CHRISTIAN CITIZENS IN MODERN BRITAIN
1. As bishops of the Catholic Church we have a duty to proclaim the Christian
Gospel and to set out its implications for human society. An understanding of
these implications can help members of the Church make more informed and
reasoned political choices.
2. The inseparable links between the spiritual, moral and political aspects of
society are complex and profound. Leaders of the Church have to be careful not
to step outside the limits of their own competence nor to infringe the proper
autonomy of lay people. It is not for bishops to tell people how to vote.
Bishops, clergy and lay people need to work together, each partner respecting
the appropriate competence and experience of others.
3. As Catholics we are not without resources in trying to meet the need for
moral guidance in the social and political sphere. There is an abundance of
wisdom in Scripture, in the teachings of the early Fathers of the Church and
the writings of numerous Christian thinkers down the ages. Furthermore, we
have at our disposal the corpus of official doctrine known as Catholic Social
Teaching. Together with the relevant documents of the Second Vatican Council
(1962-65) and the statements of local and regional conferences of bishops,
the 'social encyclicals' of various popes since 1891 represent a formidable
body of insight and guidance. For Catholics it carries special authority.
But it is available to all people of whatever religious persuasion, as they
engage in the democratic process in their own societies.
4. The Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales is convinced
that the social teaching of the Church is more relevant than it has
ever been to the complex problems faced by advanced Western countries
such as modern Britain. We welcome discussion and collaboration in the
application and development of this teaching, and would not want to
exclude from dialogue anyone who has expertise or responsibility in the
political field, whether Catholic or not. There will be some who find a
particular expression of this teaching unsatisfactory, or who wish to bring
to attention considerations which may have been neglected in the past.
Their contribution is also important.
5. We have great respect for other traditions of Christian social teaching
in Britain, such as those exemplified by Wesley, Elizabeth Fry, Wilberforce,
Shaftesbury, Kingsley, Booth, Temple and many others. We have been
appreciative of formal opportunities for dialogue in this area, which we
wish to continue developing with the leaders and members of all Christian
churches in England and Wales, especially those with expertise in political
and social theory. We also wish to co-operate with other national and regional
Catholic Bishops' Conferences in the future development of Catholic Social
Teaching. We are especially grateful for the leadership shown by Pope John
Paul II in this area. During his pontificate the Church's understanding of
the moral principles upon which a healthy society should be based has been
considerably deepened.
6. It is in this spirit of openness, and of listening as well as teaching,
that the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales looks ahead to
the general election that is expected in the coming months. This document
is issued with our authority as bishops, 'teachers of the faith' of the
Catholic Church, both as a contribution to the common good of our society
and a contribution to the general development of Catholic teaching. As
political feelings inevitably become more heated and partisan, we judge this
to be an opportune moment to try to maintain or even seek to raise the
level of public debate. A national political debate conducted at the level
of soundbites and slogans would not serve the national interest.
The Church's presence
7. The Catholic Church already has a deep involvement in the public life of
Britain, with a great range of institutions directly or indirectly working
under Catholic auspices for the betterment of individuals and society. It
has a major stake in welfare and educational provision, equivalent to an
investment of many millions of pounds, and the time and energy of tens of
thousands of dedicated people. The Church's presence in the country is seen
first of all through the countless individuals who bring their Catholic
vision to bear in their secular work.
8. In partnership with central government and local education authorities,
the Catholic bishops have responsibility for approximately one in ten
schools in the State sector, as well as for institutions engaged in the
training of teachers. We also have oversight of numerous schools in the
independent sector, and of various academic institutions engaged in
undergraduate and postgraduate education. All those institutions draw
their Catholic character from their attention to Catholic doctrine
(including Catholic Social Teaching), their regular collective worship,
and the moral and spiritual content of the ethos that underlies their
daily life.
9. The Catholic Church is a significant employer of professional social
workers and people in other related professions, as well as having numerous
members of male and female religious orders engaged in these fields.
There are also many thousands of Catholic volunteers working unpaid in
various welfare organisations throughout the country. The range of work
covered by these Catholic welfare institutions (in some places now in
partnership with similar bodies from other Christian Churches, and in
collaboration with secular agencies) stretches from prison chaplaincy
and the 'befriending' of young offenders to working with the mentally
handicapped, from hospices to marriage guidance, from adoption and
fostering to night shelters for the homeless and accommodation for
refugees. The list is almost inexhaustible.
10. Much of this educational and social provision preceded what we now
call the Welfare State, and expressed the Church's commitment to those
experiencing any sort of hardship or suffering, especially the
disadvantages caused by poverty, social exclusion or lack of
education. The Catholic Church in these islands is no stranger to the
desperately poor.
11. It is this long experience, probably equal to that of any other
non-government organisation in Britain, that the Catholic Church in
England and Wales draws upon in responding to contemporary social
conditions. Indeed, it does not regard as separate from its own
tradition the ecclesiastical and monastic institutions of pre-Reformation
England and Wales, which made immeasurable contributions to the
welfare of society and the relief of distress. The Catholic Church
now sees itself as working alongside and often in alliance with other
bodies, secular and religious, state and voluntary, on behalf of the
common good. It brings to this task its own moral and spiritual
priorities and vision, and it therefore approaches social problems in
distinctive ways. We believe this distinctiveness can be of benefit
to the whole community.
The dignity of the human person
12. The Catholic social vision has as its focal point the human person,
the clearest reflection of God among us. Scripture tells us that every
human being is made in the image of God. God became flesh when he
entered the human race in the person of Jesus Christ, true God and true
man. Christ challenges us to see his presence in our neighbour, especially
the neighbour who suffers or who lacks what is essential to human
flourishing. In relieving our neighbour's suffering and meeting our
neighbour's needs, we are also serving Christ. For the Christian,
therefore, there can be no higher privilege and duty.
13. We believe each person possesses a basic dignity that comes from
God, not from any human quality or accomplishment, not from race or
gender, age or economic status. The test therefore of every institution
or policy is whether it enhances or threatens human dignity and indeed
human life itself. Policies which treat people as only economic units,
or policies which reduce people to a passive state of dependency on
welfare, do not do justice to the dignity of the human person.
14. People who are poor and vulnerable have a special place in Catholic
teaching: this is what is meant by the "preferential option
for the poor." Scripture tells us we will be judged by our response
to the "least of these," in which we see the suffering
face of Christ himself. Humanity is one family despite differences of
nationality or race. The poor are not a burden; they are our brothers
and sisters. Christ taught us that our neighbourhood is universal:
so loving our neighbour has global dimensions. It demands fair
international trading policies, decent treatment of refugees, support
for the UN and control of the arms trade. Solidarity with our neighbour
is also about the promotion of equality of rights and equality of
opportunities; hence we must oppose all forms of discrimination and
racism.
15. It is time we reminded ourselves that in the spirit of good citizenship
all members of the Catholic Church must accept their full share of
responsibility for the welfare of society. We should regard the
discharge of those responsibilities as no less important than fulfilling
our religious duties and indeed as part of them. As bishops of the
Catholic Church in England and Wales, however, we do not seek to
engage in party politics in any form. We claim whatever rights and
opportunities are available to us only in order to exercise an
influence on behalf of whatever we believe to be true and good,
especially in solidarity with people everywhere who are on low
incomes, disabled, ill or infirm, homeless or poorly housed, in
prison, refugees, or who are otherwise vulnerable, powerless and
at a disadvantage.
The social dimension of faith
16. Christians believe that God is the creator of all things,
visible and invisible. Every corner of creation is sustained by
God's creative will; the laws of nature, including the laws of
human nature, are laws made by God. There is no part of creation,
therefore, that cannot be examined with the eye of faith, the
better to understand its relation to the rest and its ultimate
purposes.
17. Nothing is beyond the scope of faith, even though faith must
often join hands with secular disciplines in order to explore
and understand the issues fully and accurately. This applies
especially to human society, which is a special part of God's
creative activity. The Church does not reject the findings of
economics, sociology and anthropology, but welcomes them, in so
far as they are true, as valuable aids to a deeper understanding
of how society works.
18. An insight of Christian faith in the Trinity is the knowledge
that the desire to belong to human society is God-given. Human
beings are made in the image of God, and within the one God is
a divine society of three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Communities are brought into being by the participation of
individual men and women, responding to this divine impulse
towards social relationships - essentially, the impulse to love
and to be loved - which was implanted by the God who created
them.
19. It is a distortion of human nature, therefore, to suppose
that individuals can exist independently of society, as if it
had no demand on them. Members of society are individually
subject to moral principles in their own lives, and these
implicit and explicit moral demands are not of their own
invention. The same is true of societies. They too have demands
and those demands are not arbitrary. There are ways of structuring
society which are inimical to human progress and personal
development. The Church calls them "structures of
sin."
20. Pope John Paul II defined the concept of "structures
of sin" in his encyclical Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (1987)
in the following terms:
"If the present situation can be
attributed to difficulties of various kinds, it is not out of
place to speak of 'structures of sin' which are rooted in
personal sin, and thus always linked to the concrete acts of
individuals who introduce these structures, consolidate them
and make them difficult to remove. And thus they grow stronger,
spread, and become the source of other sins, and so influence
people's behaviour. One cannot easily gain a profound understanding
of the reality that confronts us unless we give a name to the
root of the evils which afflict us"(paragraph 36.2).
21. There are other ways of structuring society which facilitate
true human development and correspond to moral principles and
demands. Such structures can enable people to realise their
dignity and achieve their rights. The human race itself is a
"community of communities," existing at international,
national, regional and local level. The smallest such community
is the individual family, the basic cell of human society. A well
constructed society will be one that gives priority to the
integrity, stability and health of family life. It should be a
principle of good government, therefore, that no law should be
passed with possible social consequences without first considering
what effect it would have on family life and especially on
children.
22. The principle behind the relationships between the different
layers of this "community of communities" should be
that of subsidiarity. In a centralised society, subsidiarity will
mainly mean passing powers downwards; but it can also mean passing
appropriate powers upwards, even to an international body, if that
would better serve the common good and protect the rights of
families and of individuals.
23. If subsidiarity is the principle behind the organisation of
societies from a vertical perspective, solidarity is the equivalent
horizontal principle. Solidarity means the willingness to see others
as another "self" and so to regard injustice committed
against another as no less serious than an injustice against
oneself. Solidarity expresses the moral truth that
"no man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of
the continent, a part of the main"(John Donne).
topOrigins of Social Teaching
24. The tradition of Catholic Social Teaching represents a sustained
attempt to understand how societies function and what principles
should guide them. The fashioning of social teaching is a task the
Church has undertaken down the ages. But it began afresh towards the
end of the nineteenth century, when European nations had experienced
the impact of industrialisation and the severe and rapid disruption
it caused in hitherto relatively stable patterns of community.
25. The Church noted the conflict between the opposing theories of
laissez-faire capitalism and Marxist Communism for governing the
progress of industrial societies, and in the name of social justice
found much to object to in each of them. Each regarded human society
as being subject to inevitable economic laws, the consequences of
which were sometimes very harsh.
26. The subordination of human well-being to economic principles,
whether of left or right, was widely recognised in the Catholic
Church as resulting from a distorted perception of reality. It was
resistance to this economic determinism which prompted Pope Leo
XIII to issue the encyclical letter Rerum Novarum in 1891. It
became the first of a series of "social encyclicals," on
the basis of which the Church set out to restore in contemporary
industrial society the priority of the human over the economic,
and the spiritual and moral over the material.
27. The general purpose of the Church's social teaching is to
contribute to the formation of conscience as a basis for specific
action. The Church's teaching authority is comprehensive in its
scope, but limited in its immediate practical application. It is
for individuals and groups to decide how best to apply it in
particular circumstances. There will not always be agreement.
Debate will often be necessary, controversy inevitable. There are
some elements in this teaching, however, which are direct
applications of the moral law and therefore strictly binding on
consciences. Examples would be the Church's condemnation of
genocide or the deliberate encouragement of racial hatred. They
are not debatable.
28. Social teaching is not limited to a collection of official,
mainly papal, texts. It is an oral tradition as well as a
written one, and it is a lived and living tradition. Many
Catholics whose lives are dedicated to the service and welfare
of others make this teaching present by their very activity,
even if they have never read a social encyclical.
29. The writing of these encyclicals was not done in isolation,
as if the Pope alone had exclusive access to knowledge about
the just and proper ordering of society that was not available to
anyone else. The encyclicals' insights into human nature and
human community have arisen in response to current crises, often
on the Church's own doorstep. It is noticeable, however, that in
the course of the last hundred years the focus of attention of
these documents has gradually extended from Western Europe to
the whole globe. The theology behind them has also undergone a
continuous evolution: the earlier encyclicals concentrated more
on a natural law basis while those since the Second Vatican Council
(1962-65), including those by Pope John Paul II, have
moved to a more Christ-centred and hence more person-centred
approach.
30. The offices which support the Pope's work supply him with a
continuous flow of reports and opinions from all parts of the
Church, and several Vatican departments follow the development
of ideas in these matters by all available means. The Holy See's
worldwide diplomatic service has been given the duty to monitor,
report on and, where possible, correct human rights abuses. The
international oversight of the Holy See enables it to see how
similar social problems can arise in different societies, and it
can also see which solutions to such problems prove most
successful in advancing the true interests of humanity.
31. From time to time controversies arise about some aspect of
this teaching, and serious attention is given to the criticisms
made at such times. As bishops, we hope to see more
participation in the future development of Catholic Social
Teaching, so that it is properly owned by all Catholics,
especially those who have positions of influence in our
society.
32. The development of Catholic teaching in the past has
inevitably reflected particular historical circumstances, and
this needs to be kept in mind in interpreting it today. At
certain times it has even been wrongly invoked in support of
oppressive regimes or governments perpetrating social injustice.
One of the reasons for the progressive evolution of Catholic
Social Teaching over the years has been the need to correct
these misinterpretations.
Fundamental features of our society
33. We wish to express our support and respect for the political
institutions of this country, and our pride in the way these
institutions have been admired all over the world. Britain has a
mature political culture and democratic tradition. Many insights
of British political and constitutional theory have evolved
along lines parallel to Catholic Social Teaching, and the
interaction of these two bodies of political wisdom is
stimulating and enriching for both of them.
34. The Church's teaching now fully embraces two fundamental
features of modern society about which it once had some
difficulties: democracy and human rights. In the case of
democracy, the Church has been able to make its own contribution
to political theory by exploring the limitations of the
democratic process, for instance by warning that democracy can
never be a self-fulfilling justification for policies that are
intrinsically immoral. Democracy is not a self-sufficient moral
system. Democracy, if it is to be healthy, requires more than
universal suffrage: it requires the presence of a system of
common values.
35. If democracy is not to become a democratic tyranny in
which the majority oppresses the minority, it is necessary
for the public to have an understanding of the common good
and the concepts that underlie it. Otherwise, they will be
unlikely to support actions by public authority that are not
to the immediate advantage of the majority. Furthermore,
public confidence is undermined, and democracy subverted,
when the members of public authorities responsible for the
common good are not appointed democratically or on objective
merit but in order to ensure that the authority in question
has a political complexion favourable to the government of
the day.
36. We repeat the warning the Church has given in the past,
that human rights are sometimes advanced to support claims to
individual autonomy which are morally inappropriate. Not
everything said to be a 'right' really is one. There is no
'right to choose' to harm another, for instance. The
proliferation of alleged 'rights' can devalue the very
concept. So can the amplification of rights without
equivalent stress on duties, and without some concept of
the common good to which all have an obligation to
contribute. However, that reservation must not be
allowed to destroy the value of the principle itself: that
individuals have a claim on each other and on society for
certain basic minimum conditions without which the value
of human life is diminished or even negated. Those rights are
inalienable, in that individuals and societies may not set
them at nought: in Catholic terms those rights derive from
the nature of the human person made in the image of God,
and are therefore in no way dependent for their existence
on recognition by the state by way of public
legislation.
37. These rights are universal. The study of the evolution
of the idea of human rights shows that they all flow from
the one fundamental right: the right to life. From this
derives the right to those conditions which make life
more truly human: religious liberty, decent work, housing,
health care, freedom of speech, education, and the right
to raise and provide for a family. Catholic moral theology
tells us that it is the destiny and duty of each human
being to become more fully human. A society which observes
human rights will be a society in which this true human
growth is encouraged. Every member of the community has a
duty to the common good in order that the rights of
others can be satisfied and their freedoms respected.
Those whose rights and freedoms are being denied should be
helped to claim them. Indeed, human rights have come to
represent that striving for freedom from tyranny and
despotism for which the human spirit has always
yearned.
38. We are aware that there are various proposals afoot to
strengthen the protection of human rights in Great Britain,
such as the framing of a Bill of Rights or the incorporation
of the European Convention on Human Rights into British
domestic law. Some strengthening seems necessary, whatever
the method chosen. This necessity is related to the need
for a system of common values if our democratic society is
indeed to be healthy.
39. Catholic Social Teaching sees an intimate relationship
between social and political liberation on the one hand, and
on the other, the salvation to which the Church calls us in
the name of Jesus Christ. The spreading of that message of
salvation is the task of evangelisation. Evangelisation
means bringing the Good News of the Gospel into every
stratum of humanity, and through its influence transforming
humanity from within and making it new.
40. That must include liberating humanity from all forces
and structures which oppress it, though political liberation
cannot be an end in itself. Evangelisation always requires
the transformation of an unjust social order; and one of
its primary tasks is to oppose and denounce such injustices.
All Catholics who engage in the political life of the nation
are entitled to regard themselves as engaging in evangelisation,
provided they do so in accordance with the principles of
Catholic teaching. One of the most important steps in the
evangelisation of the social order is the freeing of
individuals from the inertia and passivity that comes from
oppression, hopelessness or cynicism, so that they discover
how they can exert greater control over their own destinies
and contribute to the well-being of others. This has particular
relevance today.
Not an optional teaching
41. All Catholic citizens need an informed 'social
conscience' that will enable them to identify and resist
structures of injustice in their own society. This will
especially be the case at the time of heightened political
activity, for instance when as now a general election is
in prospect. Attention to Catholic Social Teaching, both
its general principles and its application in specific
circumstances, will enable the traditional Catholic
custom of 'examination of conscience' to be extended
into the social and political realm, an extension which we
would strongly encourage.
42. All who preach and teach in the Church must as far as
possible avoid giving the impression that observance of this
teaching is optional for Catholics, or somehow less important
than other aspects of the Church's moral guidance. Certainly,
disregard for social teaching in some serious aspect would be
an occasion for repentance, penance and, if necessary,
appropriate restitution. It is not the fear of sin and its
punishment, however, but the love of God and of one's
neighbour which should inspire Catholics to follow this
teaching.
43. The current tendency in social teaching, under the
influence of the Second Vatican Council and the present
Pope, is to integrate it with the rest of the Church's
moral teaching. The Council included as evils which it
described as 'infamies indeed' such practices as
'subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment,
deportation, slavery disgraceful working conditions,
where men are treated as mere tools for profit rather
than as free and responsible persons' in exactly the
same list as 'murder, genocide, abortion and euthanasia.'
Similarly, Pope John Paul II has placed the issue of
abortion within the context of social injustice,
especially the poor economic circumstances of many
women and their families. This makes it clearer that
situations of personal sin are often related to
situations of structural sin.
Natural law
44. One of the primary sources of Catholic Social Teaching
is natural law. Knowledge of natural law is possible by the
use of human reason, even without faith, and this is
therefore a source of moral guidance which is open to
everyone. Catholics and non-Catholics can make common
cause in response to the insights of natural law. Indeed,
in defending and upholding human rights (which are an
expression of natural law) Catholics and others all over
the world have discovered how much they have in common.
The Catholic Church believes that its insight into natural
law, contained in its tradition of social teaching,
is one of the contributions it can make to the rest of the
community, for the welfare of all.
45. Natural law is closely related to natural justice:
a set of principles by which people deserve to be treated
when, rightly or wrongly, they are confronted by public
authority and made to answer for some act or omission.
We would regard the Common Law principles of natural
justice as appropriate to be incorporated into the
Catholic Social Teaching tradition. Common Law emerged
in the Middle Ages in England as an expression of the
existing social consensus of the difference between
right and wrong. It was strongly influenced both by
natural law and by the jurisdiction of the church courts
before the Reformation.
46. Natural law also has a close relationship to
Revelation. The moral teachings of the Ten Commandments
themselves, revealed by God to Moses on Mount Sinai,
were already present implicitly in the hearts and minds
of the Israelites, by virtue of natural law. The
teachings of natural law can also be found implicitly
present in the moral teachings of other great world
faiths.
47. The Church frequently uses natural law and Biblical
sources alongside each other, for mutual elucidation.
Nevertheless the interpretation and application of
natural law is rarely straightforward and often
controversial. It is easier to say that natural law
points to the need for a harmonious and balanced
order than to say in any particular case exactly where
that balance is to be found. That becomes a matter for
political judgement, though it will be a better political
judgement if it is made in the light of first principles.
On the other hand, to ignore natural law, for instance by
organising society so that in effect it serves the interests
of a few rather than the common good, is to collaborate
with the structures of sin.
The development of Catholic Social Teaching
48. The present Pope has contributed to the development of
Catholic Social Teaching as much as any of his predecessors.
He has defined the religious heart of this teaching as
'the need for conversion to one's neighbour, at the level
of community as well as of the individual.' This conversion
affects attitudes which determine each person's relationship
with neighbours, human communities, and 'with nature itself'
the ordered mutually connected system, including animals,
which makes up the natural world. All of these elements are
involved in the common good. That common good is the whole
network of social conditions which enable human individuals
and groups to flourish and live a fully, genuinely human
life, otherwise described as 'integral human development.'
All are responsible for all, collectively, at the level of
society or nation, not only as individuals.
49. At the same time as the Pope has expanded the general
horizons of the Church's social teaching, regional and local
conferences of bishops have begun to issue their own
commentaries on social issues of current concern to their
communities. The Bishops' Conference of England and Wales
has decided that the time is right to respond to a growing
interest in Catholic Social Teaching in our countries.
50. The ascendancy of market-based economic models over
collective or command economic models has increased the
importance of Catholic Social Teaching in the modern day,
especially because its own critical analysis of free-market
capitalism has in no way been discredited. The Catholic
Church has a long history of resistance to Marxist
Communism, both as an ideology and as a power structure.
But it recognises that the very existence of this
ideological opposition to capitalism, however flawed,
tended in the past to act as a balancing factor or
crude brake on some of the excesses of which capitalism
is capable. In the light of such considerations as these,
it is more necessary than ever to explain, promote and
apply the Church's social teaching in the communities
for which we share responsibility.
Subsidiarity and solidarity
51. The word subsidiarity has entered secular political language
via Catholic Social Teaching in connection with the Maastricht
Treaty, where its application was a British initiative. The
principle of subsidiarity was defined by Pope Pius XI in his
encyclical Quadragesimo Anno (1931) in the following terms:
"Just as it is gravely wrong to take from individuals what
they can accomplish by their own initiative and industry and give
it to the community, so also it is an injustice and at the same
time a grave evil and disturbance of right order to assign to a
greater or higher association what lesser and subordinate
organisations can do. For every social activity ought of its
very nature to furnish help to the members of the body social,
and never destroy or absorb them."
"The supreme authority of the State ought, therefore, to
let subordinate groups handle matters and concerns of lesser
importance, which would otherwise dissipate its efforts greatly.
Thereby the State will more freely, powerfully and effectively
do all those things that belong to it alone because it alone can
do them: directing, watching, urging, restraining, as occasion
requires and necessity demands. Therefore those in power should
be sure that the more perfectly a graduated order is kept among
the various associations, in observance of the principle of
subsidiary function, the stronger social authority and
effectiveness will be, the happier and more prosperous the
condition of the State"(paragraph 80).
52. It will be seen that the principle of subsidiarity is no ally
of those who favour the maximisation of State power, or
centralisation of the State at the expense of more local
institutions. It supports a dispersal of authority as close to
the grass roots as good government allows, and it prefers local
over central decision-making. Subsidiarity also implies the
existence of a range of institutions below the level of the
State: some of these bodies are for the making of decisions
affecting individuals, some are for influencing the way those
decisions are made. Throughout Pius XI's teaching there is an
implicit and intimate relationship between subsidiarity and the
common good. Society as envisaged by Catholic Social Teaching
should be made up of many layers, which will be in complex
relationships with one another but which will be ordered as a
whole towards the common good, in accordance with the principle
of solidarity.
53. In the context of constitutional reforms, we would draw
attention to the importance of retaining the connection between
subsidiarity and solidarity, two fundamental and inseparable
principles of this body of teaching. Subsidiarity should never
be made an excuse for selfishness nor promoted at the expense of
the common good or to the detriment of the poorest and most
vulnerable sections of the community. Pope John Paul II defined
the concept of solidarity in Sollicitudo Rei Socialis in the
following terms:
"The fact that men and women in various parts of the world
feel personally affected by the injustices and violations of human
rights committed in distant countries, countries which perhaps
they will never visit, is a further sign of a reality
transformed into awareness, thus acquiring a moral
connotation."
"It is above all a question of interdependence, sensed as a
system determining relationships in the contemporary world in
its economic, cultural, political and religious elements, and
accepted as a moral category. When interdependence becomes
recognised in this way, the correlative response as a moral and
social attitude, as a 'virtue', is solidarity. This then is not a
feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the
misfortunes of so many people, both near and far. On the contrary
it is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to
the common good; that is to say, to the good of all and of each
individual because we are all really responsible for
all"(paragraphs 38.3-38.4).
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