Social Doctrine of the Church – What is it?

1 • The Church gets involved in things that (do not) concern it

“The Church never minds its own business!”

“This is something “everyone knows”!

…

Well…

…too bad, in reality – despite many people believing that the Church “always meddles in matters outside its competence“ – things are not exactly like that…

…so much so that, already in the 19th century, Cardinal John Henry Newman wrote:

2 • Social Doctrine of the Church: What is it?

The term “Social Doctrine of the Church” generally refers to all the teachings of the Church in the “political” realm.

Now.

Unfortunately, the adjective “political” has taken on a strongly negative connotation in our day and age.

In reality, when I say “political,” I mean “everything related to the polis” in a comprehensive way.

And indeed, the Social Doctrine of the Church covers a wide range of issues:

• Human person (What is their dignity? What happens when this dignity is sidelined?)
• Common good (What is it? Who does it concern? How is it realized?)
• Solidarity (What does it mean? How is it lived?)
• Family (What role does it play in the social fabric? Why is it “so” important?)
• Work (Is it a means? An end? A “necessary evil”? A vocation?)
• Universal destination of goods (What does it mean? And what is the difference with communism?)
• Principle of subsidiarity (What is it? Does it work?)
• Etc.

The question arises spontaneously: why has the Church inserted itself into all these debates?

To meddle in others’ business?

Why were “religious matters” starting to lose appeal?

Mmmmmm… not quite…

In 1975, Pope Paul VI said:

And in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church (which is like a sintesis of everything the Church has said “in the political field”), we find written:

3 • A bit of history

3.1 • Origins of Social Doctrine…

As I mentioned, the Church has always cared not only for the spiritual needs but also the “earthly problems” of people… so in some ways, we could say it has been involved in politics since its inception.

To be precise, however, the term “Social Doctrine” refers to those “political” teachings of the Church that concern the contemporary world.

In this context, the first issue the Church wanted to shed light on is the so-called labor question: the industrial revolution (in the 18th-19th centuries) had “disrupted” the world of work, creating serious problems of justice. The result was the notorious conflict between capital and labor.

In this political landscape, in 1891, Pope Leo XIII wrote the encyclical “Rerum Novarum,” which:

3.2 • …and how it continued

Throughout the 20th century, up to our days, all the other popes have often intervened in “political issues”:

• Pius XI (1930s): He reproached the lack of respect for freedom of association and reiterated that the path to overcome social conflicts passes through solidarity and collaboration (in the encyclical “Quadragesimo Anno” of 1931); he condemned the abuses of the fascist regime (in the encyclical “Non Abbiamo Bisogno” of 1931) as well as those of the Reich in Germany (in the encyclical “Mit Brennender Sorge,” published in German in 1937 and read from the pulpit of all German Catholic churches); he also criticized communism, calling it “intrinsically perverse” (in the encyclical “Divini Redemptoris” of 1937);
• Pius XII (1940s-1950s): During his pontificate, amid the Second World War, his words represented “for many people of all continents and for millions of believers and nonbelievers, the social teaching of Pius XII represented the voice of the universal conscience, interpreted and proclaimed in the close connection with the word of God” (Guidelines fot the study and teachinf of the Church’s Social Doctine in the Formation of Priests, p.25);
• John XXIII (1960s): During the Cold War era, the “social issue” became of global significance, extending to Third World countries as well. The pope called on people to the “task of establishing new relationships in human society, under the mastery and guidance of truth, justice, charity and freedom” (in the encyclical “Pacem in Terris” of 1963). He was the first pope to write an encyclical addressing not only “Christians” but “all men of good will” (in the encyclical “Mater et Magistra” of 1961) in the search for universal common good;
• Paul VI (1960s-1970s): In the turbulent years following 1968, the pope was concerned with numerous issues: the condition of young people, unemployment, the dignity of women, emigration, discrimination, demographic growth (in the apostolic letter “Octogesima Adveniens” of 1971), highlighting “the inadequacy of ideologies to respond to such challenges” (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, point 100);

• John Paul II (1980s-2000s): In almost thirty years of pontificate, the pope tackled an almost boundless range of social issues: the issue of labor (in the encyclical “Laborem Excercens” of 1971), the development of man in all aspects and all related issues in Third World countries (in the encyclical “Sollicitudo Rei Socialis” of 1987), solidarity (in the encyclical “Centesimus Annus” of 1991), etc.;
• Benedict XVI (2000s): Emphasized the indispensability of ethics and openness to transcendence in economic development and societal progress (in the encyclical “Caritas in Veritate” of 2009);
• Francis (2010-2020s): In his “social” encyclical (“Laudato Si'” of 2015), the pope went to the root of contemporary environmental issues, proposing an integral ecology for the care of man, his neighbor, and the Creation that God has entrusted to him.

Each of them, drawing from the Church’s Tradition, sought to interpret the Gospel message to “shed light” on various social, political, and economic contingencies of their time.

…

…as my grandmother used to say, “Beggars can’t be choosers…”

…well, I know that one can provide all the explanations in the world, with the list of popes and their respective historical contexts, but there will always be people with blinkers this big…

4 • Social Doctrine of the Church: Refrain from Ideologies!

Despite the variety of social issues the Church has addressed in the last century, one common point in these positions is the opposition to ideologies.

From socialism to Nazism, from fascism to communism, from materialistic hedonism to ethical relativism, from utopian progressivism to unrestrained capitalism, the Church has consistently opposed every form of “structure of sin” – to use an expression with which John Paul II describes all those “social deformations” to which humans risk becoming accustomed, numbing their consciences:

Indeed:

The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church insists strongly on this point…

…as if it wants to call out all those pseudo-clerics who have “fled the nest” and:

(As I mentioned earlier, every political party has its “regime priests” who use the Gospel or the Church’s Magisterium as a menu, choosing/discarding based on the “guidelines” of their own faction…)

To the chagrin of these individuals, the Compendium is very clear:

And if the discussion was too complex, John Paul II simplifies it a bit:

Conclusion

André Frossard (1915-1995), a French journalist and essayist, said:

In short, what else to add?

The Gospel is fire.

Ideology (whatever it may be) is a box.

You cannot enclose fire in a box…

sale

(Spring 2020)