Catholic Social Teaching
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"An authentic faith – which is never comfortable or completely personal – always involves a deep desire to change the world, to transmit values, to leave this earth somehow better that we found it. We love this magnificent planet on which God has put us, and we love the human family which dwells here, with all its tragedies and struggles, its hopes and aspirations, its strengths and weaknesses. The earth is our common home and all of us are brothers and sisters. If indeed “the just ordering of society and of the state is a central responsibility of politics”, the Church “cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice”. [Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est (God is Love)]"
—Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), no. 183
Key Themes of Catholic Social Teaching
We are highlighting one each week over the summer months.
Solidarity | Life & Dignity of the Human Person | Rights & Responsibilities | Call to Family, Community & ParticipationOption for the Poor and Vulnerable | Care for God's Creation | The Dignity of Work & the Rights of Workers
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Solidarity
Solidarity is one of the key pillars of the Church's social doctrine, defined as "a commitment to the good of one's neighbor with the readiness, in the Gospel sense, to 'lose oneself' for the sake of the other instead of exploiting him, and to 'serve him' instead of oppressing him for one's own advantage."
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Life and Dignity
“Whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children. . .disgraceful working conditions. . .all these things and others of their like are infamies indeed.”
—Second Vatican Council and Pope Paul VI, Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope)
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Rights & Responsibilities
“In human society one man’s natural right gives rise to a corresponding duty in other men; the duty, that is, of recognizing and respecting that right. Every basic human right draws its authoritative force from the natural law, which confers it and attaches to it its respective duty. Hence, to claim one’s rights and ignore one’s duties, or only half fulfill them, is like building a house with one hand and tearing it down with the other.”
—Pope St. John XXIII, Peace on Earth (Pacem in Terris), no. 30
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