LibGuides: "Catholic Social Thought": THE PRINCIPLE OF SOLIDARITY

MEANING AND VALUE

“Solidarity highlights in a particular way the intrinsic social nature of the human person, the equality of all in dignity and rights and the common path of individuals and peoples towards an ever more committed unity.”

John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Mater et Magistra: AAS 53 (1961), 415-417.
Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 42: AAS 58 (1966), 1060-1061.
John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Laborem Exercens, 14-15: AAS 73 (1981), 612-618.

“In the presence of the phenomenon of interdependence and its constant expansion, however, there persist in every part of the world stark inequalities between developed and developing countries.”

“The new relationships of interdependence between individuals and peoples, which are de facto forms of solidarity, have to be transformed into relationships, tending towards genuine ethical-social solidarity.”

“Solidarity must be seen above all in its value as a moral virtue that determines the order of institutions.”

“The message of the Church’s social doctrine regarding solidarity clearly shows that there exists an intimate bond between solidarity and the common good, between solidarity and the universal destination of goods, between solidarity and equality among men and peoples, between solidarity and peace in the world.”

John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 17, 39, 45: AAS 80 (1988), 532-533, 566-568, 577-578. International solidarity too is required by the moral order; peace in the world depends in large part on this.
Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 83-86: AAS 58 (1966), 1107- 1110.
Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio, 48: AAS 59 (1967), 281.
Pontifical Commission “Iustitia et Pax”, At the Service of the Human Community: an Ethical Approach to the International Debt Question (27 December 1986), I, 1, Vatican Polyglot Press, Vatican City 1986, p. 11.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1941, 2438.
Congregation for Catholic Education, Guidelines for the Study and Teaching of the Church's Social Doctrine in the Formation of Priests, 38, Vatican Polyglot Press, Rome 1988, pp. 40-41.

“The principle of solidarity requires that men and women of our day cultivate a greater awareness that they are debtors of the society of which they have become part.”

“The unsurpassed apex of the perspective indicated here is the life of Jesus of Nazareth, the New Man, who is one with humanity even to the point of ‘death on a cross.’

“Jesus of Nazareth makes the connection between solidarity and charity shine brightly before all, illuminating the entire meaning of this connection: ‘In the light of faith, solidarity seeks to go beyond itself, to take on the specifically Christian dimensions of total gratuity, forgiveness and reconciliation. One’s neighbor is then not only a human being with his or her own rights and a fundamental equality with everyone else, but becomes the living image of God the Father, redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ and loved, even if an enemy, with the same love with which the Lord loves him or her; and for that person’s sake one must be ready for sacrifice, even the ultimate one: to lay down one’s life for the brethren.’”