Survey of Catholic Social Teaching

The Catholic Church’s official teachings on social, economic, and political life are based on a Christian understanding of the human person as a spiritual being who is social by nature and whose ultimate spiritual destiny is achieved in community, as testified to by the Bible and as indicated by reason. The teachings presuppose that the Catholic Church is called by God to proclaim and defend the dignity of the human person and to call into question social, political, and economic structures that do not respect that dignity. The church, however, is neither a political party nor merely a humanitarian organization. The church’s work in defending the dignity of the human person arises out of Christian faith itself and, as such, is a reflection of the church’s religious mission to proclaim, in word and in action, the good news of our redemption in Christ. The view that the proper role of the church is “other-worldly” and that the church has no business speaking about social, political, and economic matters is fundamentally at odds with Christian faith. Nevertheless, the Catholic Church claims no special competence in determining public policy for any particular society. Instead, the service the church provides is to clarify what is morally required of the state and society more
generally, as well as what is required of the individual.