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MAN, POVERTY AND RICHES
- 323.
- “In the Old Testament a twofold attitude towards economic goods and riches is found. On one hand, an attitude of appreciation sees the availability of material goods as necessary for life. . . . On the other hand, economic goods and riches are not in themselves condemned so much as their misuse.”
- 324.
- “Those who recognize their own poverty before God, regardless of their situation in life, receive particular attention from him.”
- “When sought or accepted with a religious attitude, poverty opens one to recognizing and accepting the order of creation.”
- 325.
- “Jesus takes up the entire Old Testament tradition even with regard to economic goods, wealth and poverty, and he gives them great clarity and fullness.”
- 326.
- “In the light of Revelation, economic activity is to be considered and undertaken as a grateful response to the vocation which God holds out for each person.”
- “Economic activity and material progress must be placed at the service of man and society.”
- 327.
- “Faith in Jesus Christ makes it possible to have a correct understanding of social development, in the context of an integral and solidary humanism.”
WEALTH EXISTS TO BE SHARED
- 328.
- “Goods, even when legitimately owned, always have a universal destination; any type of improper accumulation is immoral, because it openly contradicts the universal destination assigned to all goods by the Creator.”
- 329.
- “Riches fulfil their function of service to man when they are destined to produce benefits for others and for society.”
- John Paul II, The Shepherd of Hermas, Liber Tertium, Allegory I: PG 2, 954.
- Clement of Alexandria, Homily What Rich Man Will Be Saved?, 13: PG 9, 618.
- Saint John Chrysostom, Homiliae XXI de Statuis ad Populum Antiochenum Habitae, 2, 6-8: PG 49, 41-46.
- Saint Basil the Great, Homilia in Illud Lucae, Destruam Horrea Mea, 5: PG 31, 271.
- Saint Gregory the Great, Regula Pastoralis, 3, 21: PL 77, 87. Title of § 21: “Quomodo admonendi qui aliena non appetunt, sed sua retinent; et qui sua tribuentes, aliena tamen rapiunt”.
