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WHAT IS CATHOLIC SOCIAL
TEACHING?
Catholic social teaching, sometimes
referred to as the social doctrine of the
Church, is a body of official Church
teachings on the social order, composed of
papal statements and conciliar or synodal
documents. These social teachings
originated with Pope Leo XIII and continue
to the present.
The Catholic social tradition, however, is
much older than this body of teachings,
and is rooted in the Hebrew and Christian
Scriptures as well as in the patristic
writings, which go back as far as the
fifth century. This tradition provides a
framework and an intellectual legacy from
which the more recent (dating from the
nineteenth century) social teachings draw.
This tradition is a point of reference
against which the social teachings are
tested, even as the latter develop beyond
the tradition by applying it to new issues
and questions.
Catholic social teaching is rooted in the
dignity of the human person as created in
the image of God, and the human rights and
duties that protect and enhance this
dignity. Catholic social teaching is also
concerned with the social nature of the
human person, the concept of the common
good, the relationship between society and
the state, the theory of justice, an “option
for the poor,” and the concepts of
subsidiarity and solidarity.
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