5. Social Doctrine of the Church

The Social Doctrine of the Church (DSI, which is the Spanish acronym) is a set of rules and principles that guide the social life in different areas such as politics, economy, culture, society… But maybe it sound similar to Constitution, but it isn’t, because it’s based on the in The Gospel and The Magisterium of the Catholic Church. However, sometimes it does influence state laws.

The main principles it is based on are five.

First Principle:

Humans’ dignity. We can’t build The Kingship of God on the Earth if we don’t assure the dignity of every person. We do know that it’s united to the human beings just because they are.

Second Principle:

The human being is a social being. For better or worse, it’s that way, and we can’t change it. A child can’t be grown up out the society, we need the society and society needs us, everybody can contribute with something of their own. As it is said by lots of philosophers a man can’t reach perfection if society is not perfect too, and the opposite.

Third and Fourth Principles:

The good, solidarity and subsidiarity for everybody. People of the same community are supposed to have similar objectives, so society has to make it possible with legal actions such as economic ones, social ones…

But it’s not just a government task; we all have to work for getting it. Solidarity is important, for helping, or even for letting people help.

 

Fifth Principle:

The goods’ worldwide destination and preferences for poor people. Being shelfish is not the way, everyone has to have access to goods. It is not possible to build up a more righteous society without thinking on most needed people.

In the text below we can see the posture of the DSI over the ecological problem.

La limitación de los recursos naturales, algunos de los cuales no son, como suele decirse, renovables. Usarlos como si fueran inagotables, con dominio absoluto, pone seriamente en peligro su futura disponibilidad, no sólo para la generación presente, sino sobre todo para las futuras.

Todos sabemos que el resultado directo o indirecto de la industrialización es, cada vez más, la contaminación del ambiente, con graves consecuencias para la salud de la población.

Una vez más, es evidente que el desarrollo, así como la voluntad de planificación que lo dirige, el uso de los recursos y el modo de utilizarlos no están exentos de respetar las exigencias morales. Una de éstas impone sin duda límites al uso de la naturaleza visible. El dominio confiado al hombre por el Creador no es un poder absoluto.

"Juan Pablo II"

Anterior papa

This fragment belongs to “Sollicitudo Rei Socialis”, by Juan Pablo II. It says that taking care to natural resources is not just something ecological; it’s even more, it’s a way of solidarity. We must conserve the world not for the rest of our life, but because next generations will have to live in it.

What do you think? Do you agree with Juan Pablo II? Do you think these principles are correct, or is there one of them which you would delete, or one you would add?