John 2, 18-25 + CSDC and CV

John 2, 18-25 + CSDC and CV

CV 67d The integral development of peoples and international cooperation require the establishment of a greater degree of international ordering, marked by subsidiarity, for the management of globalization [149]. They also require the construction of a social order that at last conforms to the moral order, to the interconnection between moral and social spheres, and to the link between politics and the economic and civil spheres, as envisaged by the Charter of the United Nations.

Notes: [149] Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 43: loc. cit., 574-575. 

The free market cannot be judged apart from the ends that it seeks to accomplish and from the values that it transmits on a societal level

CSDC 348. The free market cannot be judged apart from the ends that it seeks to accomplish and from the values that it transmits on a societal level. Indeed, the market cannot find in itself the principles for its legitimization; it belongs to the consciences of individuals and to public responsibility to establish a just relationship between means and ends.[728] The individual profit of an economic enterprise, although legitimate, must never become the sole objective. Together with this objective there is another, equally fundamental but of a higher order: social usefulness, which must be brought about not in contrast to but in keeping with the logic of the market. When the free market carries out the important functions mentioned above it becomes a service to the common good and to integral human development. The inversion of the relationship between means and ends, however, can make it degenerate into an inhuman and alienating institution, with uncontrollable repercussions.

  

Notes: [728] Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 41: AAS 83 (1991), 843-845.

(Jn 2, 18-25) Faith in Jesus Christ makes it possible to have a correct understanding of social development  

[18] At this the Jews answered and said to him, "What sign can you show us for doing this?" [19] Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up." [20] The Jews said, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?" [21] But he was speaking about the temple of his body. [22] Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the scripture and the word Jesus had spoken. [23] While he was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, many began to believe in his name when they saw the signs he was doing. [24] But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all, [25] and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well.

CSDC 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. In this regard, the contribution of theological reflection offered by the Church's social Magisterium is very useful: “Faith in Christ the Redeemer, while it illuminates from within the nature of development, also guides us in the task of collaboration. In the Letter of St. Paul to the Colossians, we read that Christ is ‘the firstborn of all creation,' and that ‘all things were created through him' and for him (Col 1:15-16). In fact, ‘all things hold together in him', since ‘in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things' (v. 20). A part of this divine plan, which begins from eternity in Christ, the perfect ‘image' of the Father, and which culminates in him, ‘the firstborn from the dead' (v. 15-18), in our own history, marked by our personal and collective effort to raise up the human condition and to overcome the obstacles which are continually arising along our way. It thus prepares us to share in the fullness which ‘dwells in the Lord' and which he communicates ‘to his body, which is the Church' (v. 18; cf. Eph 1:22-23). At the same time sin, which is always attempting to trap us and which jeopardizes our human achievements, is conquered and redeemed by the ‘reconciliation' accomplished by Christ (cf. Col 1:20)”.[684]  

Notes: [684] John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 31: AAS 80 (1988), 554-555.

[Initials and Abbreviations.- CSDC: Pontifical Council for Justice And Peace, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church; -  SDC: Social Doctrine of the Church; - CV: Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in truth)]