20. The Nature of Man and of Society
7. The Christian Concept of Man
7a) Man: An Image of God
Among all the creatures of the visible universe, man is the only being who was created in the image and likeness of God. His spiritual soul—with its higher faculties: the intellect and the will—makes him an image of God. Through these faculties, man can govern the rest of visible creation, and reach the knowledge of and worship his Creator.
Sacred Scripture teaches that man was created “to the image of God,” as able to know and love his creator, and as set by him over all earthly creatures that he might rule them, and make use of them, while glorifying God.1
By governing the universe through work and the administration of natural resources, man cooperates and is associated with God’s activity. This shows man’s great natural dignity.
The ultimate goal in the exercise of his natural powers is the knowledge of God and the joy that ensues from this knowledge:
To contemplate God, and to tend to Him, is the supreme law of the life of man. For we were created in the divine image and likeness, and are impelled, by our very nature, to the enjoyment of our Creator. But not by bodily motion or effort do we make advance toward God, but through acts of the soul, that is, through knowledge and love. For, indeed, God is the first and supreme truth, and the mind alone feeds on truth. God is perfect holiness and the sovereign good, to which only the will can desire and attain, when virtue is its guide.2
Man was also endowed, over and above his own nature, with supernatural gifts, which elevated his natural prerogatives and made him share in the divine life itself. Man lost these gifts as a consequence of original sin. However, thanks to the merits of Christ and the saving mission that he entrusted to his Church, man can recover the supernatural gifts. This is done through the Church’s dispensation of the deposit of truth and the administration of the sacraments. The ultimate destiny of man—the contemplation of God as he is—will be possible only in eternal glory. However, even in this life, man can recover the dignity of being a child of God, in the way instituted by Christ.
As he hung upon the Cross, Christ Jesus not only appeased the justice of the Eternal Father, which had been violated, but he also won for us, his brethren, an ineffable flow of graces. It was possible for him to impart these graces of himself to mankind directly; but he willed to do so only through a visible Church.3
7b) The Center and Peak of Visible Creation
We cannot measure the greatness of man in purely biological terms, as if he were just the most evolved of animals. The Book of Genesis attests that Adam, by naming the other creatures, manifested his God-given dominion over them. At the same time, he acquired knowledge of himself as a singular being and his differences from the other creatures. It is not possible, therefore, to describe the singularity of man in terms of some inferior creature. Even less can we define him through his products. Pope John Paul II asserted that “it is not enough to define man according to all the bio-physiological criteria, and that it is necessary to believe in man, from the beginning.”4
As we have just seen, it is in his higher powers—the intellect and the will—that man’s activity resembles God’s. Therefore, these powers establish man as the center and peak of visible, material creation:
Two gifts, which raise him very high between the world of celestial spirits and the world of bodies, make man great, even since his downfall: the intellect, whose view surveys the created universe and crosses the skies, yearning to contemplate God; and will, endowed with the power to choose freely, servant and master of the intellect, which makes us, in different degrees, masters of our own thoughts and of our actions before ourselves, before others, and before God.5
7c) A Transcendent Destiny
Man’s vocation can attain its total fulfillment only beyond this world.
The form of this world, distorted by sin, is passing away and we are taught that God is preparing a new dwelling and a new earth in which righteousness dwells, whose happiness will fill and surpass all the desires of peace arising in the hearts of men.6
The Christian is no expatriate. He is a citizen of the city of men, and his soul longs for God. While still on earth he has glimpses of God’s love and comes to recognize it as the goal to which all men on earth are called.7
7d) Dignity of the Human Person
(1) As a child of God
The dignity of the human person is founded on the adoption as children of God that Christ has won for mankind. If this origin is forgotten, human dignity and the due order of human dealings are threatened.
Separated from God a man is but a monster, in himself and toward others; for the right ordering of human society presupposes the right ordering of man’s conscience with God, who is Himself the source of all justice, truth and love.8
(2) As a spiritual being
Because of his spiritual soul, each individual is endowed with an intrinsic dignity. This implies that his nature cannot be treated as a mere means. The reason is that, as a spiritual being, man has the power to direct himself to his own end. God has given man this power, and he himself respects it. “The mind [l’esprit] is the original element that fundamentally distinguishes man from the animal world and that gives him the power to master the universe.”9
Man is in himself a whole, a microcosm. He cannot be explained by merely natural mechanisms, as if he were just another segment of the universe. The Second Vatican Council gives a list of offenses that violate man’s spiritual condition insofar as they attempt to manipulate man for purposes alien to him:
The varieties of crime are numerous: all offenses against life itself, such as murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia and willful suicide; all violations of the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, physical and mental torture, undue psychological pressures; all offenses against human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children, degrading working conditions where men are treated as mere tools for profit rather than free and responsible persons: all these and the like are criminal: they poison civilization; and they debase the perpetrators more than the victims and militate against the honor of the creator.10
7e) The Natural Equality of All Human Beings
All human beings have the same free nature created by God. Therefore, they are all endowed with the same dignity in their mutual relations. “For the Church, all men are equal in dignity before God; they must, therefore, be so also in the relations, whether free or necessary, which unite them.”11
This equality does not extend, of course, to their physical capacity or their moral and intellectual qualities, but only to their identical condition as human beings. This identical condition and dignity is opposed to any sort of discrimination in their fundamental rights:
Forms of social or cultural discrimination in basic personal rights on the grounds of sex, race, color, social conditions, language or religion, must be curbed and eradicated as incompatible with God’s design.12
To this we must add men’s dignity as children of God, a dignity won by Christ for all people through the means that he instituted and entrusted to his Church.
It is important to keep reminding ourselves that Jesus did not address himself to a privileged set of people; he came to reveal the universal love of God to us. God loves all men, and he wants all to love him—everyone, whatever his personal situation, his social position, his work.13
8. Society
8a) The Intrinsically Social Nature of Man
(1) Man needs society to develop himself
Man is naturally ordained to live in society, so that he may reach his full development. Society is rooted in the singular reality of each human being, who needs the help of other people to develop his natural potentialities.
By his innermost nature man is a social being; and if he does not enter into relations with others he can neither live nor develop his gifts.14
(2) Man is sociable by nature
The sociability of man is a demand of the nature of his being. This trait can be seen in the different expressions of social life. Some belong to the natural order: family and political society geared to the common good.15 Others arise from free initiative, as a result of the natural right of association; their juridical configuration is thus historical and changeable.16 These free associations should not be seen as incompatible with natural ones; both are rooted in natural law.
To enter into a “society” of this kind is the natural right of man; and the state has the duty to protect natural rights, not destroy them. If the state forbids its citizens to form associations, it contradicts the very principle of its own existence; for both they and it exist in virtue of the same principle, namely, the natural tendency of man to dwell in society.17
The human person is not subordinated to society in all his being. It is society that is ordained to facilitating the attainment of man’s proper end.
God has related man and civil society according to the dictates of man’s very nature. In the plan of the Creator, society is a natural means that man can and must use to reach his destined end.18
These two aspects of society—its necessity for the human person and its derived nature—are summarized by the Second Vatican Council: “Insofar as man by his very nature stands completely in need of life in society, he is and he ought to be the beginning, the subject and the object of every social organization.”19
(3) Social rights and duties
The sociability of man demands that mutual rights and duties be recognized and respected. As a member of civil society, each citizen has rights and obligations toward his fellow citizens. They, in turn, must recognize such rights and duties insofar as they are in the same situation.
It is imperative to a well-ordered society that men should recognize and perform their respective rights and duties. But the result will be that each individual will make his whole-hearted contribution to the creation of a civic order in which rights and duties are ever more diligently and more effectively observed.20
8b) The Nature of Society
(1) Divine origin
Human society has been constituted by God, the Author of nature. It is not the result of a compact or contract among citizens. Society derives from God, who is the source of any social authority.
God has made man for society, and has placed him in the company of others like himself, so that what was wanting to his nature, and beyond his attainment if left to his own resources, he might obtain by association with others. Wherefore, civil society must acknowledge God as its Founder and Parent, and must obey and reverence His power and authority.21
(2) Founded on human nature itself
Society is not something added to the nature of man; it is a demand of his natural sociability. Only with the help of others can a person provide for his needs, both material and spiritual. On the other hand, the individual fulfills his personal vocation by putting his talents and qualities at others’ disposal.22
(3) Family as the basis of society
The family is the first natural institution. Its rights and duties take precedence over any other social institution. The state must protect, not absorb, these rights and duties. Some concrete examples of these rights are the right to form a family, the right to not have contraception forced on them, and the right to assistance for large families. Another essential right that must be acknowledged is the education of children; parents are the original and primary holders of the right to educate their children.
The Church has often defended the rights of the family, which are untouchable and prevail over those of the state:
Since the domestic household is antecedent, in idea as well as in fact, to the gathering of men into a community, the family must necessarily have rights and duties that are prior to those of the community, and founded more immediately in nature.… Paternal authority can be neither abolished nor absorbed by the State; for it has the same source as human life itself.23
8c) Society Is Meant for the Person
The foundation of society is the person, who naturally lives in a family. It follows that the vitality of society will depend on the vitality of its primary cell.
From this superior dignity derives the consequence that the social body and its organization do not have complete authority over man, as St. Thomas pointed out precisely: “Man is not ordained to the political community according to the whole of himself or according to all his affairs.”24
9. Human Solidarity and Charity
9a) Solidarity among Individuals
(1) Solidarity based on nature
Solidarity among individuals is imposed and dictated by the basic equality of all people, who share the same rational nature.25 Society is not a mere aggregate of individuals; it is strengthened by organic links among all its members, who are called to form a single family. The interests and concerns of each member cannot be alien to the rest.
All, in fact, are destined to the very same end, namely God himself, since they have been created in the likeness of God who “made from one every nation of men who live on all the face of the earth” (Acts 17:26).… It follows, then, that if man is the only creature on earth that God has wanted for its own sake, man can fully discover his true self only in a sincere giving of himself.26
(2) Solidarity and the supernatural end
Solidarity is also required by the supernatural end to which all human beings are called. God wants humans to reach salvation as members of a society. Therefore, he has established the Church, in which all cooperate for the common welfare. This form of solidarity is expressed in the dogma of the communion of saints. The common supernatural end is the strongest unifying force binding together all people.
As the firstborn of many brethren, and by the gift of his Spirit, he [Jesus Christ] established, after his death and resurrection, a new brotherly communion among all who received him in faith and love; this is the communion of his own body, the Church, in which everyone as members one of the other would render mutual service in the measure of the different gifts bestowed on each.27
(3) Solidarity and the common good
All men are bound to work together for the common good. This coordination of efforts, overcoming partisan positions that divide and cause confrontations, is precisely what we call solidarity.
Such solidarity, open, dynamic, and universal by nature, will never be negative. It will not be a “solidarity against” but a positive and constructive one, a “solidarity for,” for work, for justice, for peace, for well-being and for truth in social life.28
(4) Solidarity and mutual rights
Another reason for solidarity is the acknowledgment of mutual rights and duties. This leads to an active solidarity, created by people themselves through the network of their mutual relations.
In his association with his fellow-men, there is every reason why man’s recognition of rights, observance of duties, and many-sided collaboration with other men, should be primarily a matter of his own personal decision. Each man should act on his own initiative, conviction, and sense of responsibility, not under the constant pressure of external coercion or enticement.29
9b) Solidarity between Individuals and Society
Solidarity with society demands that individuals cooperate in civic tasks and facilitate the access of the underprivileged to material and cultural goods.
It is necessary then to foster among all the will to play a role in common undertakings. One must pay tribute to those nations whose systems permit the largest possible number of the citizens to take part in public life in a climate of genuine freedom.30
9c) Solidarity among Nations
(1) Unity of origin and destiny
Solidarity among nations is rooted in their unity of origin and common destiny. The Church, while respecting the peculiarities of each people, teaches that there is a deep bond among people of different cultures, which is rooted in their common vocation as children of God. Therefore, all nations—especially the wealthier ones—must show solidarity with the other nations.31
(2) Universality of Christian charity
The charity that was preached and practiced by Christ is not limited to a cultural group or circle; it has no frontiers and extends to all:
Justice has to be completed and sustained by Christian charity. This means that love of neighbor, and of one’s country, should not withdraw into oneself, in a form of closed egoism suspicious of the good of others, but must wax and expand so as to embrace all nations and establish vital relations with them, in a spontaneous movement towards solidarity.32
(3) Absolute equality of all peoples
All peoples are equal, their legitimate natural and cultural differences notwithstanding. To make this equality effective, however, wealthier nations must provide for the needs of the underdeveloped ones.
The effects of international solidarity, even in its most perfect degree, will hardly be able to achieve perfect equality among all peoples. Still, it is urgent to practice it, at least to such an extent that the present conditions—which are far from representing a harmonious distribution—be significantly modified. In other words, solidarity among peoples demands the end of the huge unbalances in standards of living, as well as in investments and in the productivity of human work.33
Footnotes:
1. GS, 12.
2. Leo XIII, Enc. Sapientiae Christianae, 1; cf. CCC, 1929–1933.
3. Pius XII, Enc. Mystici Corporis, 6.
4. John Paul II, Homily at Saint-Dennis, May 31, 1980.
5. Pius XII, Address, Nov. 30, 1941.
6. GS, 39.
7. St. Josemaría Escrivá, Christ is Passing By, 99.
8. John XXIII, Enc. Mater et Magistra, 215.
9. John Paul II, Message to the young people of France, June 1, 1980.
10. GS, 27.
11. Pius XII, Address, Feb. 4, 1956.
12. GS, 29.
13. St. Josemaría Escrivá, Christ is Passing By, 110.
14. GS, 12; cf. CCC, 1878–1885.
15. Cf. Pius XI, Enc. Divini Redemptoris, 27–29.
16. Cf. Leo XIII, Enc. Rerum Novarum, 40.
17. Cf. Ibid.
18. Pius XI, Enc. Divini Redemptoris, 29.
19. GS, 25.
20. John XXIII, Enc. Pacem in Terris, 31.
21. Leo XIII, Enc. Libertas, 21.
22. Cf. GS, 25.
23. Leo XIII, Enc. Rerum Novarum, 9–10.
24. ST, II-II, q. 21, a. 4, ad 3; cf. CCC, 1881.
25. Cf. CCC, 360–361.
26. GS, 24.
27. Ibid., 32.
28. John Paul II, Address to workers and businessmen in Barcelona, Nov. 7, 1982.
29. John XXIII, Enc. Pacem in Terris, 34.
30. GS, 31.
31. Cf. Paul VI, Enc. Populorum Progressio, 62.
32. John XXIII, Christmas Message, 1959.
33. Pius XII, Christmas Message, Dec. 24, 1952; cf. Paul VI, Enc. Populorum Progressio, 43–76.
7a) Man: An Image of God
Among all the creatures of the visible universe, man is the only being who was created in the image and likeness of God. His spiritual soul—with its higher faculties: the intellect and the will—makes him an image of God. Through these faculties, man can govern the rest of visible creation, and reach the knowledge of and worship his Creator.
Sacred Scripture teaches that man was created “to the image of God,” as able to know and love his creator, and as set by him over all earthly creatures that he might rule them, and make use of them, while glorifying God.1
By governing the universe through work and the administration of natural resources, man cooperates and is associated with God’s activity. This shows man’s great natural dignity.
The ultimate goal in the exercise of his natural powers is the knowledge of God and the joy that ensues from this knowledge:
To contemplate God, and to tend to Him, is the supreme law of the life of man. For we were created in the divine image and likeness, and are impelled, by our very nature, to the enjoyment of our Creator. But not by bodily motion or effort do we make advance toward God, but through acts of the soul, that is, through knowledge and love. For, indeed, God is the first and supreme truth, and the mind alone feeds on truth. God is perfect holiness and the sovereign good, to which only the will can desire and attain, when virtue is its guide.2
Man was also endowed, over and above his own nature, with supernatural gifts, which elevated his natural prerogatives and made him share in the divine life itself. Man lost these gifts as a consequence of original sin. However, thanks to the merits of Christ and the saving mission that he entrusted to his Church, man can recover the supernatural gifts. This is done through the Church’s dispensation of the deposit of truth and the administration of the sacraments. The ultimate destiny of man—the contemplation of God as he is—will be possible only in eternal glory. However, even in this life, man can recover the dignity of being a child of God, in the way instituted by Christ.
As he hung upon the Cross, Christ Jesus not only appeased the justice of the Eternal Father, which had been violated, but he also won for us, his brethren, an ineffable flow of graces. It was possible for him to impart these graces of himself to mankind directly; but he willed to do so only through a visible Church.3
7b) The Center and Peak of Visible Creation
We cannot measure the greatness of man in purely biological terms, as if he were just the most evolved of animals. The Book of Genesis attests that Adam, by naming the other creatures, manifested his God-given dominion over them. At the same time, he acquired knowledge of himself as a singular being and his differences from the other creatures. It is not possible, therefore, to describe the singularity of man in terms of some inferior creature. Even less can we define him through his products. Pope John Paul II asserted that “it is not enough to define man according to all the bio-physiological criteria, and that it is necessary to believe in man, from the beginning.”4
As we have just seen, it is in his higher powers—the intellect and the will—that man’s activity resembles God’s. Therefore, these powers establish man as the center and peak of visible, material creation:
Two gifts, which raise him very high between the world of celestial spirits and the world of bodies, make man great, even since his downfall: the intellect, whose view surveys the created universe and crosses the skies, yearning to contemplate God; and will, endowed with the power to choose freely, servant and master of the intellect, which makes us, in different degrees, masters of our own thoughts and of our actions before ourselves, before others, and before God.5
7c) A Transcendent Destiny
Man’s vocation can attain its total fulfillment only beyond this world.
The form of this world, distorted by sin, is passing away and we are taught that God is preparing a new dwelling and a new earth in which righteousness dwells, whose happiness will fill and surpass all the desires of peace arising in the hearts of men.6
The Christian is no expatriate. He is a citizen of the city of men, and his soul longs for God. While still on earth he has glimpses of God’s love and comes to recognize it as the goal to which all men on earth are called.7
7d) Dignity of the Human Person
(1) As a child of God
The dignity of the human person is founded on the adoption as children of God that Christ has won for mankind. If this origin is forgotten, human dignity and the due order of human dealings are threatened.
Separated from God a man is but a monster, in himself and toward others; for the right ordering of human society presupposes the right ordering of man’s conscience with God, who is Himself the source of all justice, truth and love.8
(2) As a spiritual being
Because of his spiritual soul, each individual is endowed with an intrinsic dignity. This implies that his nature cannot be treated as a mere means. The reason is that, as a spiritual being, man has the power to direct himself to his own end. God has given man this power, and he himself respects it. “The mind [l’esprit] is the original element that fundamentally distinguishes man from the animal world and that gives him the power to master the universe.”9
Man is in himself a whole, a microcosm. He cannot be explained by merely natural mechanisms, as if he were just another segment of the universe. The Second Vatican Council gives a list of offenses that violate man’s spiritual condition insofar as they attempt to manipulate man for purposes alien to him:
The varieties of crime are numerous: all offenses against life itself, such as murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia and willful suicide; all violations of the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, physical and mental torture, undue psychological pressures; all offenses against human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children, degrading working conditions where men are treated as mere tools for profit rather than free and responsible persons: all these and the like are criminal: they poison civilization; and they debase the perpetrators more than the victims and militate against the honor of the creator.10
7e) The Natural Equality of All Human Beings
All human beings have the same free nature created by God. Therefore, they are all endowed with the same dignity in their mutual relations. “For the Church, all men are equal in dignity before God; they must, therefore, be so also in the relations, whether free or necessary, which unite them.”11
This equality does not extend, of course, to their physical capacity or their moral and intellectual qualities, but only to their identical condition as human beings. This identical condition and dignity is opposed to any sort of discrimination in their fundamental rights:
Forms of social or cultural discrimination in basic personal rights on the grounds of sex, race, color, social conditions, language or religion, must be curbed and eradicated as incompatible with God’s design.12
To this we must add men’s dignity as children of God, a dignity won by Christ for all people through the means that he instituted and entrusted to his Church.
It is important to keep reminding ourselves that Jesus did not address himself to a privileged set of people; he came to reveal the universal love of God to us. God loves all men, and he wants all to love him—everyone, whatever his personal situation, his social position, his work.13
8. Society
8a) The Intrinsically Social Nature of Man
(1) Man needs society to develop himself
Man is naturally ordained to live in society, so that he may reach his full development. Society is rooted in the singular reality of each human being, who needs the help of other people to develop his natural potentialities.
By his innermost nature man is a social being; and if he does not enter into relations with others he can neither live nor develop his gifts.14
(2) Man is sociable by nature
The sociability of man is a demand of the nature of his being. This trait can be seen in the different expressions of social life. Some belong to the natural order: family and political society geared to the common good.15 Others arise from free initiative, as a result of the natural right of association; their juridical configuration is thus historical and changeable.16 These free associations should not be seen as incompatible with natural ones; both are rooted in natural law.
To enter into a “society” of this kind is the natural right of man; and the state has the duty to protect natural rights, not destroy them. If the state forbids its citizens to form associations, it contradicts the very principle of its own existence; for both they and it exist in virtue of the same principle, namely, the natural tendency of man to dwell in society.17
The human person is not subordinated to society in all his being. It is society that is ordained to facilitating the attainment of man’s proper end.
God has related man and civil society according to the dictates of man’s very nature. In the plan of the Creator, society is a natural means that man can and must use to reach his destined end.18
These two aspects of society—its necessity for the human person and its derived nature—are summarized by the Second Vatican Council: “Insofar as man by his very nature stands completely in need of life in society, he is and he ought to be the beginning, the subject and the object of every social organization.”19
(3) Social rights and duties
The sociability of man demands that mutual rights and duties be recognized and respected. As a member of civil society, each citizen has rights and obligations toward his fellow citizens. They, in turn, must recognize such rights and duties insofar as they are in the same situation.
It is imperative to a well-ordered society that men should recognize and perform their respective rights and duties. But the result will be that each individual will make his whole-hearted contribution to the creation of a civic order in which rights and duties are ever more diligently and more effectively observed.20
8b) The Nature of Society
(1) Divine origin
Human society has been constituted by God, the Author of nature. It is not the result of a compact or contract among citizens. Society derives from God, who is the source of any social authority.
God has made man for society, and has placed him in the company of others like himself, so that what was wanting to his nature, and beyond his attainment if left to his own resources, he might obtain by association with others. Wherefore, civil society must acknowledge God as its Founder and Parent, and must obey and reverence His power and authority.21
(2) Founded on human nature itself
Society is not something added to the nature of man; it is a demand of his natural sociability. Only with the help of others can a person provide for his needs, both material and spiritual. On the other hand, the individual fulfills his personal vocation by putting his talents and qualities at others’ disposal.22
(3) Family as the basis of society
The family is the first natural institution. Its rights and duties take precedence over any other social institution. The state must protect, not absorb, these rights and duties. Some concrete examples of these rights are the right to form a family, the right to not have contraception forced on them, and the right to assistance for large families. Another essential right that must be acknowledged is the education of children; parents are the original and primary holders of the right to educate their children.
The Church has often defended the rights of the family, which are untouchable and prevail over those of the state:
Since the domestic household is antecedent, in idea as well as in fact, to the gathering of men into a community, the family must necessarily have rights and duties that are prior to those of the community, and founded more immediately in nature.… Paternal authority can be neither abolished nor absorbed by the State; for it has the same source as human life itself.23
8c) Society Is Meant for the Person
The foundation of society is the person, who naturally lives in a family. It follows that the vitality of society will depend on the vitality of its primary cell.
From this superior dignity derives the consequence that the social body and its organization do not have complete authority over man, as St. Thomas pointed out precisely: “Man is not ordained to the political community according to the whole of himself or according to all his affairs.”24
9. Human Solidarity and Charity
9a) Solidarity among Individuals
(1) Solidarity based on nature
Solidarity among individuals is imposed and dictated by the basic equality of all people, who share the same rational nature.25 Society is not a mere aggregate of individuals; it is strengthened by organic links among all its members, who are called to form a single family. The interests and concerns of each member cannot be alien to the rest.
All, in fact, are destined to the very same end, namely God himself, since they have been created in the likeness of God who “made from one every nation of men who live on all the face of the earth” (Acts 17:26).… It follows, then, that if man is the only creature on earth that God has wanted for its own sake, man can fully discover his true self only in a sincere giving of himself.26
(2) Solidarity and the supernatural end
Solidarity is also required by the supernatural end to which all human beings are called. God wants humans to reach salvation as members of a society. Therefore, he has established the Church, in which all cooperate for the common welfare. This form of solidarity is expressed in the dogma of the communion of saints. The common supernatural end is the strongest unifying force binding together all people.
As the firstborn of many brethren, and by the gift of his Spirit, he [Jesus Christ] established, after his death and resurrection, a new brotherly communion among all who received him in faith and love; this is the communion of his own body, the Church, in which everyone as members one of the other would render mutual service in the measure of the different gifts bestowed on each.27
(3) Solidarity and the common good
All men are bound to work together for the common good. This coordination of efforts, overcoming partisan positions that divide and cause confrontations, is precisely what we call solidarity.
Such solidarity, open, dynamic, and universal by nature, will never be negative. It will not be a “solidarity against” but a positive and constructive one, a “solidarity for,” for work, for justice, for peace, for well-being and for truth in social life.28
(4) Solidarity and mutual rights
Another reason for solidarity is the acknowledgment of mutual rights and duties. This leads to an active solidarity, created by people themselves through the network of their mutual relations.
In his association with his fellow-men, there is every reason why man’s recognition of rights, observance of duties, and many-sided collaboration with other men, should be primarily a matter of his own personal decision. Each man should act on his own initiative, conviction, and sense of responsibility, not under the constant pressure of external coercion or enticement.29
9b) Solidarity between Individuals and Society
Solidarity with society demands that individuals cooperate in civic tasks and facilitate the access of the underprivileged to material and cultural goods.
It is necessary then to foster among all the will to play a role in common undertakings. One must pay tribute to those nations whose systems permit the largest possible number of the citizens to take part in public life in a climate of genuine freedom.30
9c) Solidarity among Nations
(1) Unity of origin and destiny
Solidarity among nations is rooted in their unity of origin and common destiny. The Church, while respecting the peculiarities of each people, teaches that there is a deep bond among people of different cultures, which is rooted in their common vocation as children of God. Therefore, all nations—especially the wealthier ones—must show solidarity with the other nations.31
(2) Universality of Christian charity
The charity that was preached and practiced by Christ is not limited to a cultural group or circle; it has no frontiers and extends to all:
Justice has to be completed and sustained by Christian charity. This means that love of neighbor, and of one’s country, should not withdraw into oneself, in a form of closed egoism suspicious of the good of others, but must wax and expand so as to embrace all nations and establish vital relations with them, in a spontaneous movement towards solidarity.32
(3) Absolute equality of all peoples
All peoples are equal, their legitimate natural and cultural differences notwithstanding. To make this equality effective, however, wealthier nations must provide for the needs of the underdeveloped ones.
The effects of international solidarity, even in its most perfect degree, will hardly be able to achieve perfect equality among all peoples. Still, it is urgent to practice it, at least to such an extent that the present conditions—which are far from representing a harmonious distribution—be significantly modified. In other words, solidarity among peoples demands the end of the huge unbalances in standards of living, as well as in investments and in the productivity of human work.33
Footnotes:
1. GS, 12.
2. Leo XIII, Enc. Sapientiae Christianae, 1; cf. CCC, 1929–1933.
3. Pius XII, Enc. Mystici Corporis, 6.
4. John Paul II, Homily at Saint-Dennis, May 31, 1980.
5. Pius XII, Address, Nov. 30, 1941.
6. GS, 39.
7. St. Josemaría Escrivá, Christ is Passing By, 99.
8. John XXIII, Enc. Mater et Magistra, 215.
9. John Paul II, Message to the young people of France, June 1, 1980.
10. GS, 27.
11. Pius XII, Address, Feb. 4, 1956.
12. GS, 29.
13. St. Josemaría Escrivá, Christ is Passing By, 110.
14. GS, 12; cf. CCC, 1878–1885.
15. Cf. Pius XI, Enc. Divini Redemptoris, 27–29.
16. Cf. Leo XIII, Enc. Rerum Novarum, 40.
17. Cf. Ibid.
18. Pius XI, Enc. Divini Redemptoris, 29.
19. GS, 25.
20. John XXIII, Enc. Pacem in Terris, 31.
21. Leo XIII, Enc. Libertas, 21.
22. Cf. GS, 25.
23. Leo XIII, Enc. Rerum Novarum, 9–10.
24. ST, II-II, q. 21, a. 4, ad 3; cf. CCC, 1881.
25. Cf. CCC, 360–361.
26. GS, 24.
27. Ibid., 32.
28. John Paul II, Address to workers and businessmen in Barcelona, Nov. 7, 1982.
29. John XXIII, Enc. Pacem in Terris, 34.
30. GS, 31.
31. Cf. Paul VI, Enc. Populorum Progressio, 62.
32. John XXIII, Christmas Message, 1959.
33. Pius XII, Christmas Message, Dec. 24, 1952; cf. Paul VI, Enc. Populorum Progressio, 43–76.