PRINCIPPLES OF CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING
Human Dignity
The prime principle of Catholic social teaching is the 'correct view of the human person.' "Being in the image of God the human individual possesses the dignity of a person, who is not just something, but someone. He is capable of self-knowledge, of self-possession and of freely giving himself and entering into communion with other persons. And he is called by grace to a covenant with his Creator, to offer him a response of faith and love that no other creature can give in his stead" (Catholic Catechism #357).
Solidarity
Solidarity is “not a feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of others. It is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good” (JPII, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 38). Solidarity, which flows from faith, is fundamental to the Christian view of social and political organization. Each person is connected to and dependent on all humanity, collectively and individually. It is the complement of subsidiarity.
Caritas
In Caritas in Veritate, the Catholic Church declared that "[C]harity is at the heart of the Church's social doctrine'. Every responsibility and every commitment spelt out by that doctrine is derived from charity which, according to the teaching of Jesus, is the synthesis of the entire Law (cf. Mt 22:36- 40). It gives real substance to the personal relationship with God and with neighbour; it is the principle not only of micro-relationships (with friends, with family members or within small groups) but also of macro-relationships (social, economic and political ones)." [13]
The Church has chosen the concept of "charity in truth" to avoid a "degenerat[ion] into sentimentality [in which] [l]ove becomes an empty shell, to be filled in an arbitrary way. In a culture without truth, this is the fatal risk facing love. It falls prey to contingent subjective emotions and opinions, the word “love” is abused and distorted, to the point where...