The Catholic Social Programme

It is only as the consequence of a misunderstanding that some seek for a detailed social policy in the encyclicals of the Popes. One must not expect to find in them a pronouncement in favour of protection or free trade, a discussion of various monetary systems with a decision in favour of one of them, or even an exhortation to introduce the Eight Hours working day. As Leo XIII and Pius XI have repeatedly said, their intervention in the field of social reconstruction is based entirely on their official duty to safeguard and promote religion and morality, both of which are necessarily involved in the organization of society. The Popes make no claim to be economists or financiers, still less to be engineers or agriculturists; but they do most emphatically claim the right to lay down the moral principles which must be respected by all classes of mankind, and to point out the forms assumed by those principles in relation to the political, economic, financial and technical organization of society. Those who complain that such encyclicals as Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum or Pius XI's Quadragesimo Anno do not enter into greater detail would do better to reflect on this illustration of the Church's desire to leave as much liberty to individuals and States as she can without failing in her duty as guardian of the moral law. Given several alternative policies, any one of which may be pursued without any violation of morality, the Church is quite content to leave the choice between them to those who are entrusted with the care of national interests, or who have a part to play in the social mechanism by virtue of their economic functions

Citation · Library science · Physics · Watt · Catholicism and Religious Studies · Computer Science · Historical Economic and Legal Thought · Reformed Theology and Governance