The Development of the Social Teaching of the Church

(SOCIAL ENCYCLICALS)
The way in which we live in and
structure society are moral
questions, as we aim at the
attainment of justice and the
Common Good. Therefore, since
it is moral in nature, this is an
area over which the pope and
Church have authority to teach
(Mat. 28:20).

Encyclicals that deal predominantly with questions of

justice in society are commonly called “social encyclicals.”
Social encyclicals are based on truths given to us
by reason and a revealed Christian anthropology.
The Church does not, however, set out to approve of a particular
regime or social structure per se (GS, 74), though some forms of social
structures are condemned as intrinsically unjust and erroneous. The
Church rather seeks to maintain that the structure adopted fulfills the
requirements of justice and fosters the true freedom and dignity of
every individual. Further, it teaches what constitutes the attainment of
justice in society (Caritas in Veritate, par. 9).
The social encyclicals provide a road map for
Catholics and others to discern the course of
society and guidance in making public policy
choices. They are broad enough to leave
flexibility in how a goal is achieved but
specific enough to provide meaningful
guidance – e.g., all life is sacred, we must
care for the poor, workers should be treated
fairly. There may be disagreement on the
process but the goals remain clear.
Principles of
the Catholic
Social
Teachings
Dignity of the Human Person

This principle is
Human life is
Belief in the grounded in the
sacred, and the
inherent dignity idea that the
dignity of the
of the human person is made
human person is
person is the in the image of
the starting
foundation of all God. The person
point for a moral
Catholic social is the clearest
vision for
teaching. reflection of God
society.
among us.
 Common Good and
Community
Human beings grow and
The human person is both achieve fulfillment in
sacred and social. We community. Human dignity
realize our dignity and can only be realized and
rights in relationship with protected in the context of
others, in community. relationships with the
wider society.
How we organize our society -- in economics
and politics, in law and policy --directly
affects human dignity and the capacity of
individuals to grow in community.

The obligation to "love our neighbor" has an

individual dimension, but it also requires a
broader social commitment. Everyone has a
responsibility to contribute to the good of
the whole society, to the common good.
 Option for the Poor
• The moral test of a 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.
• The "option for the poor," is not an
adversarial slogan that pits one group or
class against another. Rather it states that
the deprivation and powerlessness of the
poor wounds the whole community.
The option for the poor is an
essential part of society's
effort to achieve the common
good. A healthy community
can be achieved only if its
members give special
attention to those with special
needs, to those who are poor
and on the margins of society.
 Rights and Responsibilities
Every person has a
Human dignity can be fundamental right to life
Corresponding to these
protected and a healthy and a right to those things
rights are duties and
community can be required for human
responsibilities -- to one
achieved only if human decency – starting with
another, to our families,
rights are protected and food, shelter and clothing,
and to the larger society.
responsibilities are met. employment, health care,
and education.
Role of Government and
Subsidiarity

• The state has a positive moral function. It

is an instrument to promote human
dignity, protect human rights, and build
the common good.
• All people have a right and a responsibility
to participate in political institutions so
that government can achieve its proper
goals.
Economic Justice
• The economy must serve people, not the other
way around. All workers have a right to
productive work, to decent and fair wages, and
to safe working conditions.
• The priority of labour over capital is a key
principle in Catholic social thought. Humanity
comes before profit. Man is more important
than the products he makes. Man is the subject
of work, and all work is in the service of man. he
is not a mere instrument, a cog in the machine.
The whole purpose of the economy is to provide
him with the essentials of life.
 Stewardship of God's Creation
There is a "social
mortgage" that guides
The goods of the earth How we treat the
our use of the world's
are gifts from God, and environment is a measure
goods, and we have a
they are intended by God of our stewardship, a sign
responsibility to care for
for the benefit of of our respect for the
these goods as stewards
everyone. Creator.
and trustees, not as mere
consumers and users.
 Promotion of Peace and
Disarmament
• Catholic teaching promotes peace as a positive,
action-oriented concept. In the words of St. John
Paul II, "Peace is not just the absence of war. It
involves mutual respect and confidence between
peoples and nations. It involves collaboration and
binding agreements.”
• There is a close relationship in Catholic teaching
between peace and justice. Peace is the fruit of
justice and is dependent upon right order among
human beings.
 Participation
It is a fundamental
All people have a demand of justice It is wrong for a
right to participate and a requirement person or a group to
in the economic, for human dignity be excluded unfairly
political, and that all people be or to be unable to
cultural life of assured a minimum participate in
society. level of participation society.
in the community.
 Global Solidarity and Development

• We are one human family. Our responsibilities to

each other cross national, racial, economic and
ideological differences. We are called to work
globally for justice.
• Authentic development must be full human
development. It must respect and promote
personal, social, economic, and political rights,
including the rights of nations and of peoples.
“Being a lover of freedom, when the revolution came in
Germany, I looked to the universities to defend it, knowing that
they had always boasted of their devotion to the cause of truth;
but, no, the universities immediately were silenced. Then I
looked to the great editors of the newspapers whose flaming
editorials in days gone by had proclaimed their love of
freedom; but they, like the universities, were silenced in a few
short weeks….

Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler’s

campaign for suppressing truth. I never had any special
interest in the Church before, but now I feel a great affection
and admiration because the Church alone has had the courage
and persistence to stand for intellectual truth and moral
freedom. I am forced thus to confess that what I once despised I
now praise unreservedly.”

– Albert Einstein, Time magazine, 23rd December, 1940 p. 38

 Short Response

•Are Social Encyclicals

and Magisterial
Documents
necessary? In what
ways?
N.B. Post your responses in the Discussion Board