Church’s social doctrine
The first chapter—“A Dynamic Approach Faithful to the Gospel”—traces the Social Doctrine of the Church in recent magisterium and the Second Vatican Council, highlighting “its dynamic character” (17). Far from being “a handbook of principles and norms to be applied,” the Church’s social teaching is rather a “theology of communion in history” (27), which guides our reading of events in light of the Gospel. Pope Leo XIV recalls the writings of his predecessors: from Pius XII – the first to use the expression “Social Doctrine of the Church” in his Apostolic Exhortation Menti Nostrae of 1950 – to Pope Francis. He recalled Pope Leo XIII’s Encyclical Rerum Novarum of 1891, which “constitutes a milestone in the development of the Church’s social teaching” (30). In the years following, each successor of Peter “interpreted historical changes according to the Gospel, bringing to light different aspects of a single heritage: the dignity of the person, the value of work, the universal destination of goods, solidarity and subsidiarity, care for creation and the centrality of peace and fraternity” (45).
Safeguarding human dignity
In the second chapter, Pope Leo XIV explores the “Foundations and Principles of the Social Doctrine of the Church”.
These foundations, he says, include the dignity of the person, created in the image and likeness of God. It is important to recall this since “the pressure of new ideologies or certain highly powerful interests” can reduce the human person to “a resource to be used and exploited” or “on what they achieve or produce” (51). On the contrary, “the fundamental dignity of each person…is neither acquired nor earned, nor does it need to be justified” (53). A second foundation of the Social Doctrine of the Church is the inviolability of human rights, among which the first is the right to life “from conception to its natural end.” In this regard, Leo XIV defines induced abortion, the killing of the innocent, and euthanasia as “choices that the Church considers gravely wrong” (55). The third foundation is the recognition of the rights of minorities, with particular attention to women. The Pope calls for “concrete decisions” in their favor regarding laws, employment, education, in social and political responsibilities, so that they may be truly heard and valued (57).