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Notable quotations from the papal encyclical

Solicitudo Rei Socialis
On Social Concern

Pope John Paul II, 1987

(Unless otherwise noted, these quotations are from the translation by Joseph Donders in the book entitled John Paul's Encyclicals in Everyday Language.)

Solidarity... is not a feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of so many people, both near and far. On the contrary, it is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good; that is to say, to the good of all and of each individual, because we are all really responsible for all..
(#38 in official text)

One may sin by greed and the desire for power, but one may also sin in these matters through fear, indecision, and cowardice! (#47)

To commit oneself to the development of the whole person and every human being is an obligation not only for the individual, but also for societies and nations, and especially for the Catholic community and the other Christian churches. (#32)

Those who are more influential because they have greater share of goods and common services should feel responsible for the weaker and be ready to share with them all they possess...

the church feels called to take her stand beside the poor, to discern the justice of their requests and to help satisfy them, without losing sight of the good of groups in the context of the common good. (#39)

A consistent theme of Catholic social teaching is the option or love of preference for the poor. Today, this preference has to be expressed in worldwide dimensions, embracing the immense numbers of the hungry, the needy, the homeless, those without medical care, and those without hope. (#42)

Poverty is not only a question of having no material goods. Is the lack of human rights not also a form of poverty? (#15)

Next to the underdevelopment of the many, there is a superdevelopment for the few, Superdevelopment leads to a throwaway society and to enormous waste. Excessive access to all kinds of things, -- sometimes called consumerism -- enslaves people and does not make them happy.

The more one possesses, the more one wants, while the deeper human hopes remain unsatisfied and even stifled. "Having" more things does not necessarily mean 'being" more or being better. "Having" only helps us when it contributes to a more complete "being." (#28)

The right to private property is valid, but all private property is under a "social mortgage." (#42)

The church has no technical solutions to offer, but being an "expert in humanity" the church has something to say about the nature, conditions, requirements, and aims of authentic development and the obstacles that stand in its way. The church's social teaching is not a third way between capitalism and communism. It is not an ideology. Its aim is to guide Christians. It asks for a "commitment to justice." (#41)

Among the actions and attitudes opposed to God's will, two are very typical: greed and the thirst for power. Not only individuals sin in that way; so do nations and world-blocs. That is why we spoke of "structures of sin," (#37)

One must denounce the economic, financial, and social mechanisms and structures that are manipulated by the rich and powerful for their own benefit at the expense of the poor. (#16)

The Church well knows that no temporal achievement is to be identified with the Kingdom of God, but that all such achievements simply reflect and in a sense anticipate the glory of the Kingdom, the Kingdom which we await at the end of history, when the Lord will come again. But that expectation can never be an excuse for lack of concern for people in their concrete personal situations and in their social, national and international life, since the former is conditioned by the latter, especially today. (#48)

A world divided into blocs, in which instead of solidarity imperialism and exploitation hold sway, can only be a world structured in sin. Those structures of sin are rooted in sins committed by individual persons, who introduced these structures and reenforced them again and again. One can blame selfishness, shortsightedness, mistaken political decisions, and imprudent economic decisions; at the root of the evils that afflict the world there is -- in one way or another -- sin. (#36)

Neither the East's nor the West's ideas of development are perfect. Both systems need the correction of the church's social teaching. (#21)

Another form of oppression is the denial of the right to economic initiative. Experience shows that the denial of this right diminishes and destroys the spirit of resourcefulness. Everyone is leveled down to a false and unwholesome equality, leading to passivity, dependence, and submission to an all-embracing bureaucracy that is bad for all. (#15)

Solidarity is a Christian virtue. It seeks to go beyond itself to total gratuity, forgiveness, and reconciliation. It leads to a new vision of the unity of humankind, a reflection of God's triune intimate life; (#40)

I appeal to all to be convinced of the seriousness of the moment, to fulfill your commitment by the way you live, by the use of your resources, by your civic activity, by contributing to economic and political decisions, and by personal involvement in national and international undertakings. (#47)

Peoples and individuals aspire to be free, a noble and legitimate desire. Human beings are totally free only when they are completely themselves in the fullness of their rights and duties. The main obstacle to that freedom is sin and the structures produced by sin. (#46)

Material goods and the way we are developing the use of them should be seen as God's gifts to us. They are meant to bring out in each one of us the image of God. We must never lose sight of how we have been created: from the earth and from the breath of God. (#29)

The needs of the poor even outweigh the "need" for costly decorations, vestments, and utensils in worship. It could be obligatory to sell those goods in order to provide food, drink, clothing, and shelter for those who lack these things. (#31)

Solidarity helps us to see the 'other'-whether a person, people or nation-not just as some kind of instrument, with a work capacity and physical strength to be exploited at low cost and then discarded when no longer useful, but as our 'neighbor,' a 'helper' to be made a sharer on a par with ourselves in the banquet of life to which all are equally invited by God. (#39 in official text)

Interdependence must be transformed into solidarity, grounded on the principle that the goods of creation are meant for all. Avoiding every type of imperialism, the stronger nations must feel responsible for the other nations, based on the equality of all peoples and with respect for the differences. (#39)

If development is the new name for peace, war and preparations for war are the major enemy of the healthy development of peoples. If we take the common good of all humanity as our norm, instead of individual greed, peace would be possible. (#10)