaching of private ownership in relation to the common use of goods that all men, as children of God, are entitled to. The Church "has always understood this right within the broader context of the right common to all to use the goods of the whole creation: the right to private property is subordinated to the right to common use, to the fact that goods are meant for everyone.""Laborem Exercens," Proclaiming Justice and Peace
==Principles of Catholic Social Teaching==
Every commentator has their own list of key principles and documents, and there is no official ‘canon’ of principles or documents.Australian Catholic Social Justice Council The following are some of the widely accepted principles of Catholic Social Teaching .
===Human Dignity===
The prime principle of Catholic social teaching is the 'correct view of the human person.' "Being in the image of God the human individual possesses the dignity of a person, who is not just something, but someone. He is capable of self-knowledge, of self-possession and of freely giving himself and entering into communion with other persons. And he is called by grace to a covenant with his Creator, to offer him a response of faith and love that no other creature can give in his stead" (Catholic Catechism #357). 
===Solidarity===
Solidarity is “not a feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of others. It is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good” (JPII, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 38). Solidarity, which flows from faith, is fundamental to the Christian view of social and political organization. Each person is connected to and dependent on all humanity, collectively and individually. It is the complement of subsidiarity.
===Caritas===
In Caritas in Veritate, the Catholic Church declared that "[C]harity is at the heart of the Church's social doctrine'. Every responsibility and every commitment spelt out by that doctrine is derived from charity which, according to the teaching of Jesus, is the synthesis of the entire Law (cf. Mt 22:36- 40). It gives real substance to the personal relationship with God and with neighbour; it is the principle not only of micro-relationships (with friends, with family members or within small groups) but also of macro-relationships (social, economic and political ones)." Caritas in veritate § 2.
The Church has chosen the concept of "charity in truth" to avoid a "degenerat[ion] into sentimentality [in which] [l]ove becomes an empty shell, to be filled in an arbitrary way. In a culture without truth, this is the fatal risk facing love. It falls prey to contingent subjective emotions and opinions, the word “love” is abused and distorted, to the point where it comes to mean the opposite. Truth frees charity from the constraints of an emotionalism that deprives it of relational and social content, and of a fideism that deprives it of human and universal breathing-space. In the truth, charity reflects the personal yet public dimension of faith in the God of the Bible, who is both Agápe and Lógos: Charity and Truth, Love and Word." Caritas in veritate §3.
===Subsidiarity===
“It is a fundamental principle of social philosophy, fixed and unchangeable, that one should not withdraw from individuals and commit to the community what they can accomplish by their own enterprise and industry (Pope Pius XI, Quadragesimo Anno, 79). It is the complement of solidarity.
===Distributism===
Distributism holds that social and economic structures should promote wide ownership of corporations and is the basis for anti-trust laws and economic cooperatives including credit unions. Rerum Novarum, Quadragesimo Anno and Centesimus Annus are Catholic Social Teaching documents which advocate economic distributism.
==Key Themes==
As with the principles above, there is no official list of key themes. Australian Catholic Social Justice Council The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has identified these seven key themes of Catholic Social Teaching set out here. Other sources identify less or more key themes based on their reading of the key documents of the social magisterium .
===Sanctity of human life and dignity of the person===
The foundational principle of all Catholic social teachings is the sanctity of human life. Catholics believe in an inherent dignity of the human person starting from conception through to natural death. They believe that human life must be valued infinitely above material possessions. Pope John Paul II wrote and spoke extensively on the topic of the inviolability of human life and dignity in his watershed encyclical, Evangelium Vitae, (Latin for "The Gospel of Life").
Catholics oppose acts considered attacks and affronts to human life, including abortion,Evangelium Vitae § 62. euthanasia,Evangelium Vitae § 65;,Catechism of the Catholic Church § 2277. genocide, torture, the direct and intentional targeting of noncombatants in war, and every deliberate taking of innocent human life. In the Second Vatican Council's Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes (Latin for "Joy and Hope"), it is written that “from the moment of its conception life must be guarded with the greatest care.".Gaudium et Spes § 51.
Catholics do not necessarily oppose war; there are pacifists and just war theorists. Catholics discourage application of the death penalty,Evangelium Vitae § 56. the former being guided by the principles of just war doctrine and recourse to the latter is not excluded "if this is the only practicable way to defend the lives of human beings effectively against the aggressor."Catechism of the Catholic Church § 2267. It is argued that the defense of lives includes the provision of deterrence and the establishment of justice. Both war and the death penalty must always be a last resort. In addition, believing humans are made in the image and likeness of God,see Genesis 1:26. Catholic doctrine teaches to respect all humans based on an supposed inherent dignity. According to John Paul II, every human person "is called to a fullness of life which far exceeds the dimensions of his earthly existence, because it consists in sharing the very life of God."Evangelium Vitae § 2. Catholics oppose racism and other forms of discrimination. In 2007, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote:
Catholic teaching about the dignity of life calls us to oppose torture, unjust war, and the use of the death penalty; to prevent genocide and attacks against noncombatants; to oppose racism; and to overcome poverty and suffering. Nations are called to protect the right to life by seeking effective ways to combat evil and terror without resorting to armed conflicts except as a last resort, always seeking first to resolve disputes by peaceful means. We revere the lives of children in the womb, the lives of persons dying in war and from starvation, and indeed the lives of all human beings as children of God.Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, A Call to Political Responsibility from the Catholic Bishops of the United States, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
===Call to family, community, and participation===
According to the Book of Genesis, immediately after forming Adam the " God said: "It is not good for the man to be alone.".Genesis 2:18. The Catholic Church teaches that man is now not only a sacred but also a social animal and that families are the first and most basic units of a society. Full human development takes place in relationship with others. The family—based on marriage between a man and a woman—is the first and fundamental unit of society and is a sanctuary for the creation and nurturing of children. Together families form communities, communities a state and together all across the world each human is part of the human family. How these communities organize themselves politically, economically and socially is thus of the highest importance. Each institution must be judged by how much it enhances, or is a detriment to, the life and dignity of human persons.
Catholic Social Teaching opposes collectivist approaches such as Communism but at the same time it also rejects unrestricted laissez-faire policies and the notion that a free market automatically produces justice. The state has a positive moral role to play as no society will achieve a just and equitable distribution of resources with a totally free market.Economic Justice, Major themes from Catholic Social Teaching, Office for Social Justice, Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. All people have a right to participate in the economic, political, and cultural life of societyParticipation, Major themes from Catholic Social Teaching, Office for Social Justice, Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. and, under the principle of subsidiarity, state functions should be carried out at the lowest level that is practical.Role of Government and Subsidiarity, Major themes from Catholic Social Teaching, Office for Social Justice, Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
===Rights and responsibilities===
Every person has a fundamental right to life and to the necessities of life. In addition, every human has the right to what is required to live a full and decent life, things such as employment, health care, and education.Rights and Responsibilities, 
Major themes from Catholic Social Teaching, Office for Social Justice, Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The right to exercise religious freedom publicly and privately by individuals and institutions along with freedom of conscience need to be constantly defended. In a fundamental way, the right to free expression of religious beliefs protects all other rights. 
The Church supports private property and teaches that “every man has by nature the right to possess property as his own."Rerum Novarum § 6. The right to private property is not absolute, however, and is limited by the concept of the social mortgage.Solicitudo Rei Socialis § 42. It is theoretically moral and just for its members to destroy property used in an evil way by others, or for the state to redistribute wealth from those who have unjustly hoarded it.The Busy Christian's Guide to Social Teaching.
Corresponding to these rights are duties and responsibilities—to one another, to our families, and to the larger society. Rights should be understood and exercised in a moral framework rooted in the dignity of the human person
===Preferential Option for the poor and vulnerable===
Jesus taught that on the Day of Judgement God will ask what each of us did to help the poor and needy: "Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me." This is reflected in the Church's canon law, which states, "[The Christian faithful] are also obliged to promote social justice and, mindful of the precept of the Lord, to assist the poor from their own resources."1983 CIC, canon 222 §2.
Through our words, prayers and deeds we must show solidarity with, and compassion for, the poor. When instituting public policy we must always keep the "preferential option for the poor" at the forefront of our minds. The moral test of any society is "how it treats its most vulnerable members. The poor have the most urgent moral claim on the conscience of the nation. We are called to look at public policy decisions in terms of how they affect the poor."Option for the Poor, Major themes from Catholic Social Teaching, Office for Social Justice, Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
Pope Benedict XVI has taught that “love for widows and orphans, prisoners, and the sick and needy of every kind, is as essential as the ministry of the sacraments and preaching of the Gospel”.Deus Caritas Est §22. This preferential option for the poor and vulnerable includes all who are marginalized in our nation and beyond—unborn children, persons with disabilities, the elderly and terminally ill, and victims of injustice and oppression.
===Dignity of work and the rights of workers===
Society must pursue economic justice and the economy must serve people, not the other way around. Employers must not "look upon their work people as their bondsmen, but ... respect in every man his dignity as a person ennobled by Christian character."Rerum Novarum § 20. Employers contribute to the common good through the services or products they provide and by creating jobs that uphold the dignity and rights of workers.
Workers have a right to work, to earn a living wage, and to form trade unionsRerum Novarum § 49. to protect their interests. All workers have a right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, and to safe working conditions.Economic Justice, Major themes from Catholic Social Teaching, Office for Social Justice, Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Workers also have responsibilities—to provide a fair day's work for a fair day's pay, to treat employers and co-workers with respect, and to carry out their work in ways that contribute to the common good. Workers must "fully and faithfully" perform the work they have agreed to do.
In 1933, the Catholic Worker Movement was founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin. It was committed to nonviolence, voluntary poverty, prayer, and hospitality for the marginalized and poorest in Society. Today over 185 Catholic Worker communities continue to protest injustice, war, racism, and violence of all forms.
===Solidarity===
"Solidarity is undoubtedly a Christian virtue. It seeks to go beyond itself to total gratuity, forgiveness, and reconciliation. It leads to a new vision of the unity of humankind, a reflection of God's triune intimate life...."Solicitudo Rei Socialis § 40. It is a unity that binds members of a group together.
All the peoples of the world belong to one human family. We must be our brother's keeper,see Genesis 4:9. though we may be separated by distance, language or culture. Jesus teaches that we must each love our neighbors as ourselves and in the parable of the Good Samaritan we see that our compassion should extend to all people.see Luke 10:25-37. Solidarity includes the Scriptural call to welcome the stranger among us—including immigrants seeking work, a safe home, education for their children, and a decent life for their families. 
Solidarity at the international level primarily concerns the Global South. For example, the Church has habitually insisted that loans be forgiven on many occasions, particularly during Jubilee years.Bono recalls pontiff's affection for the poor — and cool sunglasses. Charity to individuals or groups must be accompanied by transforming unjust structures.
===Care for God's creation===
A Biblical vision of justice is much more comprehensive than civil equity; it encompasses right relationships between all members of God's creation. Stewardship of creation: The world's goods are available for humanity to use only under a "social mortgage" which carries with it the responsibility to protect the environment. The "goods of the earth" are gifts from God, and they are intended by God for the benefit of everyone.Stewardship of God's Creation, Major themes from Catholic Social Teaching, Office for Social Justice, Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Man was given dominion over all creation as sustainer rather than as exploiter,see Genesis 1:26-30. and is commanded to be a good steward of the gifts God has given him.see Matthew 25:14-30. We cannot use and abuse the natural resources God has given us with a destructive consumer mentality.
Catholic Social Teaching recognizes that the poor are the most vulnerable to environmental impact and endure disproportional hardship when natural areas are exploited or damaged. US Bishops established an environmental justice program to assist parishes and dioceses who wanted to conduct education, outreach and advocacy about these issues. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops Environmental Justice Program (EJP) calls Catholics to a deeper respect for God's creation and engages parishes in activities that deal with environmental problems, particularly as they affect the poor.
==Encyclicals and other official documents ==
*Rerum Novarum (1891)
*Quadragesimo Anno (1931)
*Mater et Magistra (1961)
*Pacem in Terris (1963)
*Dignitatis Humanae (1965)
*Populorum Progressio (1967)
*Humanae Vitae (1968)
*Octogesima Adveniens (1971)
*Laborem Exercens (1981)
*Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (1987)
*Centesimus Annus (1991)
*Evangelium Vitae (1995)
*Deus Caritas Est (2005)
*Caritas in Veritate (2009)
==Catholic social teaching in action==
=== The World ===
Several organs of the Holy See are dedicated to social issues. The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace is tasked with promoting "justice and peace in the world, in the light of the Gospel and of the social teaching of the Church." It works to clarify, expand upon, and develop new teachings in the areas of peace, justice, and human rights. The council also collaborates with local and international Catholic organizations working in those areas, and works with the social welfare organs of the United Nations, through the Secretariat of State. The Pontifical Council Cor Unum is the Holy See's primary organ devoted to charitable works. The council supervises the activities of Caritas International. It also operates the John Paul II Foundation for the Sahel and the Populorum Progressio Foundation. The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences promotes the study and progress of social sciences. The academy works with various dicasteries, especially the Council for Justice and Peace, to contribute to the development of the Church's social teachings.
===Europe===
Christian Democracy, a political movement in numerous European countries, was significantly influenced by Catholic social teachings. They have influenced many other political movements in varying degrees throughout the world, including those in non-Catholic nations.
The subsidiarity principle which originated in Rerum novarum was established in European Union (EU) law by the Treaty of Maastricht, signed on 7 February 1992 and entered into force on 1 November 1993. The present formulation is contained in Article 5 of the Treaty Establishing the European Community (consolidated version following the Treaty of Nice, which entered into force on 1 February 2003).
===United States===
There is an important movement of Catholic social activism in the United States.
==See also==
*Living wage
*Christian socialism
*Political Catholicism
==References==
==External links==
* Pope Leo XIII's Encyclical Rerum Novarum
*"Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation" - Vatican foundation established in 1993 to make Catholic Social Teaching more widely known and better understood.
*Sharing Catholic Social Teaching: Reflections of the U.S. Catholic Bishops
*Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church (ISBN 1-57455-692-4)
* http://www.caritas.org.au/cst Caritas Australia - Catholic Social Teaching and poverty reduction in aid and development work
*Catholic Social Teaching - OpenCourseWare from the University of Notre Dame
 
Category:Catholic theology and doctrine