The modern tradition of Catholic social teaching — the toolbox of principles the church calls us to draw upon to build the just social order — was instigated by Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903). We now have a new pope, Leo XIV, who is reminding us of this corpus of teaching as a resource as the world is torn by war and faces the challenge of a new digital industrial revolution.
This Catholic social teaching tradition, however, is not just for Catholics. It can be studied and applied by all people of goodwill because it is a true philosophy of society, rooted in principles such as the common good, the dignity of the human person, subsidiarity and solidarity. Catholic social teaching transcends the normal political binaries.
This great tradition is effective in bringing together people of all backgrounds to tackle difficult social problems, and how it does so was the subject of a recent Catholic in America podcast (May 19) with internationally renowned economist Jeffrey Sachs.
Sachs, who is Jewish, is a Harvard-trained economist and member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences who has advised two popes (John Paul II and Francis) in the development of papal social encyclicals. He sees in Catholic social teaching a great gift of the church to the world, and he thinks Catholics should not be sheepish about proposing CST principles to shape public life — not because they are the teachings of a religious community, but because they are true.
Pope Francis sought out Sachs because of his work on sustainable development as the former was drafting his encyclical “Laudato Si'” (On the Care of Our Common Home), which was published ten years ago. The Holy See gathered experts from a variety of disciplines to consider what it means to steward creation while also respecting the human person.
In a world that pits humans against the environment, how can the church point the way forward? The great gift of Laudato Si’ was to apply the principles of Catholic social teaching to the problem of creation care. The result was the concept of integral ecology, which does justice to both persons and the environment, because everything is connected.
Sachs and I discussed how both the words economics and ecology have the same Greek root word, oikos, which means household. Hence the English title of the encyclical calling us to steward our common home.
Economics should put first the well-being of the family and the household. The political community is a family of families, and economic life should promote distribution and social justice, as well as the common good. But while providing for human needs and managing scarce economic resources, we must also work together to promote environmental stewardship and care for our common home. That’s a responsibility that transcends every household, community, and nation.
“Laudato Si'” was addressed not just to Catholics, but all people of goodwill, and ten years later it continues to shape the thinking of people from all different backgrounds about how to properly care for creation.
Although Sachs and I recorded our conversation before Pope Leo XIV’s election, the latter is again rekindling interest in Catholic social teaching. In his May 16 address to the papal diplomatic corps, Pope Leo XIV stressed that we are called to pursue peace, especially eliminating the violence and destruction that comes from conflict and war.
But to achieve peace, he said, we must act justly, and doing so requires knowing the truth. He stated: “It is the responsibility of government leaders to work to build harmonious and peaceful civil societies. This can be achieved above all by investing in the family, founded upon the stable union between a man and a woman, a small but genuine society, and prior to all civil society. In addition, no one is exempted from striving to ensure respect for the dignity of every person, especially the most frail and vulnerable, from the unborn to the elderly, from the sick to the unemployed, citizens and immigrants alike.”
Like Francis, Pope Leo XIV is articulating Catholic social teaching’s rich philosophy of a just social order built on the oikos of family life and the dignity of every human person. In a world hungry for a way to break out of the false binaries of politics, the principles of Catholic social teaching provide real hope.
We need not hide this gift under a bushel but instead, as non-Catholics such as Sachs exhort us, we should bring it confidently into every corner of social life.
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