What is Social Justice? From John Paul II to Benedict XVI

What is Social Justice? From John Paul II to Benedict XVI | J. J. Ziegler | CWR



The third and final installment in a series on social justice in Catholic social doctrine


When
the Italian Jesuit Father Luigi Taparelli D’Azeglio (1793-1862) coined the term
“social justice” in the middle of the 19th century, he probably could not have
foreseen its mention in an 1894 curial document and a 1904 encyclical, nor the
importance attached to it by Pope Pius XI (1922-39) and subsequent pontiffs,
culminating in the authoritative teaching on social justice in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992).

After
the Catechism’s promulgation, Blessed John Paul II (1978-2005) continued to speak
about social justice. In a 1993 audience devoted to priests and politics, he said that
“Jesus formulated the precept of mutual love, which implies respect for every
person and his rights. It implies rules of social justice aiming at recognizing
what is each person’s due and at harmoniously sharing earthly goods among
individuals, families and groups.”

John
Paul taught that as priests follow the “precept of mutual love” which “implies
rules of social justice,” they must do so in different ways from the laity.
Strongly affirming the teaching of the 1971 Synod of Bishops, which was devoted
in part to justice in the world, John Paul said that

in circumstances in which there legitimately exist different
political, social and economic options, priests like all citizens have a right
to make their own personal choices. But since political options are by nature
contingent and never in an entirely adequate and perennial way interpret the
Gospel, the priest, who is the witness of things to come, must keep a certain
distance from any political office or involvement.

Quoting
the Catechism, Blessed John Paul
added that “it is not the role of the pastors of the Church to intervene
directly in the political structuring and organization of social life. This
task is part of the vocation of the lay faithful, acting on their own
initiative with their fellow citizens.”

In
his 1994 apostolic letter Tertio Millennio Adveniente, John Paul taught that social
justice has its deepest roots in creation and in the institution of the jubilee
year, described in Leviticus 25. “The
riches of Creation were to be considered as a common good of the whole of
humanity,” he wrote. “Those who possessed these goods as personal
property were really only stewards, ministers charged with working in the name
of God, who remains the sole owner in the full sense, since it is God’s will
that created goods should serve everyone in a just way. The jubilee year was meant to restore this
social justice. The social doctrine of the Church, which has always
been a part of Church teaching and which has developed greatly in the last
century, particularly after the Encyclical Rerum Novarum, is
rooted in the tradition of the jubilee year” (no. 13).

In
his 1995 post-synodal apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in Africa, John Paul called for “a serious
commitment to foster on the continent conditions of greater social justice and
good government”—or, as the Latin text literally states, “conditions of greater
social justice and the more just exercise of power”—“in order
thereby to prepare the ground for peace” (no. 117).  “If you want peace, work for justice,” he
added, quoting Paul VI’s well-known statement.

Two
years later, in an address to Philippine bishops, John Paul further developed
Catholic teaching on social justice by explicitly linking social justice to the
defense of the family.

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