Catholic Social Doctrine V

Previously, we reviewed the first three principles: the Life and Dignity of the Human Person; the Call to Family, Community, and Participation; and Rights and Responsibilities. I conclude this overview of Catholic Social Doctrine with the last four principles.

The fourth principle is Option for the Poor and Vulnerable: a basic moral test for a society is how its most vulnerable members are faring. In a society marred by deepening divisions between rich and poor, our tradition recalls the story of the

Last Judgment (Mt 25:31-46) and Jesus’ own words: “Whatever you do for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you do for me.” This principle instructs us to put the needs of the poor and vulnerable first to imitate the compassionate love of God. It is the difficult task of leaders in the various levels of society and organizations to identity concrete means to enact this vision of caring for those in need without compromising the legitimate needs of the whole community. As St. Thomas Aquinas noted, the further we descend into particulars, the more room there is for prudential judgments and people of equally good will may disagree.

The fifth principle is The Dignity of Work and Rights of Workers: this is rooted in the conviction that the economy must serve people, not the other way around. Work is more than a way to make a living; it is a form of continuing participation in God’s creation and perfecting one’s own abilities and skills, and caring for others who depend on us. If the dignity of work is to be protected, then the basic rights of

workers must be respected--the right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to the rganization and joining of unions, to private property, and to economic initiative. These ideas, first articulated by Pope Leo XIII in 1891 in his encyclical Rerum Novarum, take on new importance in the age of globalization, outsourcing, and artificial intelligence which may increasingly replace human workers with algorithms and chatbots. The technologies are not bad in themselves, but again, people and their human needs must remain the criterion for assessing the use of technology.

The sixth principle is Solidarity: we are one human family whatever our national, racial, ethnic, economic, and ideological differences. We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, wherever they may be. Loving our neighbor has global dimensions in a shrinking world. At the core of the virtue of solidarity is the pursuit of justice and peace. Pope Paul VI taught that “if you want peace, work for justice.” The Gospel calls us to be peacemakers. Our love for all our sisters and brothers demands that we promote peace in a world surrounded by violence and conflict, not out of political or economic strategies, but sincere human compassion. All of us are members of one human family, and Jesus’s new commandment is simple and profound: “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 15: 9, 12).

The seventh principle is Care for God’s Creation: we show our respect for the Creator by our stewardship of creation. Care for the earth is not just an Earth Day slogan, nor is it a kind of nature worship. Rather, it is a requirement of our faith, going back to the Book of Genesis: we are co-workers with God to “tend the garden and make it fruitful.” We are called to protect people and the goods God has entrusted to all in the natural world and respecting the beauty of God’s providential love revealed in the created world. This environmental challenge has fundamental moral and ethical dimensions that cannot be ignored, not only for our own lives but for the generations that will follow us.

Those interested in a contemporary, more detailed but still brief history and application of these principles will find a helpful presentation in Chapter Two of Pope Leo’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, widely available online. Pope Leo extends the field of Catholic Social Teaching in light of the “change of era” with the influence of Artificial Intelligence, robotics, and other new forms of technology.