Catholic social teaching - Definition and Overview

Catholic social teaching encompasses the teaching of the Catholic Church on all matters dealing with the collective aspect of humanity. Its fundamental principles are:

• Human life is sacred: this is the foundation for the other principles.

• Human rights: every person has a fundamental right to life, and to a decent minimum standard of living.

• Solidarity with the poor: A whole society can be judged by how well it treats its vulnerable members - the poor and those on the margin. This also applies on an international level with regard to the Global South.

• Economic justice: workers have a right to work, to a living wage, and to form unions. Though Catholic teaching opposes collectivist approaches such as Communism as it was practiced in the Soviet Union, it also opposes laissez-faire.

• Stewardship of creation: the world's goods are available for humanity to use only under a "social mortgage" which carries with it responsibility to protect the environment.

• Disarmament and rejection of war: The Church now regards the circumstances under which military force is permissible as extremely limited (and rejects recent notable examples such as the 2003 Invasion of Iraq).

• The state has a positive moral role to play: Under the principle of subsidiarity, state functions should be carried out at the lowest level that is practical.

External links

• Major themes from Catholic Social Teaching (http://www.osjspm.org/cst/themes.htm)
• Sharing Catholic Social Teaching: Reflections of the U.S. Catholic Bishops (http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/projects/socialteaching/socialteaching.htm)