Lk 21, 37-38 + CSDC and CV

Luke 21, 37-38 + CSDC and CV

CV 58a The principle of subsidiarity must remain closely linked to the principle of solidarity and vice versa, since the former without the latter gives way to social privatism, while the latter without the former gives way to paternalist social assistance that is demeaning to those in need. This general rule must also be taken broadly into consideration when addressing issues concerning international development aid. Such aid, whatever the donors' intentions, can sometimes lock people into a state of dependence and even foster situations of localized oppression and exploitation in the receiving country.          

         A need to promote an effective international cooperation among States

CDS 292 Given the quickly developing global dimensions of economic-financial relationships and of the labour market, there is a need to promote an effective international cooperation among States by means of treaties, agreements and common plans of action that safeguard the right to work, even in the most critical phases of the economic cycle, at the national and international levels. It is necessary to be aware of the fact that human work is a right upon which the promotion of social justice and civil peace directly depend. Important tasks in this regard fall to international organizations and to labour unions. Joining forces in the most suitable ways, they must strive first of all to create “an ever more tightly knit fabric of juridical norms that protect the work of men, women and youth, ensuring its proper remuneration”.[631]  

Notes: [631] Paul VI, Address to the International Labour Organization (10 June 1969), 21: AAS 61 (1969), 500; cf. John Paul II, Address to the International Labour Organization (15 June 1982), 13: AAS 74 (1982), 1004-1005.

(Luke 21,37-38) The question of truth is essential for culture

[37] During the day, Jesus was teaching in the temple area, but at night he would leave and stay at the place called the Mount of Olives. [38] And all the people would get up early each morning to listen to him in the temple area.

CDS 558 The second challenge for Christian commitment concerns the content of culture, that is, truth. The question of truth is essential for culture because “it remains each man's duty to retain an understanding of the  whole human person in which the values of intellect, will, conscience and fraternity are pre-eminent”.[1169] A correct anthropology is the criterion for shedding light on and verifying every historical form of culture. The Christian commitment in the field of culture is opposed to all reductionistic and ideological perspectives of man and life. The dynamism of openness to the truth is guaranteed above all by the fact that “different cultures are basically different ways of facing the question of the meaning of personal existence”[1170]. 

Notes: [1169] Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 61: AAS 58 (1966), 1082. [1170] John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 24: AAS 83 (1991), 822.  

[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)]