PASTORAL CONSTITUTION: ON THE CHURCH IN THE MODERN WORLD
 
                            GAUDIUM ET SPES
 
     Proclaimed By His Holiness, Pope Paul VI on December 7, 1965.
 
 
 
PREFACE
 
1. The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of
this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these
are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of
Christ. Indeed, nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their
hearts. For theirs is a community composed of men. United in Christ, they
are led by the Holy Spirit in their journey to the Kingdom of their
Father and they have welcomed the news of salvation which is meant for
every man. That is why this community realizes that it is truly linked
with mankind and its history by the deepest of bonds.
 
2. Hence this Second Vatican Council, having probed more profoundly into
the mystery of the Church, now addresses itself without hesitation, not
only to the sons of the Church and to all who invoke the name of Christ,
but to the whole of humanity. For the council yearns to explain to
everyone how it conceives of the presence and activity of the Church in
the world of today.
 
Therefore, the council focuses its attention on the world of men, the
whole human family along with the sum of those realities in the midst of
which it lives; that world which is the theater of man's history, and the
heir of his energies, his tragedies and his triumphs; that world which
the Christian sees as created and sustained by its Maker's love, fallen
indeed into the bondage of sin, yet emancipated now by Christ, Who was
crucified and rose again to break the strangle hold of personified evil,
so that the world might be fashioned anew according to God's design and
reach its fulfillment.
 
3. Though mankind is stricken with wonder at its own discoveries and its
power, it often raises anxious questions about the current trend of the
world, about the place and role of man in the universe, about the meaning
of its individual and collective strivings, and about the ultimate
destiny of reality and of humanity. Hence, giving witness and voice to
the faith of the whole people of God gathered together by Christ, this
council can provide no more eloquent proof of its solidarity with, as
well as its respect and love for the entire human family with which it is
bound up, than by engaging with it in conversation about these various
problems. The council brings to mankind light kindled from the Gospel,
and puts at its disposal those saving resources which the Church herself,
under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, receives from her Founder. For the
human person deserves to be preserved; human society deserves to be
renewed. Hence the focal point of our total presentation will be man
himself, whole and entire, body and soul, heart and conscience, mind and
will.
 
Therefore, this sacred synod, proclaiming the noble destiny of man and
championing the godlike seed which has been sown in him, offers to
mankind the honest assistance of the Church in fostering that brotherhood
of all men which corresponds to this destiny of theirs. Inspired by no
earthly ambition, the Church seeks but a solitary goal: to carry forward
the work of Christ under the lead of the befriending Spirit. And Christ
entered this world to give witness to the truth, to rescue and not to sit
in judgment, to serve and not to be served.[2]
 
 
 
INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT THE SITUATION OF MEN IN THE MODERN WORLD
 
4. To carry out such a task, the Church has always had the duty of
scrutinizing the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light
of the Gospel. Thus, in language intelligible to each generation, she can
respond to the perennial questions which men ask about this present life
and the life to come, and about the relationship of the one to the other.
We must therefore recognize and understand the world in which we live,
its expectations, its longings, and its often dramatic characteristics.
Some of the main features of the modern world can be sketched as follows.
 
 Today, the human race is involved in a new stage of history. Profound
and rapid changes are spreading by degrees around the whole world.
Triggered by the intelligence and creative energies of man, these changes
recoil upon him, upon his decisions and desires, both individual and
collective, and upon his manner of thinking and acting with respect to
things and to people. Hence we can already speak of a true cultural and
social transformation, one which has repercussions on man's religious
life as well.
 
As happens in any crisis of growth, this transformation has brought
serious difficulties in its wake. Thus while man extends his power in
every direction, he does not always succeed in subjecting it to his own
welfare. Striving to probe more profoundly into the deeper recesses of
his own mind, he frequently appears more unsure of himself. Gradually and
more precisely he lays bare the laws of society, only to be paralyzed by
uncertainty about the direction to give it.
 
Never has the human race enjoyed such an abundance of wealth, resources
and economic power, and yet a huge proportion of the world's citizens are
still tormented by hunger and poverty, while countless numbers suffer
from total illiteracy. Never before has man had so keen an understanding
of freedom, yet at the same time, new forms of social and psychological
slavery make their appearance. Although the world of today has a very
vivid awareness of its unity and of how one man depends on another in
needful solidarity, it is most grievously torn into opposing camps by
conflicting forces. For political, social, economic, racial and
ideological disputes still continue bitterly, and with them the peril of
a war which would reduce everything to ashes. True, there is a growing
exchange of ideas, but the very words by which key concepts are expressed
take on quite different meanings in diverse ideological systems. Finally,
man painstakingly searches for a better world, without a corresponding
spiritual advancement.
 
Influenced by such a variety of complexities, many of our contemporaries
are kept from accurately identifying permanent values and adjusting them
properly to fresh discoveries. As a result, buffeted between hope and
anxiety and pressing one another with questions about the present course
of events, they are burdened down with uneasiness. This same course of
events leads men to look for answers; indeed, it forces them to do so.
 
5. Today's spiritual agitation and the changing conditions of life are
part of a broader and deeper revolution. As a result of the latter,
intellectual formation is ever increasingly based on the mathematical and
natural sciences and on those dealing with man himself, while in the
practical order the technology which stems from these sciences takes on
mounting importance.
 
This scientific spirit has a new kind of impact on the cultural sphere
and on modes of thought. Technology is now transforming the face of the
earth, and is already trying to master outer space. To a certain extent,
the human intellect is also broadening its dominion over time: over the
past by means of historical knowledge; over the future, by the art of
projecting and by planning.
 
Advances in biology, psychology, and the social sciences not only bring
men hope of improved self-knowledge; in conjunction with technical
methods, they are helping men exert direct influence on the life of
social groups.
 
At the same time, the human race is giving steadily increasing thought to
forecasting and regulating its own population growth. History itself
speeds along on so rapid a course that an individual person can scarcely
keep abreast of it. The destiny of the human community has become all of
a piece, where once the various groups of men had a kind of private
history of their own.
 
Thus, the human race has passed from a rather static concept of reality
to a more dynamic, evolutionary one. In consequence there has arisen a
new series of problems, a series as numerous as can be, calling for
efforts of analysis and synthesis.
 
6. By this very circumstance, the traditional local communities such as
families, clans, tribes, villages, various groups and associations
stemming from social contacts, experience more thorough changes every day.
 
The industrial type of society is gradually being spread, leading some
nations to economic affluence, and radically transforming ideas and
social conditions established for centuries.
 
Likewise, the cult and pursuit of city living has grown, either because
of a multiplication of cities and their inhabitants, or by a
transplantation of city life to rural settings.
 
New and more efficient media of social communication are contributing to
the knowledge of events; by setting off chain reactions they are giving
the swiftest and widest possible circulation to styles of thought and
feeling.
 
It is also noteworthy how many men are being induced to migrate on
various counts, and are thereby changing their manner of life. thus a
man's ties with his fellows are constantly being multiplied, and at the
same time "socialization" brings further ties, without however always
promoting appropriate personal development and truly personal
relationships.
 
This kind of evolution can be seen more clearly in those nations which
already enjoy the conveniences of economic and technological progress,
though it is also astir among peoples still striving for such progress
and eager to secure for themselves the advantages of an industrialized
and urbanized society. These peoples, especially those among them who are
attached to older traditions, are simultaneously undergoing a movement
toward more mature and personal exercise of liberty.
 
7. A change in attitudes and in human structures frequently calls
accepted values into question, especially among young people, who have
grown impatient on more than one occasion, and indeed become rebels in
their distress. Aware of their own influence in the life of society, they
want a part in it sooner. This frequently causes parents and educators to
experience greater difficulties day by day in discharging their tasks.
The institutions, laws and modes of thinking and feeling as handed down
from previous generations do not always seem to be well adapted to the
contemporary state of affairs; hence arises an upheaval in the manner and
even the norms of behavior.
 
Finally, these new conditions have their impact on religion. On the one
hand a more critical ability to distinguish religion from a magical view
of the world and from the superstitions which still circulate purifies it
and exacts day by day a more personal and explicit adherence to faith. As
a result many persons are achieving a more vivid sense of God. On the
other hand, growing numbers of people are abandoning religion in
practice. Unlike former days, the denial of God or of religion, or the
abandonment of them, are no longer unusual and individual occurrences.
For today it is not rare for such things to be presented as requirements
of scientific progress or of a certain new humanism. In numerous places
these views are voiced not only in the teachings of philosophers, but on
every side they influence literature, the arts, the interpretation of the
humanities and of history and civil laws themselves. As a consequence,
many people are shaken.
 
8. This development coming so rapidly and often in a disorderly fashion,
combined with keener awareness itself of the inequalities in the world
beget or intensify contradictions and imbalances.
 
Within the individual person there develops rather frequently an
imbalance between an intellect which is modern in practical matters and a
theoretical system of thought which can neither master the sum total of
its ideas, nor arrange them adequately into a synthesis. Likewise an
imbalance arises between a concern for practicality and efficiency, and
the demands of moral conscience; also very often between the conditions
of collective existence and the requisites of personal thought, and even
of contemplation. At length there develops an imbalance between
specialized human activity and a comprehensive view of reality.
 
As for the family, discord results from population, economic and social
pressures, or from difficulties which arise between succeeding
generations, or from new social relationships between men and women.
 
Differences crop up too between races and between various kinds of social
orders; between wealthy nations and those which are less influential or
are needy; finally, between international institutions born of the
popular desire for peace, and the ambition to propagate one's own
ideology, as well as collective greeds existing in nations or other
groups.
 
What results is mutual distrust, enmities, conflicts and hardships. Of
such is man at once the cause and the victim.
 
9. Meanwhile the conviction grows not only that humanity can and should
increasingly consolidate its control over creation, but even more, that
it devolves on humanity to establish a political, social and economic
order which will growingly serve man and help individuals as well as
groups to affirm and develop the dignity proper to them.
 
As a result many persons are quite aggressively demanding those benefits
of which with vivid awareness they judge themselves to be deprived either
through injustice or unequal distribution. Nations on the road to
progress, like those recently made independent, desire to participate in
the goods of modern civilization, not only in the political field but
also economically, and to play their part freely on the world scene.
Still they continually fall behind while very often their economic and
other dependence on wealthier nations advances more rapidly.
 
People hounded by hunger call upon those better off. Where they have not
yet won it, women claim for themselves an equity with men before the law
and in fact. Laborers and farmers seek not only to provide for the
necessities of life, but to develop the gifts of their personality by
their labors and indeed to take part in regulating economic, social,
political and cultural life. Now, for the first time in human history all
people are convinced that the benefits of culture ought to be and
actually can be extended to everyone.
 
Still, beneath all these demands lies a deeper and more widespread
longing: persons and societies thirst for a full and free life worthy of
man; one in which they can subject to their own welfare all that the
modern world can offer them so abundantly. In addition, nations try
harder every day to bring about a kind of universal community.
 
Since all these things are so, the modern world shows itself at once
powerful and weak, capable of the noblest deeds or the foulest; before it
lies the path to freedom or to slavery, to progress or retreat, to
brotherhood or hatred. Moreover, man is becoming aware that it is his
responsibility to guide aright the forces which he has unleashed and
which can enslave him or minister to him. That is why he is putting
questions to himself.
 
10. The truth is that the imbalances under which the modern world labors
are linked with that more basic imbalance which is rooted in the heart of
man. For in man himself many elements wrestle with one another. Thus, on
the one hand, as a creature he experiences his limitations in a multitude
of ways; on the other he feels himself to be boundless in his desires and
summoned to a higher life. Pulled by manifold attractions he is
constantly forced to choose among them and renounce some. Indeed, as a
weak and sinful being, he often does what he would not, and fails to do
what he would.[1] Hence he suffers from internal divisions, and from
these flow so many and such great discords in society. No doubt many
whose lives are infected with a practical materialism are blinded against
any sharp insight into this kind of dramatic situation; or else, weighed
down by unhappiness they are prevented from giving the matter any
thought. Thinking they have found serenity in an interpretation of
reality everywhere proposed these days, many look forward to a genuine
and total emancipation of humanity wrought solely by human effort; they
are convinced that the future rule of man over the earth will satisfy
every desire of his heart. Nor are there lacking men who despair of any
meaning to life and praise the boldness of those who think that human
existence is devoid of any inherent significance and strive to confer a
total meaning on it by their own ingenuity alone.
 
Nevertheless, in the face of the modern development of the world, the
number constantly swells of the people who raise the most basic questions
or recognize them with a new sharpness: what is man? What is this sense
of sorrow, of evil, of death, which continues to exist despite so much
progress? What purpose have these victories purchased at so high a cost?
What can man offer to society, what can he expect from it? What follows
this earthly life?
 
The Church firmly believes that Christ, who died and was raised up for
all,[2] can through His Spirit offer man the light and the strength to
measure up to his supreme destiny. Nor has any other name under the
heaven been given to man by which it is fitting for him to be saved.[3]
 She likewise holds that in her most benign Lord and Master can be found
the key, the focal point and the goal of man, as well as of all human
history. The Church also maintains that beneath all changes there are
many realities which do not change and which have their ultimate
foundation in Christ, Who is the same yesterday and today, yes and
forever.[4] Hence under the light of Christ, the image of the unseen God,
the firstborn of every creature,[5] the council wishes to speak to al]
men in order to shed light on the mystery of man and to cooperate in
finding the solution to the outstanding problems of our time.
 
 
 
PART I  THE CHURCH AND MAN'S CALLING
 
11. The People of God believes that it is led by the Lord's Spirit, Who
fills the earth. Motivated by this faith, it labors to decipher authentic
signs of God's presence and purpose in the happenings, needs and desires
in which this People has a part along with other men of our age. For
faith throws a new light on everything, manifests God's design for man's
total vocation, and thus directs the mind to solutions which are fully
human.
 
This council, first of all, wishes to assess in this light those values
which are most highly prized today and to relate them to their divine
source. Insofar as they stem from endowments conferred by God on man,
these values are exceedingly good. Yet they are often wrenched from their
rightful function by the taint in man's heart, and hence stand in need of
purification.
 
What does the Church think of man? What needs to be recommended for the
upbuilding of contemporary society? What is the ultimate significance of
human activity throughout the world? People are waiting for an answer to
these questions. From the answers it will be increasingly clear that the
People of God and the human race in whose midst it lives render service
to each other. Thus the mission of the Church will show its religious,
and by that very fact, its supremely human character.
 
 
 
CHAPTER I THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
 
12. According to the almost unanimous opinion of believers and
unbelievers alike, all things on earth should be related to man as their
center and crown.
 
But what is man? About himself he has expressed, and continues to
express, many divergent and even contradictory opinions. In these he
often exalts himself as the absolute measure of all things or debases
himself to the point of despair. The result is doubt and anxiety. The
Church certainly understands these problems. Endowed with light from God,
she can offer solutions to them, so that man's true situation can be
portrayed and his defects explained, while at the same time his dignity
and destiny are justly acknowledged.
 
For Sacred Scripture teaches that man was created "to the image of God,"
is capable of knowing and loving his Creator, and was appointed by Him as
master of all earthly creatures[1] that he might subdue them and use them
to God's glory.[2] "What is man that you should care for him? You have
made him little less than the angels, and crowned him with glory and
honor. You have given him rule over the works of your hands, putting all
things under his feet" (Ps. 8:5-7).
 
But God did not create man as a solitary, for from the beginning "male
and female he created them" (Gen. 1:27). Their companionship produces the
primary form of interpersonal communion. For by his innermost nature man
is a social being, and unless he relates himself to others he can neither
live nor develop his potential.
 
Therefore, as we read elsewhere in Holy Scripture God saw "all that he
had made, and it was very good" (Gen. 1:31).
 
13. Although he was made by God in a state of holiness, from the very
onset of his history man abused his liberty, at the urging of the Evil
One. Man set himself against God and sought to attain his goal apart from
God. Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, but their
senseless minds were darkened and they served the creature rather than
the Creator.[3] What divine revelation makes known to us agrees with
experience. Examining his heart, man finds that he has inclinations
toward evil too, and is engulfed by manifold ills which cannot come from
his good Creator. Often refusing to acknowledge God as his beginning, man
has disrupted also his proper relationship to his own ultimate goal as
well as his whole relationship toward himself and others and all created
things.
 
Therefore man is split within himself. As a result, all of human life,
whether individual or collective, shows itself to be a dramatic struggle
between good and evil, between light and darkness. Indeed, man finds that
by himself he is incapable of battling the assaults of evil successfully,
so that everyone feels as though he is bound by chains. But the Lord
Himself came to free and strengthen man, renewing him inwardly and
casting out that "prince of this world" (John 12:31) who held him in the
bondage of sin.[4] For sin has diminished man, blocking his path to
fulfillment.
 
The call to grandeur and the depths of misery, both of which are a part
of human experience, find their ultimate and simultaneous explanation in
the light of this revelation.
 
14. Though made of body and soul, man is one. Through his bodily
composition he gathers to himself the elements of the material world;
thus they reach their crown through him, and through him raise their
voice in free praise of the Creator.[5] For this reason man is not
allowed to despise his bodily life; rather he is obliged to regard his
body as good and honorable since God has created it and will raise it up
on the last day. Nevertheless, wounded by sin, man experiences rebellious
stirrings in his body. But the very dignity of man postulates that man
glorify God in his body[6] and forbid it to serve the evil inclinations
of his heart.
 
Now, man is not wrong when he regards himself as superior to bodily
concerns, and as more than a speck of nature or a nameless constituent of
the city of man. For by his interior qualities he outstrips the whole sum
of mere things. He plunges into the depths of reality whenever he enters
into his own heart; God, Who probes the heart,[7] awaits him there; there
he discerns his proper destiny beneath the eyes of God. Thus, when he
recognizes in himself a spiritual and immortal soul, he is not being
mocked by a fantasy born only of physical or social influences, but is
rather laying hold of the proper truth of the matter.
 
15. Man judges rightly that by his intellect he surpasses the material
universe, for he shares in the light of the divine mind. By relentlessly
employing his talents through the ages he has indeed made progress in the
practical sciences and in technology and the liberal arts. In our times
he has won superlative victories, especially in his probing of the
material world and in subjecting it to himself. Still he has always
searched for more penetrating truths, and finds them. For his
intelligence is not confined to observable data alone, but can with
genuine certitude attain to reality itself as knowable, though in
consequence of sin that certitude is partly obscured and weakened.
 
The intellectual nature of the human person is perfected by wisdom and
needs to be, for wisdom gently attracts the mind of man to a quest and a
love for what is true and good. Steeped in wisdom, man passes through
visible realities to those which are unseen.
 
Our era needs such wisdom more than bygone ages if the discoveries made
by man are to be further humanized. For the future of the world stands in
peril unless wiser men are forthcoming. It should also be pointed out
that many nations, poorer in economic goods, are quite rich in wisdom and
can offer noteworthy advantages to others.
 
It is, finally, through the gift of the Holy Spirit that man comes by
faith to the contemplation and appreciation of the divine plan.[8]
 
16. In the depths of his conscience, man detects a law which he does not
impose upon himself, but which holds him to obedience. Always summoning
him to love good and avoid evil, the voice of conscience when necessary
speaks to his heart: do this, shun that. For man has in his heart a law
written by God; to obey it is the very dignity of man; according to it he
will be judged.[9] Conscience is the most secret core and sanctuary of a
man. There he is alone with God, Whose voice echoes in his depths.[10] In a
wonderful manner conscience reveals that law which is fulfilled by love
of God and neighbor.[11] In fidelity to conscience, Christians are joined
with the rest of men in the search for truth, and for the genuine
solution to the numerous problems which arise in the life of individuals
from social relationships. Hence the more right conscience holds sway,
the more persons and groups turn aside from blind choice and strive to be
guided by the objective norms of morality. Conscience frequently errs
from invincible ignorance without losing its dignity. The same cannot be
said for a man who cares but little for truth and goodness, or for a
conscience which by degrees grows practically sightless as a result of
habitual sin.
 
17. Only in freedom can man direct himself toward goodness. Our
contemporaries make much of this freedom and pursue it eagerly; and
rightly to be sure. Often however they foster it perversely as a license
for doing whatever pleases them, even if it is evil. For its part,
authentic freedom is an exceptional sign of the divine image within man.
For God has willed that man remain "under the control of his own
decisions,"[12] so that he can seek his Creator spontaneously, and come
freely to utter and blissful perfection through loyalty to Him. Hence
man's dignity demands that he act according to a knowing and free choice
that is personally motivated and prompted from within, not under blind
internal impulse nor by mere external pressure. Man achieves such dignity
when, emancipating himself from all captivity to passion, he pursues his
goal in a spontaneous choice of what is good, and procures for himself
through effective and skillful action, apt helps to that end. Since man's
freedom has been damaged by sin, only by the aid of God's grace can he
bring such a relationship with God into full flower. Before the judgment
seat of God each man must render an account of his own life, whether he
has done good or evil.[13]
 
18. It is in the face of death that the riddle of human existence grows
most acute. Not only is man tormented by pain and by the advancing
deterioration of his body, but even more so by a dread of perpetual
extinction. He rightly follows the intuition of his heart when he abhors
and repudiates the utter ruin and total disappearance of his own person.
He rebels against death because he bears in himself an eternal seed which
cannot be reduced to sheer matter. All the endeavors of technology,
though useful in the extreme, cannot calm his anxiety; for prolongation
of biological life is unable to satisfy that desire for higher life which
is inescapably lodged in his breast.
 
Although the mystery of death utterly beggars the imagination, the Church
has been taught by divine revelation and firmly teaches that man has been
created by God for a blissful purpose beyond the reach of earthly misery.
In addition, that bodily death from which man would have been immune had
he not sinned[14] will be vanquished, according to the Christian faith,
when man who was ruined by his own doing is restored to wholeness by an
almighty and merciful Savior. For God has called man and still calls him
so that with his entire being he might be joined to Him in an endless
sharing of a divine life beyond all corruption. Christ won this victory
when He rose to life, for by His death He freed man from death.[15] Hence
to every thoughtful man a solidly established faith provides the answer
to his anxiety about what the future holds for him. At the same time
faith gives him the power to be united in Christ with his loved ones who
have already been snatched away by death; faith arouses the hope that
they have found true life with God.
 
19. The root reason for human dignity lies in man's call to communion
with God. From the very circumstance of his origin man is already invited
to converse with God. For man would not exist were he not created by
God's love and constantly preserved by it; and he cannot live fully
according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and devotes
himself to His Creator. Still, many of our contemporaries have never
recognized this intimate and vital link with God, or have explicitly
rejected it. Thus atheism must be accounted among the most serious
problems of this age, and is deserving of closer examination.
 
The word atheism is applied to phenomena which are quite distinct from
one another. For while God is expressly denied by some, others believe
that man can assert absolutely nothing about Him. Still others use such a
method to scrutinize the question of God as to make it seem devoid of
meaning. Many, unduly transgressing the limits of the positive sciences,
contend that everything can be explained by this kind of scientific
reasoning alone, or by contrast, they altogether disallow that there is
any absolute truth. Some laud man so extravagantly that their faith in
God lapses into a kind of anemia, though they seem more inclined to
affirm man than to deny God. Again some form for themselves such a
fallacious idea of God that when they repudiate this figment they are by
no means rejecting the God of the Gospel. Some never get to the point of
raising questions about God, since they seem to experience no religious
stirrings nor do they see why they should trouble themselves about
religion. Moreover, atheism results not rarely from a violent protest
against the evil in this world, or from the absolute character with which
certain human values are unduly invested, and which thereby already
accords them the stature of God. Modern civilization itself often
complicates the approach to God not for any essential reason but because
it is so heavily engrossed in earthly affairs.
 
Undeniably, those who willfully shut out God from their hearts and try to
dodge religious questions are not following the dictates of their
consciences, and hence are not free of blame; yet believers themselves
frequently bear some responsibility for this situation. For, taken as a
whole, atheism is not a spontaneous development but stems from a variety
of causes, including a critical reaction against religious beliefs, and
in some places against the Christian religion in particular. Hence
believers can have more than a little to do with the birth of atheism. To
the extent that they neglect their own training in the faith, or teach
erroneous doctrine, or are deficient in their religious, moral or social
life, they must be said to conceal rather than reveal the authentic face
of God and religion.
 
20. Modern atheism often takes on a systematic expression which, in
addition to other causes, stretches the desire for human independence to
such a point that it poses difficulties against any kind of dependence on
God. Those who profess atheism of this sort maintain that it gives man
freedom to be an end unto himself, the sole artisan and creator of his
own history. They claim that this freedom cannot be reconciled with the
affirmation of a Lord Who is author and purpose of all things, or at
least that this freedom makes such an affirmation altogether superfluous.
Favoring this doctrine can be the sense of power which modern technical
progress generates in man.
 
Not to be overlooked among the forms of modern atheism is that which
anticipates the liberation of man especially through his economic and
social emancipation. This form argues that by its nature religion thwarts
this liberation by arousing man's hope for a deceptive future life,
thereby diverting him from the constructing of the earthly city.
Consequently when the proponents of this doctrine gain governmental power
they vigorously fight against religion, and promote atheism by using,
especially in the education of youth, those means of pressure which
public power has at its disposal.
 
21. In her loyal devotion to God and men, the Church has already
repudiated[16] and cannot cease repudiating, sorrowfully but as firmly as
possible, those poisonous doctrines and actions which contradict reason
and the common experience of humanity, and dethrone man from his native
excellence.
 
Still, she strives to detect in the atheistic mind the hidden causes for
the denial of God; conscious of how weighty are the questions which
atheism raises, and motivated by love for all men, she believes these
questions ought to be examined seriously and more profoundly.
 
The Church holds that the recognition of God is in no way hostile to
man's dignity, since this dignity is rooted and perfected in God. For man
was made an intelligent and free member of society by God Who created
him; but even more important, he is called as a son to commune with God
and share in His happiness. She further teaches that a hope related to
the end of time does not diminish the importance of intervening duties
but rather undergirds the acquittal of them with fresh incentives. By
contrast, when a divine substructure and the hope of life eternal are
wanting, man's dignity is most grievously lacerated, as current events
often attest; riddles of life and death, of guilt and of grief go
unsolved with the frequent result that men succumb to despair.
 
Meanwhile every man remains to himself an unsolved puzzle, however
obscurely he may perceive it. For on certain occasions no one can
entirely escape the kind of self-questioning mentioned earlier,
especially when life's major events take place. To this questioning only
God fully and most certainly provides an answer as He summons man to
higher knowledge and humbler probing.
 
The remedy which must be applied to atheism, however, is to be sought in
a proper presentation of the Church's teaching as well as in the integral
life of the Church and her members. For it is the function of the Church,
led by the Holy Spirit Who renews and purifies her ceaselessly,[17] to
make God the Father and His Incarnate Son present and in a sense visible.
This result is achieved chiefly by the witness of a living and mature
faith, namely, one trained to see difficulties clearly and to master
them. Many martyrs have given luminous witness to this faith and continue
to do so. This faith needs to prove its fruitfulness by penetrating the
believer's entire life, including its worldly dimensions, and by
activating him toward justice and love, especially regarding the needy.
What does the most reveal God's presence, however, is the brotherly
charity of the faithful who are united in spirit as they worktogether for
the faith of the Gospel[18] and who prove themselves a sign of unity.
 
While rejecting atheism, root and branch, the Church sincerely professes
that all men, believers and unbelievers alike, ought to work for the
rightful betterment of this world in which all alike live; such an ideal
cannot be realized, however, apart from sincere and prudent dialogue.
Hence the Church protests against the distinction which some state
authorities make between believers and unbelievers, with prejudice to the
fundamental rights of the human person. The Church calls for the active
liberty of believers to build up in this world God's temple too. She
courteously invites atheists to examine the Gospel of Christ with an open
mind.
 
Above all the Church knows that her message is in harmony with the most
secret desires of the human heart when she champions the dignity of the
human vocation, restoring hope to those who have already despaired of
anything higher than their present lot. Far from diminishing man, her
message brings to his development light, life and freedom. Apart from
this message nothing will avail to fill up the heart of man: "Thou hast
made us for Thyself," O Lord, "and our hearts are restless till they rest
in Thee."[19]
 
22. The truth is that only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the
mystery of man take on light. For Adam, the first man, was a figure of
Him Who was to come,[20] namely Christ the Lord. Christ, the final Adam,
by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully
reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear. It is not
surprising, then, that in Him all the aforementioned truths find their
root and attain their crown.
 
He Who is "the image of the invisible God" (Col. 1:15),[21] is Himself
the perfect man. To the sons of Adam He restores the divine likeness
which had been disfigured from the first sin onward. Since human nature
as He assumed it was not annulled,[22] by that very fact it has been
raised up to a divine dignity in our respect too. For by His incarnation
the Son of God has united Himself in some fashion with every man. He
worked with human hands, He thought with a human mind, acted by human
choice[23] and loved with a human heart. Born of the Virgin Mary, He has
truly been made one of us, like us in all things except sin.[24]
 
As an innocent lamb He merited for us life by the free shedding of His
own blood. In Him God reconciled us[25] to Himself and among ourselves;
from bondage to the devil and sin He delivered us, so that each one of us
can say with the Apostle: The Son of God "loved me and gave Himself up
for me" (Gal. 2:20). By suffering for us He not only provided us with an
example for our imitation,[26] He blazed a trail, and if we follow it,
life and death are made holy and take on a new meaning.
 
The Christian man, conformed to the likeness of that Son Who is the
firstborn of many brothers,[27] received "the first-fruits of the Spirit"
(Rom. 8:23) by which he becomes capable of discharging the new law of
love.[28] Through this Spirit, who is "the pledge of our inheritance"
(Eph. 1:14), the whole man is renewed from within, even to the
achievement of "the redemption of the body" (Rom. 8:23): "If the Spirit
of him who raised Jesus from the death dwells in you, then he who raised
Jesus Christ from the dead will also bring to life your mortal bodies
because of his Spirit who dwells in you" (Rom. 8:11).[29] Pressing upon
the Christian to be sure, are the need and the duty to battle against
evil through manifold tribulations and even to suffer death. But, linked
with the paschal mystery and patterned on the dying Christ, he will
hasten forward to resurrection in the strength which comes from hope.[30]
 
All this holds true not only for Christians, but for all men of good will
in whose hearts grace works in an unseen way.[31] For, since Christ died
for all men,[32] and since the ultimate vocation of man is in fact one,
and divine, we ought to believe that the Holy Spirit in a manner known
only to God offers to every man the possibility of being associated with
this paschal mystery.
 
Such is the mystery of man, and it is a great one, as seen by believers
in the light of Christian revelation. Through Christ and in Christ, the
riddles of sorrow and death grow meaningful. Apart from His Gospel, they
overwhelm us. Christ has risen, destroying death by His death; He has
lavished life upon us[33] so that, as sons in the Son, we can cry out in
the Spirit: Abba, Father![34]
 
 
 
CHAPTER II  THE COMMUNITY OF MANKIND
 
23. One of the salient features of the modern world is the growing
interdependence of men one on the other, a development promoted chiefly
by modern technical advances. Nevertheless brotherly dialogue among men
does not reach its perfection on the level of technical progress, but on
the deeper level of interpersonal relationships. These demand a mutual
respect for the full spiritual dignity of the person. Christian
revelation contributes greatly to the promotion of this communion between
persons, and at the same time leads us to a deeper understanding of the
laws of social life which the Creator has written into man's moral and
spiritual nature.
 
Since rather recent documents of the Church's teaching authority have
dealt at considerable length with Christian doctrine about human
society,[1] this council is merely going to call to mind some of the more
basic truths, treating their foundations under the light of revelation.
Then it will dwell more at length on certain of their implications having
special significance for our day.
 
24. God, Who has fatherly concern for everyone, has willed that all men
should constitute one family and treat one another in a spirit of
brotherhood. For having been created in the image of God, Who "from one
man has created the whole human race and made them live all over the face
of the earth" (Acts 17:26), all men are called to one and the same goal,
namely God Himself.
 
For this reason, love for God and neighbor is the first and greatest
commandment. Sacred Scripture, however, teaches us that the love of God
cannot be separated from love of neighbor: "If there is any other
commandment, it is summed up in this saying: Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself.... Love therefore is the fulfillment of the Law" (Rom.
13:9-10; cf. 1 John 4:20). To men growing daily more dependent on one
another, and to a world becoming more unified every day, this truth
proves to be of paramount importance.
 
Indeed, the Lord Jesus, when He prayed to the Father, "that all may be
one. . . as we are one" (John 17:21-22) opened up vistas closed to human
reason, for He implied a certain likeness between the union of the divine
Persons, and the unity of God's sons in truth and charity. This likeness
reveals that man, who is the only creature on earth which God willed for
itself, cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of
himself.[2]
 
25. Man's social nature makes it evident that the progress of the human
person and the advance of society itself hinge on one another. For the
beginning, the subject and the goal of all social institutions is and
must be the human person, which for its part and by its very nature
stands completely in need of social life.[3] Since this social life is
not something added on to man, through his dealings with others, through
reciprocal duties, and through fraternal dialogue he develops all his
gifts and is able to rise to his destiny.
 
Among those social ties which man needs for his development some, like
the family and political community. relate with greater immediacy to his
innermost nature; others originate rather from his free decision. In our
era. for various reasons, reciprocal ties and mutual dependencies
increase day by day and give rise to a variety of associations and
organizations, both public and private. This development, which is called
socialization while certainly not without its dangers, brings with it
many advantages with respect to consolidating and increasing the
qualities of the human person, and safeguarding his rights.[4]
 
But if by this social life the human person is greatly aided in
responding to his destiny, even in its religious dimensions, it cannot be
denied that men are often diverted from doing good and spurred toward
evil by the social circumstances in which they live and are immersed from
their birth. To be sure the disturbances which so frequently occur in the
social order result in part from the natural tensions of economic,
political and social forms. But at a deeper level they flow from man's
pride and selfishness, which contaminate even the social sphere. When the
structure of affairs is flawed by the consequences of sin, man, already
born with a bent toward evil, finds there new inducements to sin, which
cannot be overcome without strenuous efforts and the assistance of grace.
 
26. Every day human interdependence grows more tightly drawn and spreads
by degrees over the whole world. As a result the common good, that is,
the sum of those conditions of social life which allow social groups and
their individual members relatively thorough and ready access to their
own fulfillment, today takes on an increasingly universal complexion and
consequently involves rights and duties with respect to the whole human
race. Every social group must take account of the needs and legitimate
aspirations of other groups, and even of the general welfare of the
entire human family.[5]
 
At the same time, however, there is a growing awareness of the exalted
dignity proper to the human person, since he stands above all things, and
his rights and duties are universal and inviolable. Therefore, there must
be made available to all men everything necessary for leading a life
truly human, such as food, clothing, and shelter; the right to choose a
state of life freely and to found a family, the right to education, to
employment, to a good reputation, to respect, to appropriate information,
to activity in accord with the upright norm of one's own conscience, to
protection of privacy and to rightful freedom, even in matters religious.
 
Hence, the social order and its development must invariably work to the
benefit of the human person if the disposition of affairs is to be
subordinate to the personal realm and not contrariwise, as the Lord
indicated when He said that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for
the Sabbath.[6]
 
This social order requires constant improvement. It must be founded on
truth, built on justice and animated by love; in freedom it should grow
every day toward a more humane balance.[7] An improvement in attitudes
and abundant changes in society will have to take place if these
objectives are to be gained.
 
God's Spirit, Who with a marvelous providence directs the unfolding of
time and renews the face of the earth, is not absent from this
development. The ferment of the Gospel too has aroused and continues to
arouse in man's heart the irresistible requirements of his dignity.
 
27. Coming down to practical and particularly urgent consequences, this
council lays stress on reverence for man; everyone must consider his
every neighbor without exception as another self, taking into account
first of all his life and the means necessary to living it with
dignity,[8] so as not to imitate the rich man who had no concern for the
poor man Lazarus.[9]
 
In our times a special obligation binds us to make ourselves the neighbor
of every person without exception, and of actively helping him when he
comes across our path, whether he be an old person abandoned by all, a
foreign laborer unjustly looked down upon, a refugee, a child born of an
unlawful union and wrongly suffering for a sin he did not commit, or a
hungry person who disturbs our conscience by recalling the voice of the
Lord, "As long as you did it for one of these the least of my brethren,
you did it for me" (Matt. 25:40).
 
Furthermore, whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of
murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia or willful self-destruction,
whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation,
torments inflicted on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself;
whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions,
arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling
of women and children; as well as disgraceful working conditions, where
men are treated as mere tools for profit, rather than as free and
responsible persons; all these things and others of their like are
infamies indeed. They poison human society, but they do more harm to
those who practice them than those who suffer from the injury. Moreover,
they are a supreme dishonor to the Creator.
 
28. Respect and love ought to be extended also to those who think or act
differently than we do in social, political and even religious matters.
In fact, the more deeply we come to understand their ways of thinking
through such courtesy and love, the more easily will we be able to enter
into dialogue with them.
 
This love and good will, to be sure, must in no way render us indifferent
to truth and goodness. Indeed love itself impels the disciples of Christ
to speak the saving truth to all men. But it is necessary to distinguish
between error, which always merits repudiation, and the person in error,
who never loses the dignity of being a person even when he is flawed by
false or inadequate religious notions.[10] God alone is the judge and
searcher of hearts; for that reason He forbids us to make judgments about
the internal guilt of anyone.[11]
 
The teaching of Christ even requires that we forgive injuries,[12] and
extends the law of love to include every enemy, according to the command
of the New Law: "You have heard that it was said: Thou shalt love thy
neighbor and hate thy enemy. But I say to you: love your enemies, do good
to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute and calumniate
you" (Matt. 5:43-44).
 
29. Since all men possess a rational soul and are created in God's
likeness, since they have the same nature and origin, have been redeemed
by Christ and enjoy the same divine calling and destiny, the basic
equality of all must receive increasingly greater recognition.
 
True, all men are not alike from the point of view of varying physical
power and the diversity of intellectual and moral resources.
Nevertheless, with respect to the fundamental rights of the person, every
type of discrimination, whether social or cultural, whether based on sex,
race, color, social condition, language or religion, is to be overcome
and eradicated as contrary to God's intent. For in truth it must still be
regretted that fundamental personal rights are still not being
universally honored. Such is the case of a woman who is denied the right
to choose a husband freely, to embrace a state of life or to acquire an
education or cultural benefits equal to those recognized for men.
 
Therefore, although rightful differences exist between men, the equal
dignity of persons demands that a more humane and just condition of life
be brought about. For excessive economic and social differences between
the members of the one human family or population groups cause scandal,
and militate against social justice, equity, the dignity of the human
person, as well as social and international peace.
 
Human institutions, both private and public, must labor to minister to
the dignity and purpose of man. At the same time let them put up a
stubborn fight against any kind of slavery, whether social or political,
and safeguard the basic rights of man under every political system.
Indeed human institutions themselves must be accommodated by degrees to
the highest of all realities, spiritual ones, even though meanwhile, a
long enough time will be required before they arrive at the desired goal.
 
30. Profound and rapid changes make it more necessary that no one
ignoring the trend of events or drugged by laziness, content himself with
a merely individualistic morality. It grows increasingly true that the
obligations of justice and love are fulfilled only if each person,
contributing to the common good, according to his own abilities and the
needs of others, also promotes and assists the public and private
institutions dedicated to bettering the conditions of human life. Yet
there are those who, while professing grand and rather noble sentiments,
nevertheless in reality live always as if they cared nothing for the
needs of society. Many in various places even make light of social laws
and precepts, and do not hesitate to resort to various frauds and
deceptions in avoiding just taxes or other debts due to society. Others
think little of certain norms of social life, for example those designed
for the protection of health, or laws establishing speed limits; they do
not even avert to the fact that by such indifference they imperil their
own life and that of others.
 
Let everyone consider it his sacred obligation to esteem and observe
social necessities as belonging to the primary duties of modern man. For
the more unified the world becomes, the more plainly do the offices of
men extend beyond particular groups and spread by degrees to the whole
world. But this development cannot occur unless individual men and their
associations cultivate in themselves the moral and social virtues, and
promote them in society; thus, with the needed help of divine grace men
who are truly new and artisans of a new humanity can be forthcoming.
 
31. In order for individual men to discharge with greater exactness the
obligations of their conscience toward themselves and the various groups
to which they belong, they must be carefully educated to a higher degree
of culture through the use of the immense resources available today to
the human race. Above all the education of youth from every social
background has to be undertaken, so that there can be produced not only
men and women of refined talents, but those great-souled persons who are
so desperately required by our times.
 
Now a man can scarcely arrive at the needed sense of responsibility,
unless his living conditions allow him to become conscious of his
dignity, and to rise to his destiny by spending himself for God and for
others. But human freedom is often crippled when a man encounters extreme
poverty, just as it withers when he indulges in too many of life's
comforts and imprisons himself in a kind of splendid isolation. Freedom
acquires new strength, by contrast, when a man consents to the
unavoidable requirements of social life, takes on the manifold demands of
human partnership, and commits himself to the service of the human
community.
 
Hence, the will to play one's role in common endeavors should be
everywhere encouraged. Praise is due to those national procedures which
allow the largest possible number of citizens to participate in public
affairs with genuine freedom. Account must be taken, to be sure, of the
actual conditions of each people and the decisiveness required by public
authority. If every citizen is to feel inclined to take part in the
activities of the various groups which make up the social body, these
must offer advantages which will attract members and dispose them to
serve others. We can justly consider that the future of humanity lies in
the hands of those who are strong enough to provide coming generations
with reasons for living and hoping.
 
32. As God did not create man for life in isolation, but for the
formation of social unity, so also "it has pleased God to make men holy
and save them not merely as individuals, without bond or link between
them, but by making them into a single people, a people which
acknowledges Him in truth and serves Him in holiness."[13] So from the
beginning of salvation history He has chosen men not just as individuals
but as members of a certain community. Revealing His mind to them,
 
God called these chosen ones "His people" (Ex. 3:7-12), and even made a
covenant with them on Sinai.[14]
 
This communitarian character is developed and consummated in the work of
Jesus Christ. For the very Word made flesh willed to share in the human
fellowship. He was present at the wedding of Cana, visited the house of
Zacchaeus, ate with publicans and sinners. He revealed the love of the
Father and the sublime vocation of man in terms of the most common of
social realities and by making use of the speech and the imagery of plain
everyday life. Willingly obeying the laws of his country, He sanctified
those human ties, especially family ones, which are the source of social
structures. He chose to lead the life proper to an artisan of His time
and place.
 
In His preaching He clearly taught the sons of God to treat one another
as brothers. In His prayers He pleaded that all His disciples might be
"one." Indeed as the redeemer of all, He offered Himself for all even to
point of death. "Greater love than this no one has, that one lay down his
life for his friends" (John 15:13). He commanded His Apostles to preach
to all peoples the Gospel's message that the human race was to become the
Family of God, in which the fullness of the Law would be love.
 
As the firstborn of many brethren and by the giving of His Spirit, He
founded after His death and resurrection a new brotherly community
composed of all those who receive Him in faith and in love. This He did
through His Body, which is the Church. There everyone, as members one of
the other, would render mutual service according to the different gifts
bestowed on each.
 
This solidarity must be constantly increased until that day on which it
will be brought to perfection. Then, saved by grace, men will offer
flawless glory to God as a family beloved of God and of Christ their
Brother.
 
 
 
CHAPTER III  MAN'S ACTIVITY THROUGHOUT THE WORLD
 
33. Through his labors and his native endowments man has ceaselessly
striven to better his life. Today, however, especially with the help of
science and technology, he has extended his mastery over nearly the whole
of nature and continues to do so. Thanks to increased opportunities for
many kinds of social contact among nations, the human family is gradually
recognizing that it comprises a single world community and is making
itself so. Hence many benefits once looked for, especially from heavenly
powers, man has now enterprisingly procured for himself.
 
In the face of these immense efforts which already preoccupy the whole
human race, men agitate numerous questions among themselves. What is the
meaning and value of this feverish activity? How should all these things
be used? To the achievement of what goal are the strivings of individuals
and societies heading? The Church guards the heritage of God's word and
draws from it moral and religious principles without always having at
hand the solution to particular problems. As such she desires to add the
light of revealed truth to mankind's store of experience, so that the
path which humanity has taken in recent times will not be a dark one.
 
34. Throughout the course of the centuries, men have labored to better
the circumstances of their lives through a monumental amount of
individual and collective effort. To believers, this point is settled:
considered in itself, this human activity accords with God's will. For
man, created to God's image, received a mandate to subject to himself the
earth and all it contains, and to govern the world with justice and
holiness;[1] a mandate to relate himself and the totality of things to
Him Who was to be acknowledged as the Lord and Creator of all. Thus, by
the subjection of all things to man, the name of God would be wonderful
in all the earth.[2]
 
This mandate concerns the whole of everyday activity as well. For while
providing the substance of life for themselves and their families, men
and women are performing their activities in a way which appropriately
benefits society. They can justly consider that by their labor they are
unfolding the Creator's work, consulting the advantages of their brother
men, and are contributing by their personal industry to the realization
in history of the divine plan.[3]
 
Thus, far from thinking that works produced by man's talent and energy
are in opposition to God's power, and that the rational creature exists
as a kind of rival to the Creator, Christians are convinced that the
triumphs of the human race are a sign of God's grace and the flowering of
His own mysterious design. For the greater man's power becomes, the
farther his individual and community responsibility extends. Hence it is
clear that men are not deterred by the Christian message from building up
the world, or impelled to neglect the welfare of their fellows, but that
they are rather more stringently bound to do these very things.[4]
 
 35. Human activity, to be sure, takes its significance from its
relationship to man. Just as it proceeds from man, so it is ordered
toward man. For when a man works he not only alters things and society,
he develops himself as well. He learns much, he cultivates his resources,
he goes outside of himself and beyond himself. Rightly understood, this
kind of growth is of greater value than any external riches which can be
garnered. A man is more precious for what he is than for what he has.[5]
 Similarly, all that men do to obtain greater justice, wider brotherhood,
a more humane disposition of social relationships has greater worth than
technical advances. For these advances can supply the material for human
progress, but of themselves alone they can never actually bring it about.
 
Hence, the norm of human activity is this: that in accord with the divine
plan and will, it harmonize with the genuine good of the human race, and
that it allow men as individuals and as members of society to pursue
their total vocation and fulfill it.
 
36. Now many of our contemporaries seem to fear that a closer bond
between human activity and religion will work against the independence of
men, of societies, or of the sciences.
 
If by the autonomy of earthly affairs we mean that created things and
societies themselves enjoy their own laws and values which must be
gradually deciphered, put to use, and regulated by men, then it is
entirely right to demand that autonomy. Such is not merely required by
modern man, but harmonizes also with the will of the Creator. For by the
very circumstance of their having been created, all things are endowed
with their own stability, truth, goodness, proper laws and order. Man
must respect these as he isolates them by the appropriate methods of the
individual sciences or arts. Therefore if methodical investigation within
every branch of learning is carried out in a genuinely scientific manner
and in accord with moral norms, it never truly conflicts with faith, for
earthly matters and the concerns of faith derive from the same God.[6]
 Indeed whoever labors to penetrate the secrets of reality with a humble
and steady mind, even though he is unaware of the fact, is nevertheless
being led by the hand of God, who holds all things in existence, and
gives them their identity. Consequently, we cannot but deplore certain
habits of mind, which are sometimes found too among Christians which do
not sufficiently attend to the rightful independence of science and
which, from the arguments and controversies they spark, lead many minds
to conclude that faith and science are mutually opposed.[7]
 
But if the expression, the independence of temporal affairs, is taken to
mean that created things do not depend on God, and that man can use them
without any reference to their Creator, anyone who acknowledges God will
see how false such a meaning is. For without the Creator the creature
would disappear. For their part, however, all believers of whatever
religion always hear His revealing voice in the discourse of creatures.
When God is forgotten, however, the creature itself grows unintelligible.
 
37. Sacred Scripture teaches the human family what the experience of the
ages confirms: that while human progress is a great advantage to man, it
brings with it a strong temptation. For when the order of values is
jumbled and bad is mixed with the good, individuals and groups pay heed
solely to their own interests, and not to those of others. Thus it
happens that the world ceases to be a place of true brotherhood. In our
own day, the magnified power of humanity threatens to destroy the race
itself.
 
For a monumental struggle against the powers of darkness pervades the
whole history of man. The battle was joined from the very origins of the
world and will continue until the last day, as the Lord has attested.[8]
 Caught in this conflict, man is obliged to wrestle constantly if he is
to cling to what is good, nor can he achieve his own integrity without
great efforts and the help of God's grace.
 
That is why Christ's Church, trusting in the design of the Creator,
acknowledges that human progress can serve man's true happiness, yet she
cannot help echoing the Apostle's warning: "Be not conformed to this
world" (Rom. 12:2). Here by the world is meant that spirit of vanity and
malice which transforms into an instrument of sin those human energies
intended for the service of God and man.
 
Hence if anyone wants to know how this unhappy situation can be overcome,
Christians will tell him that all human activity, constantly imperiled by
man's pride and deranged self-love, must be purified and perfected by the
power of Christ's cross and resurrection. For redeemed by Christ and made
a new creature in the Holy Spirit, man is able to love the things
themselves created by God, and ought to do so. He can receive them from
God and respect and reverence them as flowing constantly from the hand of
God. Grateful to his Benefactor for these creatures, using and enjoying
them in detachment and liberty of spirit, man is led forward into a true
possession of them, as having nothing, yet possessing all things.[9] "All
are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's" (1 Cor. 3:22-23).
 
38. For God's Word, through Whom all things were made, was Himself made
flesh and dwelt on the earth of men.[10] Thus He entered the world's
history as a perfect man, taking that history up into Himself and
summarizing it.[11] He Himself revealed to us that "God is love" (1 John
4:8) and at the same time taught us that the new command of love was the
basic law of human perfection and hence of the world's transformation.
 
To those, therefore, who believe in divine love, He gives assurance that
the way of love lies open to men and that the effort to establish a
universal brotherhood is not a hopeless one. He cautions them at the same
time that this charity is not something to be reserved for important
matters, but must be pursued chiefly in the ordinary circumstances of
life. Undergoing death itself for all of us sinners,[12] He taught us by
example that we too must shoulder that cross which the world and the
flesh inflict upon those who search after peace and justice. Appointed
Lord by His resurrection and given plenary power in heaven and on
earth,[13] Christ is now at work in the hearts of men through the energy
of His Holy Spirit, arousing not only a desire for the age to come, but
by that very fact animating, purifying and strengthening those noble
longings too by which the human family makes its life more human and
strives to render the whole earth submissive to this goal.
 
Now, the gifts of the Spirit are diverse: while He calls some to give
clear witness to the desire for a heavenly home and to keep that desire
green among the human family, He summons others to dedicate themselves to
the earthly service of men and to make ready the material of the
celestial realm by this ministry of theirs. Yet He frees all of them so
that by putting aside love of self and bringing all earthly resources
into the service of human life they can devote themselves to that future
when humanity itself will become an offering accepted by God.[14]
 
The Lord left behind a pledge of this hope and strength for life's
journey in that sacrament of faith where natural elements refined by man
are gloriously changed into His Body and Blood, providing a meal of
brotherly solidarity and a foretaste of the heavenly banquet.
 
39. We do not know the time for the consummation of the earth and of
humanity,[15] nor do we know how all things will be transformed. As
deformed by sin, the shape of this world will pass away;[16] but we are
taught that God is preparing a new dwelling place and a new earth where
justice will abide,[17] and whose blessedness will answer and surpass all
the longings for peace which spring up in the human heart.[18] Then, with
death overcome, the sons of God will be raised up in Christ, and what was
sown in weakness and corruption will be invested with
incorruptibility.[19] Enduring with charity and its fruits,[20] all that
creation[21] which God made on man's account will be unchained from the
bondage of vanity.
 
Therefore, while we are warned that it profits a man nothing if he gain
the whole world and lose himself,[22] the expectation of a new earth must
not weaken but rather stimulate our concern for cultivating this one. For
here grows the body of a new human family, a body which even now is able
to give some kind of foreshadowing of the new age.
 
Hence, while earthly progress must be carefully distinguished from the
growth of Christ's kingdom, to the extent that the former can contribute
to the better ordering of human society, it is of vital concern to the
Kingdom of God.[23]
 
For after we have obeyed the Lord, and in His Spirit nurtured on earth
the values of human dignity, brotherhood and freedom, and indeed all the
good fruits of our nature and enterprise, we will find them again, but
freed of stain, burnished and transfigured, when Christ hands over to the
Father: "a kingdom eternal and universal, a kingdom of truth and life, of
holiness and grace, of justice, love and peace."[24] On this earth that
Kingdom is already present in mystery. When the Lord returns it will be
brought into full flower.
 
 
 
CHAPTER IV THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH IN THE MODERN WORLD
 
40. Everything we have said about the dignity of the human person, and
about the human community and the profound meaning of human activity,
lays the foundation for the relationship between the Church and the
world, and provides the basis for dialogue between them.[1] In this
chapter, presupposing everything which has already been said by this
council concerning the mystery of the Church, we must now consider this
same Church inasmuch as she exists in the world, living and acting with
it.
 
Coming forth from the eternal Father's love,[2] founded in time by Christ
the Redeemer and made one in the Holy Spirit,[3] the Church has a saving
and an eschatological purpose which can be fully attained only in the
future world. But she is already present in this world, and is composed
of men, that is, of members of the earthly city who have a call to form
the family of God's children during the present history of the human
race, and to keep increasing it until the Lord returns. United on behalf
of heavenly values and enriched by them, this family has been
"constituted and structured as a society in this world"[4] by Christ, and
is equipped "by appropriate means for visible and social union."[5] Thus
the Church, at once "a visible association and a spiritual community,"[6]
 goes forward together with humanity and experiences the same earthly lot
which the world does. She serves as a leaven and as a kind of soul for
human society[7] as it is to be renewed in Christ and transformed into
God's family.
 
That the earthly and the heavenly city penetrate each other is a fact
accessible to faith alone; it remains a mystery of human history, which
sin will keep in great disarray until the splendor of God's sons is fully
revealed. Pursuing the saving purpose which is proper to her, the Church
does not only communicate divine life to men but in some way casts the
reflected light of that life over the entire earth, most of all by its
healing and elevating impact on the dignity of the person, by the way in
which it strengthens the seams of human society and imbues the everyday
activity of men with a deeper meaning and importance. Thus through her
individual members and her whole community, the Church believes she can
contribute greatly toward making the family of man and its history more
human.
 
In addition, the Catholic Church gladly holds in high esteem the things
which other Christian Churches and ecclesial communities have done or are
doing cooperatively by way of achieving the same goal. At the same time,
she is convinced that she can be abundantly and variously helped by the
world in the matter of preparing the ground for the Gospel. This help she
gains from the talents and industry of individuals and from human society
as a whole. The council now sets forth certain general principles for the
proper fostering of this mutual exchange and assistance in concerns which
are in some way common to the world and the Church.
 
41. Modern man is on the road to a more thorough development of his own
personality, and to a growing discovery and vindication of his own
rights. Since it has been entrusted to the Church to reveal the mystery
of God, Who is the ultimate goal of man, she opens up to man at the same
time the meaning of his own existence, that is, the innermost truth about
himself. The Church truly knows that only God, Whom she serves, meets the
deepest longings of the human heart, which is never fully satisfied by
what this world has to offer.
 
She also knows that man is constantly worked upon by God's Spirit, and
hence can never be altogether indifferent to the problems of religion.
The experience of past ages proves this, as do numerous indications in
our own times. For man will always yearn to know, at least in an obscure
way, what is the meaning of his life, of his activity, of his death. The
very presence of the Church recalls these problems to his mind. But only
God, Who created man to His own image and ransomed him from sin, provides
the most adequate answer to these questions, and this He does through
what He has revealed in Christ His Son, Who became man. Whoever follows
after Christ, the perfect man, becomes himself more of a man. For by His
incarnation the Father's Word assumed, and sanctified through His cross
and resurrection, the whole of man, body and soul, and through that
totality the whole of nature created by God for man's use.
 
Thanks to this belief, the Church can anchor the dignity of human nature
against all tides of opinion, for example those which undervalue the
human body or idolize it. By no human law can the personal dignity and
liberty of man be so aptly safeguarded as by the Gospel of Christ which
has been entrusted to the Church. For this Gospel announces and proclaims
the freedom of the sons of God, and repudiates all the bondage which
ultimately results from sin.[8] (cf. Rom. 8:14-17); it has a sacred
reverence for the dignity of conscience and its freedom of choice,
constantly advises that all human talents be employed in God's service
and men's, and, finally, commends all to the charity of all (cf. Matt.
22:39).[9]
 
his agrees with the basic law of the Christian dispensation. For though
the same God is Savior and Creator, Lord of human history as well as of
salvation history, in the divine arrangement itself, the rightful
autonomy of the creature, and particularly of man is not withdrawn, but
is rather re-established in its own dignity and strengthened in it.
 
The Church, therefore, by virtue of the Gospel committed to her,
proclaims the rights of man; she acknowledges and greatly esteems the
dynamic movements of today by which these rights are everywhere fostered.
Yet these movements must be penetrated by the spirit of the Gospel and
protected against any kind of false autonomy. For we are tempted to think
that our personal rights are fully ensured only when we are exempt from
every requirement of divine law. But this way lies not the maintenance of
the dignity of the human person, but its annihilation.
 
42. The union of the human family is greatly fortified and fulfilled by
the unity, founded on Christ,[10] of the family of God's sons.
 
Christ, to be sure, gave His Church no proper mission in the political,
economic or social order. The purpose which He set before her is a
religious one.[11] But out of this religious mission itself come a
function, a light and an energy which can serve to structure and
consolidate the human community according to the divine law. As a matter
of fact, when circumstances of time and place produce the need, she can
and indeed should initiate activities on behalf of all men, especially
those designed for the needy, such as the works of mercy and similar
undertakings.
 
The Church recognizes that worthy elements are found in today's social
movements, especially an evolution toward unity, a process of wholesome
socialization and of association in civic and economic realms. The
promotion of unity belongs to the innermost nature of the Church, for she
is, "thanks to her relationship with Christ, a sacramental sign and an
instrument of intimate union with God, and of the unity of the whole
human race."[12] Thus she shows the world that an authentic union, social
and external, results from a union of minds and hearts, namely from that
faith and charity by which her own unity is unbreakably rooted in the
Holy Spirit. For the force which the Church can inject into the modern
society
 
of man consists in that faith and charity put into vital practice, not in
any external dominion exercised by merely human means.
 
Moreover, since in virtue of her mission and nature she is bound to no
particular form of human culture, nor to any political, economic or
social system, the Church by her very universality can be a very close
bond between diverse human communities and nations, provided these trust
her and truly acknowledge her right to true freedom in fulfilling her
mission. For this reason, the Church admonishes her own sons, but also
humanity as a whole, to overcome all strife between nations and races in
this family spirit of God's children, and in the same way, to give
internal strength to human associations which are just.
 
With great respect, therefore, this council regards all the true, good
and just elements inherent in the very wide variety of institutions which
the human race has established for itself and constantly continues to
establish. The council affirms, moreover, that the Church is willing to
assist and promote all these institutions to the extent that such a
service depends on her and can be associated with her mission. She has no
fiercer desire than that in pursuit of the welfare of all she may be able
to develop herself freely under any kind of government which grants
recognition to the basic rights of person and family, to the demands of
the common good and to the free exercise of her own mission.
 
43. This council exhorts Christians, as citizens of two cities, to strive
to discharge their earthly duties conscientiously and in response to the
Gospel spirit. They are mistaken who, knowing that we have here no
abiding city but seek one which is to come,[13] think that they may
therefore shirk their earthly responsibilities. For they are forgetting
that by the faith itself they are more obliged than ever to measure up to
these duties, each according to his proper vocation.[14] Nor, on the
contrary, are they any less wide of the mark who think that religion
consists in acts of worship alone and in the discharge of certain moral
obligations, and who imagine they can plunge themselves into earthly
affairs in such a way as to imply that these are altogether divorced from
the religious life. This split between the faith which many profess and
their daily lives deserves to be counted among the more serious errors of
our age. Long since, the Prophets of the Old Testament fought vehemently
against this scandal[15] and even more so did Jesus Christ Himself in the
New Testament threaten it with grave punishments.[16] Therefore, let
there be no false opposition between professional and social activities
on the one part, and religious life on the other. The Christian who
neglects his temporal duties, neglects his duties toward his neighbor and
even God, and jeopardizes his eternal salvation. Christians should rather
rejoice that, following the example of Christ Who worked as an artisan,
they are free to give proper exercise to all their earthly activities and
to their humane, domestic, professional, social and technical enterprises
by gathering them into one vital synthesis with religious values, under
whose supreme direction all things are harmonized unto God's glory.
 
Secular duties and activities belong properly although not exclusively to
laymen. Therefore acting as citizens in the world, whether individually
or socially, they will keep the laws proper to each discipline, and labor
to equip themselves with a genuine expertise in their various fields.
They will gladly work with men seeking the same goals. Acknowledging the
demands of faith and endowed with its force, they will unhesitatingly
devise new enterprises, where they are appropriate, and put them into
action. Laymen should also know that it is generally the function of
their well-formed Christian conscience to see that the divine law is
inscribed in the life of the earthly city; from priests they may look for
spiritual light and nourishment. Let the layman not imagine that his
pastors are always such experts, that to every problem which arises,
however complicated, they can readily give him a concrete solution, or
even that such is their mission. Rather, enlightened by Christian wisdom
and giving close attention to the teaching authority of the Church,[17]
 let the layman take on his own distinctive role.
 
Often enough the Christian view of things will itself suggest some
specific solution in certain circumstances. Yet it happens rather
frequently, and legitimately so, that with equal sincerity some of the
faithful will disagree with others on a given matter. Even against the
intentions of their proponents, however, solutions proposed on one side
or another may be easily confused by many people with the Gospel message.
Hence it is necessary for people to remember that no one is allowed in
the aforementioned situations to appropriate the Church's authority for
his opinion. They should always try to enlighten one another through
honest discussion, preserving mutual charity and caring above all for the
common good.
 
Since they have an active role to play in the whole life of the Church,
laymen are not only bound to penetrate the world with a Christian spirit,
but are also called to be witnesses to Christ in all things in the midst
of human society.
 
Bishops, to whom is assigned the task of ruling the Church of God,
should, together with their priests, so preach the news of Christ that
all the earthly activities of the faithful will be bathed in the light of
the Gospel. All pastors should remember too that by their daily conduct
and concern[18] they are revealing the face of the Church to the world,
and men will judge the power and truth of the Christian message thereby.
By their lives and speech, in union with Religious and their faithful,
may they demonstrate that even now the Church by her presence alone and
by all the gifts which she contains, is an unspent fountain of those
virtues which the modern world needs the most.
 
By unremitting study they should fit themselves to do their part in
establishing dialogue with the world and with men of all shades of
opinion. Above all let them take to heart the words which this council
has spoken: "Since humanity today increasingly moves toward civil,
economic and social unity, it is more than ever necessary that priests,
with joint concern and energy, and under the guidance of the bishops and
the supreme pontiff, erase every cause of division, so that the whole
human race may be led to the unity of God's family."[19]
 
Although by the power of the Holy Spirit the Church will remain the
faithful spouse of her Lord and will never cease to be the sign of
salvation on earth, still she is very well aware that among her
members,[20] both clerical and lay, some have been unfaithful to the
Spirit of God during the course of many centuries; in the present age,
too, it does not escape the Church how great a distance lies between the
message she offers and the human failings of those to whom the Gospel is
entrusted. Whatever be the judgment of history on these defects, we ought
to be conscious of them, and struggle against them energetically, lest
they inflict harm on spread of the Gospel. The Church also realizes that
in working out her relationship with the world she always has great need
of the ripening which comes with the experience of the centuries. Led by
the Holy Spirit, Mother Church unceasingly exhorts her sons "to purify
and renew themselves so that the sign of Christ can shine more brightly
on the face of the Church."[21]
 
44. Just as it is in the world's interest to acknowledge the Church as an
historical reality, and to recognize her good influence, so the Church
herself knows how richly she has profited by the history and development
of humanity.
 
The experience of past ages, the progress of the sciences, and the
treasures hidden in the various forms of human culture, by all of which
the nature of man himself is more clearly revealed and new roads to truth
are opened, these profit the Church, too. For, from the beginning of her
history she has learned to express the message of Christ with the help of
the ideas and terminology of various philosophers, and has tried to
clarify it with their wisdom, too. Her purpose has been to adapt the
Gospel to the grasp of all as well as to the needs of the learned,
insofar as such was appropriate. Indeed this accommodated preaching of
the revealed word ought to remain the law of all evangelization. For thus
the ability to express Christ's message in its own way is developed in
each nation, and at the same time there is fostered a living exchange
between the Church and the diverse cultures of people.[22] To promote
such exchange, especially in our days, the Church requires the special
help of those who live in the world, are versed in different institutions
and specialties, and grasp their innermost significance in the eyes of
both believers and unbelievers. With the help of the Holy Spirit, it is
the task of the entire People of God, especially pastors and theologians,
to hear, distinguish and interpret the many voices of our age, and to
judge them in the light of the divine word, so that revealed truth can
always be more deeply penetrated better understood and set forth to
greater advantage.
 
Since the Church has a visible and social structure as a sign of her
unity in Christ, she can and ought to be enriched by the development of
human social life, not that there is any lack in the constitution given
her by Christ, but that she can understand it more penetratingly, express
it better, and adjust it more successfully to our times. Moreover, she
gratefully understands that in her community life no less than in her
individual sons, she receives a variety of helps from men of every rank
and condition, for whoever promotes the human community at the family
level, culturally, in its economic, social and political dimensions, both
nationally and internationally, such a one, according to God's design, is
contributing greatly to the Church as well, to the extent that she
depends on things outside herself. Indeed, the Church admits that she has
greatly profited and still profits from the antagonism of those who
oppose or who persecute her.[23]
 
45. While helping the world and receiving many benefits from it, the
Church has a single intention: that God's kingdom may come, and that the
salvation of the whole human race may come to pass. For every benefit
which the People of God during its earthly pilgrimage can offer to the
human family stems from the fact that the Church is "the universal
sacrament of salvation",[24] simultaneously manifesting and exercising
the mystery of God's love for man.
 
For God's Word, by whom all things were made, was Himself made flesh so
that as perfect man He might save all men and sum up all things in
Himself. The Lord is the goal of human history, the focal point of the
longings of history and of civilization, the center of the human race,
the joy of every heart and the answer to all its yearnings.[25] He it is
Whom the Father raised from the dead, lifted on high and stationed at His
right hand, making Him judge of the living and the dead. Enlivened and
united in His Spirit, we journey toward the consummation of human
history, one which fully accords with the counsel of God's love: "To
reestablish all things in Christ, both those in the heavens and those on
the earth" (Eph. 11:10).
 
The Lord Himself speaks: "Behold I come quickly! And my reward is with
me, to render to each one according to his works. I am the Alpha and the
Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end (Apoc.
22:12-13)."
 
 
 
PART II SOME PROBLEMS OF SPECIAL URGENCY
 
46. This council has set forth the dignity of the human person, and the
work which men have been destined to undertake throughout the world both
as individuals and as members of society. There are a number of
particularly urgent needs characterizing the present age, needs which go
to the roots of the human race. To a consideration of these in the light
of the Gospel and of human experience, the council would now direct the
attention of all.
 
Of the many subjects arousing universal concern today, it may be helpful
to concentrate on these: marriage and the family, human progress, life in
its economic, social and political dimensions, the bonds between the
family of nations, and peace. On each of these may there shine the
radiant ideals proclaimed by Christ. By these ideals may Christians be
led, and all mankind enlightened, as they search for answers to questions
of such complexity.
 
 
 
CHAPTER I FOSTERING THE NOBILITY OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY
 
47. The well-being of the individual person and of human and Christian
society is intimately linked with the healthy condition of that community
produced by marriage and family. Hence Christians and all men who hold
this community in high esteem sincerely rejoice in the various ways by
which men today find help in fostering this community of love and
perfecting its life, and by which parents are assisted in their lofty
calling. Those who rejoice in such aids look for additional benefits from
them and labor to bring them about.
 
Yet the excellence of this institution is not everywhere reflected with
equal brilliance, since polygamy, the plague of divorce, so-called free
love and other disfigurements have an obscuring effect. In addition,
married love is too often profaned by excessive self-love, the worship of
pleasure and illicit practices against human generation. Moreover,
serious disturbances are caused in families by modern economic
conditions, by influences at once social and psychological, and by the
demands of civil society. Finally, in certain parts of the world problems
resulting from population growth are generating concern.
 
All these situations have produced anxiety of consciences. Yet, the power
and strength of the institution of marriage and family can also be seen
in the fact that time and again, despite the difficulties produced, the
profound changes in modern society reveal the true character of this
institution in one way or another.
 
Therefore, by presenting certain key points of Church doctrine in a
clearer light, this sacred synod wishes to offer guidance and support to
those Christians and other men who are trying to preserve the holiness
and to foster the natural dignity of the married state and its
superlative value.
 
48. The intimate partnership of married life and love has been
established by the Creator and qualified by His laws, and is rooted in
the conjugal covenant of irrevocable personal consent. Hence by that
human act whereby spouses mutually bestow and accept each other a
relationship arises which by divine will and in the eyes of society too
is a lasting one. For the good of the spouses and their off-springs as
well as of society, the existence of the sacred bond no longer depends on
human decisions alone. For, God Himself is the author of matrimony,
endowed as it is with various benefits and purposes.[1] All of these have a
very decisive bearing on the continuation of the human race, on the
personal development and eternal destiny of the individual members of a
family, and on the dignity, stability, peace and prosperity of the family
itself and of human society as a whole. By their very nature, the
institution of matrimony itself and conjugal love are ordained for the
procreation and education of children, and find in them their ultimate
crown. Thus a man and a woman, who by their compact of conjugal love "are
no longer two, but one flesh" (Matt. 19:6), render mutual help and
service to each other through an intimate union of their persons and of
their actions. Through this union they experience the meaning of their
oneness and attain to it with growing perfection day by day. As a mutual
gift of two persons, this intimate union and the good of the children
impose total fidelity on the spouses and argue for an unbreakable oneness
between them.[2]
 
Christ the Lord abundantly blessed this many-faceted love, welling up as
it does from the fountain of divine love and structured as it is on the
model of His union with His Church. For as God of old made Himself
present[3] to His people through a covenant of love and fidelity, so now
the Savior of men and the Spouse[4] of the Church comes into the lives of
married Christians through the sacrament of matrimony. He abides with
them thereafter so that just as He loved the Church and handed Himself
over on her behalf,[5] the spouses may love each other with perpetual
fidelity through mutual self-bestowal.
 
Authentic married love is caught up into divine love and is governed and
enriched by Christ's redeeming power and the saving activity of the
Church, so that this love may lead the spouses to God with powerful
effect and may aid and strengthen them in sublime office of being a
father or a mother.[6] For this reason Christian spouses have a special
sacrament by which they are fortified and receive a kind of consecration
in the duties and dignity of their state.[7] By virtue of this sacrament,
as spouses fulfill their conjugal and family obligation, they are
penetrated with the spirit of Christ, which suffuses their whole lives
with faith, hope and charity. Thus they increasingly advance the
perfection of their own personalities, as well as their mutual
sanctification, and hence contribute jointly to the glory of God.
 
As a result, with their parents leading the way by example and family
prayer, children and indeed everyone gathered around the family hearth
will find a readier path to human maturity, salvation and holiness.
Graced with the dignity and office of fatherhood and motherhood, parents
will energetically acquit themselves of a duty which devolves primarily
on them, namely education and especially religious education.
 
As living members of the family, children contribute in their own way to
making their parents holy. For they will respond to the kindness of their
parents with sentiments of gratitude, with love and trust. They will
stand by them as children should when hardships overtake their parents
and old age brings its loneliness. Widowhood, accepted bravely as a
continuation of the marriage vocation, should be esteemed by all.[8]
 Families too will share their spiritual riches generously with other
families. Thus the Christian family, which springs from marriage as a
reflection of the loving covenant uniting Christ with the Church,[9] and
as a participation in that covenant, will manifest to all men Christ's
living presence in the world, and the genuine nature of the Church. This
the family will do by the mutual love of the spouses, by their generous
fruitfulness, their solidarity and faithfulness, and by the loving way in
which all members of the family assist one another.
 
49. The biblical Word of God several times urges the betrothed and the
married to nourish and develop their wedlock by pure conjugal love and
undivided affection.[10] Many men of our own age also highly regard true
love between husband and wife as it manifests itself in a variety of ways
depending on the worthy customs of various peoples and times.
 
This love is an eminently human one since it is directed from one person
to another through an affection of the will; it involves the good of the
whole person, and therefore can enrich the expressions of body and mind
with a unique dignity, ennobling these expressions as special ingredients
and signs of the friendship distinctive of marriage. This love God has
judged worthy of special gifts, healing, perfecting and exalting gifts of
grace and of charity. Such love, merging the human with the divine, leads
the spouses to a free and mutual gift of themselves, a gift providing
itself by gentle affection and by deed; such love pervades the whole of
their lives:[11] indeed by its busy generosity it grows better and grows
greater. Therefore it far excels mere erotic inclination, which,
selfishly pursued, soon enough fades wretchedly away.
 
This love is uniquely expressed and perfected through the appropriate
enterprise of matrimony. The actions within marriage by which the couple
are united intimately and chastely are noble and worthy ones. Expressed
in a manner which is truly human, these actions promote that mutual
self-giving by which spouses enrich each other with a joyful and a ready
will. Sealed by mutual faithfulness and hallowed above all by Christ's
sacrament, this love remains steadfastly true in body and in mind, in
bright days or dark. It will never be profaned by adultery or divorce.
Firmly established by the Lord, the unity of marriage will radiate from
the equal personal dignity of wife and husband, a dignity acknowledged by
mutual and total love. The constant fulfillment of the duties of this
Christian vocation demands notable virtue. For this reason, strengthened
by grace for holiness of life, the couple will painstakingly cultivate
and pray for steadiness of love, largeheartedness and the spirit of
sacrifice.
 
Authentic conjugal love will be more highly prized, and wholesome public
opinion created about it if Christian couples give outstanding witness to
faithfulness and harmony in their love, and to their concern for
educating their children; also, if they do their part in bringing about
the needed cultural, psychological and social renewal on behalf of
marriage and the family. Especially in the heart of their own families,
young people should be aptly and seasonably instructed in the dignity,
duty and work of married love. Trained thus in the cultivation of
chastity, they will be able at a suitable age to enter a marriage of
their own after an honorable courtship.
 
50. Marriage and conjugal love are by their nature ordained toward the
begetting and educating of children. Children are really the supreme gift
of marriage and contribute
 
very substantially to the welfare of their parents. The God Himself Who
said, "it is not good for man to be alone" (Gen. 2:18) and "Who made man
from the beginning male and female" (Matt. 19:4), wishing to share with
man a certain special participation in His own creative work, blessed
male and female, saying: "Increase and multiply" (Gen. 1:28). Hence,
while not making the other purposes of matrimony of less account, the
true practice of conjugal love, and the whole meaning of the family life
which results from it, have this aim: that the couple be ready with stout
hearts to cooperate with the love of the Creator and the Savior, Who
through them will enlarge and enrich His own family day by day.
 
Parents should regard as their proper mission the task of transmitting
human life and educating those to whom it has been transmitted. They
should realize that they are thereby cooperators with the love of God the
Creator, and are, so to speak, the interpreters of that love. Thus they
will fulfill their task with human and Christian responsibility, and,
with docile reverence toward God, will make decisions by common counsel
and effort. Let them thoughtfully take into account both their own
welfare and that of their children, those already born and those which
the future may bring. For this accounting they need to reckon with both
the material and the spiritual conditions of the times as well as of
their state in life. Finally, they should consult the interests of the
family group, of temporal society, and of the Church herself. The parents
themselves and no one else should ultimately make this judgment in the
sight of God. But in their manner of acting, spouses should be aware that
they cannot proceed arbitrarily, but must always be governed according to
a conscience dutifully conformed to the divine law itself, and should be
submissive toward the Church's teaching office, which authentically
interprets that law in the light of the Gospel. That divine law reveals
and protects the integral meaning of conjugal love, and impels it toward
a truly human fulfillment. Thus, trusting in divine Providence and
refining the spirit of sacrifice,[12] married Christians glorify the
Creator and strive toward fulfillment in Christ when with a generous
human and Christian sense of responsibility they acquit themselves of the
duty to procreate. Among the couples who fulfill their God-given task in
this way, those merit special mention who with a gallant heart, and with
wise and common deliberation, undertake to bring up suitably even a
relatively large family.[13]
 
Marriage to be sure is not instituted solely for procreation; rather, its
very nature as an unbreakable compact between persons, and the welfare of
the children, both demand that the mutual love of the spouses be embodied
in a rightly ordered manner, that it grow and ripen. Therefore, marriage
persists as a whole manner and communion of life, and maintains its value
and indissolubility, even when despite the often intense desire of the
couple, offspring are lacking.
 
51. This council realizes that certain modern conditions often keep
couples from arranging their married lives harmoniously, and that they
find themselves in circumstances where at least temporarily the size of
their families should not be increased. As a result, the faithful
exercise of love and the full intimacy of their lives is hard to
maintain. But where the intimacy of married life is broken off, its
faithfulness can sometimes be imperiled and its quality of fruitfulness
ruined for then the upbringing of the children and the courage to accept
new ones are both endangered.
 
To these problems there are those who presume to offer dishonorable
solutions indeed; they do not recoil even from the taking of life. But
the Church issues the reminder that a true contradiction cannot exist
between the divine laws pertaining to the transmission of life and those
pertaining to authentic conjugal love.
 
For God, the Lord of life, has conferred on men the surpassing ministry
of safeguarding life in a manner which is worthy of man. Therefore from
the moment of its conception life must be guarded with the greatest care
while abortion and infanticide are unspeakable crimes. The sexual
characteristics of man and the human faculty of reproduction wonderfully
exceed the dispositions of lower forms of life. Hence the acts themselves
which are proper to conjugal love and which are exercised in accord with
genuine human dignity must be honored with great reverence. Hence when
there is question of harmonizing conjugal love with the responsible
transmission of life, the moral aspects of any procedure does not depend
solely on sincere intentions or on an evaluation of motives, but must be
determined by objective standards. These, based on the nature of the
human person and his acts, preserve the full sense of mutual self-giving
and human procreation in the context of true love. Such a goal cannot be
achieved unless the virtue of conjugal chastity is sincerely practiced.
Relying on these principles, sons of the Church may not undertake methods
of birth control which are found blameworthy by the teaching authority of
the Church in its unfolding of the divine law.[14]
 
All should be persuaded that human life and the task of transmitting it
are not realities bound up with this world alone. Hence they cannot be
measured or perceived only in terms of it, but always have a bearing on
the eternal destiny of men.
 
52. The family is a kind of school of deeper humanity. But if it is to
achieve the full flowering of its life and mission, it needs the kindly
communion of minds and the joint deliberation of spouses, as well as the
painstaking cooperation of parents in the education of their children.
The active presence of the father is highly beneficial to their
formation. The children, especially the younger among them, need the care
of their mother at home. This domestic role of hers must be safely
preserved, though the legitimate social progress of women should not be
underrated on that account.
 
Children should be so educated that as adults they can follow their
vocation, including a religious one, with a mature sense of
responsibility and can choose their state of life; if they marry, they
can thereby establish their family in favorable moral, social and
economic conditions. Parents or guardians should by prudent advice
provide guidance to their young with respect to founding a family, and
the young ought to listen gladly. At the same time no pressure, direct or
indirect, should be put on the young to make them enter marriage or
choose a specific partner.
 
Thus the family, in which the various generations come together and help
one another grow wiser and harmonize personal rights with the other
requirements of social life, is the foundation of society. All those,
therefore, who exercise influence over communities and social groups
should work efficiently for the welfare of marriage and the family.
Public authority should regard it as a sacred duty to recognize, protect
and promote their authentic nature, to shield public morality and to
favor the prosperity of home life. The right of parents to beget and
educate their children in the bosom of the family must be safeguarded.
Children too who unhappily lack the blessing of a family should be
protected by prudent legislation and various undertakings and assisted by
the help they need.
 
Christians, redeeming the present time[15] and distinguishing eternal
realities from their changing expressions, should actively promote the
values of marriage and the family, both by the examples of their own
lives and by cooperation with other men of good will. Thus when
difficulties arise, Christians will provide, on behalf of family life,
those necessities and helps which are suitably modern. To this end, the
Christian instincts of the faithful, the upright moral consciences of
men, and the wisdom and experience of persons versed in the sacred
sciences will have much to contribute.
 
Those too who are skilled in other sciences, notably the medical,
biological, social and psychological, can considerably advance the
welfare of marriage and the family along with peace of conscience if by
pooling their efforts they labor to explain more thoroughly the various
conditions favoring a proper regulation of births.
 
It devolves on priests duly trained about family matters to nurture the
vocation of spouses by a variety of pastoral means, by preaching God's
word, by liturgical worship, and by other spiritual aids to conjugal and
family life; to sustain them sympathetically and patiently in
difficulties, and to make them courageous through love, so that families
which are truly illustrious can be formed.
 
Various organizations, especially family associations, should try by
their programs of instruction and action to strengthen young people and
spouses themselves, particularly those recently wed, and to train them
for family, social and apostolic life.
 
Finally, let the spouses themselves, made to the image of the living God
and enjoying the authentic dignity of persons, be joined to one
another[16] in equal affection, harmony of mind and the work of mutual
sanctification. Thus, following Christ who is the principle of life,[17]
 by the sacrifices and joys of their vocation and through their faithful
love, married people can become witnesses of the mystery of love which
the Lord revealed to the world by His dying and His rising up to life
again.[18]
 
 
 
CHAPTER II  THE PROPER DEVELOPMENT OF CULTURE
 
53. Man comes to a true and full humanity only through culture, that is
through the cultivation of the goods and values of nature. Wherever human
life is involved, therefore, nature and culture are quite intimately
connected one with the other.
 
The word "culture" in its general sense indicates everything whereby man
develops and perfects his many bodily and spiritual qualities; he strives
by his knowledge and his labor, to bring the world itself under his
control. He renders social life more human both in the family and the
civic community, through improvement of customs and institutions.
Throughout the course of time he expresses, communicates and conserves in
his works, great spiritual experiences and desires, that they might be of
advantage to the progress of many, even of the whole human family.
 
Thence it follows that human culture has necessarily a historical and
social aspect and the word "culture" also often assumes a sociological
and ethnological sense. According to this sense we speak of a plurality
of cultures. Different styles of life and multiple scales of values arise
from the diverse manner of using things, of laboring, of expressing
oneself, of practicing religion, of forming customs, of establishing laws
and juridic institutions, of cultivating the sciences, the arts and
beauty. Thus the customs handed down to it form the patrimony proper to
each human community. It is also in this way that there is formed the
definite, historical milieu which enfolds the man of every nation and age
and from which he draws the values which permit him to promote
civilization.
 
 
SECTION 1 The Circumstances of Culture in the World Today
 
54. The circumstances of the life of modern man have been so profoundly
changed in their social and cultural aspects, that we can speak of a new
age of human history.[1] New ways are open, therefore, for the perfection
and the further extension of culture. These ways have been prepared by
the enormous growth of natural, human and social sciences, by technical
progress, and advances in developing and organizing means whereby men can
communicate with one another. Hence the culture of today possesses
particular characteristics: sciences which are called exact greatly
develop critical judgment; the more recent psychological studies more
profoundly explain human activity; historical studies make it much easier
to see things in their mutable and evolutionary aspects; customs and
usages are becoming more and more uniform; industrialization,
urbanization, and other causes which promote community living create a
mass-culture from which are born new ways of thinking, acting and making
use of leisure. The increase of commerce between the various nations and
human groups opens more widely to all the treasures of different
civilizations and thus little by little, there develops a more universal
form of human culture, which better promotes and expresses the unity of
the human race to the degree that it preserves the particular aspects of
the different civilizations.
 
55. From day to day, in every group or nation, there is an increase in
the number of men and women who are conscious that they themselves are
the authors and the artisans of the culture of their community.
Throughout the whole world there is a mounting increase in the sense of
autonomy as well as of responsibility. This is of paramount importance
for the spiritual and moral maturity of the human race. This becomes more
clear if we consider the unification of the world and the duty which is
imposed upon us, that we build a better world based upon truth and
justice. Thus we are witnesses of the birth of a new humanism, one in
which man is defined first of all by this responsibility to his brothers
and to history.
 
56. In these conditions, it is no cause of wonder that man, who senses
his responsibility for the progress of culture, nourishes a high hope but
also looks with anxiety upon many contradictory things which he must
resolve:
 
What is to be done to prevent the increased exchanges between cultures,
which should lead to a true and fruitful dialogue between groups and
nations, from disturbing the life of communities, from destroying the
wisdom received from ancestors, or from placing in danger the character
proper to each people?
 
How is the dynamism and expansion of a new culture to be fostered without
losing a living fidelity to the heritage of tradition? This question is
of particular urgency when a culture which arises from the enormous
progress of science and technology must be harmonized with a culture
nourished by classical studies according to various traditions.
 
How can we quickly and progressively harmonize the proliferation of
particular branches of study with the necessity of forming a synthesis of
them, and of preserving among men the faculties of contemplation and
observation which lead to wisdom?
 
What can be done to make all men partakers of cultural values in the
world, when the human culture of those who are more competent is
constantly becoming more refined and more complex?
 
Finally how is the autonomy which culture claims for itself to be
recognized as legitimate without generating a notion of humanism which is
merely terrestrial, and even contrary to religion itself?
 
In the midst of these conflicting requirements, human culture must evolve
today in such a way that it can both develop the whole human person and
aid man in those duties to whose fulfillment all are called, especially
Christians fraternally united in one human family.
 
 
SECTION 2 Some Principles for the Proper Development of Culture
 
57. Christians, on pilgrimage toward the heavenly city, should seek and
think of these things which are above.[2] This duty in no way decreases,
rather it increases, the importance of their obligation to work with all
men in the building of a more human world. Indeed, the mystery of the
Christian faith furnishes them with an excellent stimulant and aid to
fulfill this duty more courageously and especially to uncover the full
meaning of this activity, one which gives to human culture its eminent
place in the integral vocation of man.
 
When man develops the earth by the work of his hands or with the aid of
technology, in order that it might bear fruit and become a dwelling
worthy of the whole human family and when he consciously takes part in
the life of social groups, he carries out the design of God manifested at
the beginning of time, that he should subdue[3] the earth, perfect
creation and develop himself. At the same time he obeys the commandment
of Christ that he place himself at the service of his brethren.
 
Furthermore, when man gives himself to the various disciplines of
philosophy, history and of mathematical and natural science, and when he
cultivates the arts, he can do very much to elevate the human family to a
more sublime understanding of truth, goodness, and beauty, and to the
formation of considered opinions which have universal value. Thus mankind
may be more clearly enlightened by that marvelous Wisdom which was with
God from all eternity, composing all things with him, rejoicing in the
earth, delighting in the sons of men.[4]
 
In this way, the human spirit, being less subjected to material things,
can be more easily drawn to the worship and contemplation of the Creator.
Moreover, by the impulse of grace, he is disposed to acknowledge the Word
of God, Who before He became flesh in order to save all and to sum up all
in Himself was already "in the world" as "the true light which enlightens
every man" (John 1:9-10).[5]
 
Indeed today's progress in science and technology can foster a certain
exclusive emphasis on observable data, and an agnosticism about
everything else. For the methods of investigation which these sciences
use can be wrongly considered as the supreme rule of seeking the whole
truth. By virtue of their methods these sciences cannot penetrate to the
intimate notion of things. Indeed the danger is present that man,
confiding too much in the discoveries of today, may think that he is
sufficient unto himself and no longer seek the higher things.
 
These unfortunate results, however, do not necessarily follow from the
culture of today, nor should they lead us into the temptation of not
acknowledging its positive values. Among these values are included:
scientific study and fidelity toward truth in scientific inquiries, the
necessity of working together with others in technical groups, a sense of
international solidarity, a clearer awareness of the responsibility of
experts to aid and even to protect men, the desire to make the conditions
of life more favorable for all, especially for those who are poor in
culture or who are deprived of the opportunity to exercise
responsibility. All of these provide some preparation for the acceptance
of the message of the Gospel-- a preparation which can be animated by
divine charity through Him Who has come to save the world.
 
58. There are many ties between the message of salvation and human
culture. For God, revealing Himself to His people to the extent of a full
manifestation of Himself in His Incarnate Son, has spoken according to
the culture proper to each epoch.
 
Likewise the Church, living in various circumstances in the course of
time, has used the discoveries of different cultures so that in her
preaching she might spread and explain the message of Christ to all
nations, that she might examine it and more deeply understand it, that
she might give it better expression in liturgical celebration and in the
varied life of the community of the faithful.
 
But at the same time, the Church, sent to all peoples of every time and
place, is not bound exclusively and indissolubly to any race or nation,
any particular way of life or any customary way of life recent or
ancient. Faithful to her own tradition and at the same time conscious of
her universal mission, she can enter into communion with the various
civilizations, to their enrichment and the enrichment of the Church
herself.
 
The Gospel of Christ constantly renews the life and culture of fallen
man; it combats and removes the errors and evils resulting from the
permanent allurement of sin. It never ceases to purify and elevate the
morality of peoples. By riches coming from above, it makes fruitful, as
it were from within, the spiritual qualities and traditions of every
people and of every age. It strengthens, perfects and restores[6] them in
Christ. Thus the Church, in the very fulfillment of her own function[7]
 stimulates and advances human and civic culture; by her action, also by
her liturgy, she leads men toward interior liberty.
 
59. For the above reasons, the Church recalls to the mind of all that
culture is to be subordinated to the integral perfection of the human
person, to the good of the community and of the whole society. Therefore
it is necessary to develop the human faculties in such a way that there
results a growth of the faculty of admiration, of intuition, of
contemplation, of making personal judgment, of developing a religious,
moral and social sense.
 
Culture, because it flows immediately from the spiritual and social
character of man, has constant need of a just liberty in order to
develop; it needs also the legitimate possibility of exercising its
autonomy according to its own principles. It therefore rightly demands
respect and enjoys a certain inviolability within the limits of the
common good, as long, of course, as it preserves the rights of the
individual and the community, whether particular or universal.
 
This Sacred Synod, therefore, recalling the teaching of the first Vatican
Council, declares that there are "two orders of knowledge" which are
distinct, namely faith and reason; and that the Church does not forbid
that "the human arts and disciplines use their own principles and their
proper method, each in its own domain"; therefore "acknowledging this
just liberty," this Sacred Synod affirms the legitimate autonomy of human
culture and especially of the sciences.[8]
 
All this supposes that, within the limits of morality and the common
utility, man can freely search for the truth, express his opinion and
publish it; that he can practice any art he chooses: that finally, he can
avail himself of true information concerning events of a public
nature.[9]
 
As for public authority, it is not its function to determine the
character of the civilization, but rather to establish the conditions and
to use the means which are capable of fostering the life of culture among
all even within the minorities of a nation.[10] It is necessary to do
everything possible to prevent culture from being turned away from its
proper end and made to serve as an instrument of political or economic
power.
 
 
SECTION 3  Some More Urgent Duties of Christians in Regard to Culture
 
60. It is now possible to free most of humanity from the misery of
ignorance. Therefore the duty most consonant with our times, especially
for Christians, is that of working diligently for fundamental decisions
to be taken in economic and political affairs, both on the national and
international level, which will everywhere recognize and satisfy the
right of all to a human and social culture in conformity with the dignity
of the human person without any discrimination of race, sex, nation,
religion or social condition. Therefore it is necessary to provide all
with a sufficient quantity of cultural benefits, especially of those
which constitute the so-called fundamental culture lest very many be
prevented from cooperating in the promotion of the common good in a truly
human manner because of illiteracy and a lack of responsible activity.
 
We must strive to provide for those men who are gifted the possibility of
pursuing higher studies; and in such a way that, as far as possible, they
may occupy in society those duties, offices and services which are in
harmony with their natural aptitude and the competence they have
acquired.[11]
 
Thus each man and the social groups of every people will be able to
attain the full development of their culture in conformity with their
qualities and traditions.
 
Everything must be done to make everyone conscious of the right to
culture and the duty he has of developing himself culturally and of
helping others. Sometimes there exist conditions of life and of work
which impede the cultural striving of men and destroy in them the
eagerness for culture. This is especially true of farmers and workers. It
is necessary to provide for them those working conditions which will not
impede their human culture but rather favor it. Women now work in almost
all spheres. It is fitting that they are able to assume their proper role
in accordance with their own nature. It will belong to all to acknowledge
and favor the proper and necessary participation of women in the cultural
life.
 
61. Today it is more difficult to form a synthesis of the various
disciplines of knowledge and the arts than it was formerly. For while the
mass and the diversity of cultural factors are increasing, there is a
decrease in each man's faculty of perceiving and unifying these things,
so that the image of "universal man" is being lost sight of more and
more. Nevertheless 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 preeminent. These values are all rooted in
God the Creator and have been wonderfully restored and elevated in Christ.
 
The family is, as it were, the primary mother and nurse of this
education. There, the children, in an atmosphere of love, more easily
learn the correct order of things, while proper forms of human culture
impress themselves in an almost unconscious manner upon the mind of the
developing adolescent.
 
Opportunities for the same education are to be found also in the
societies of today, due especially to the increased circulation of books
and to the new means of cultural and social communication which can
foster a universal culture. With the more or less generalized reduction
of working hours, the leisure time of most men has increased. May this
leisure be used properly to relax, to fortify the health of soul and body
through spontaneous study and activity, through tourism which refines
man's character and enriches him with understanding of others, through
sports activity which helps to preserve equilibrium of spirit even in the
community, and to establish fraternal relations among men of all
conditions, nations and races. Let Christians cooperate so that the
cultural manifestations and collective activity characteristic of our
time may be imbued with a human and a Christian spirit.
 
All these leisure activities however are not able to bring man to a full
cultural development unless there is at the same time a profound inquiry
into the meaning of culture and science for the human person.
 
62. Although the Church has contributed much to the development of
culture, experience shows that, for circumstantial reasons, it is
sometimes difficult to harmonize culture with Christian teaching. These
difficulties do not necessarily harm the life of faith, rather they can
stimulate the mind to a deeper and more accurate understanding of the
faith. The recent studies and findings of science, history and philosophy
raise new questions which effect life and which demand new theological
investigations. Furthermore, theologians, within the requirements and
methods proper to theology, are invited to seek continually for more
suitable ways of communicating doctrine to the men of their times; for
the deposit of Faith or the truths are one thing and the manner in which
they are enunciated, in the same meaning and understanding, is
another.[12] In pastoral care, sufficient use must be made not only of
theological principles, but also of the findings of the secular sciences,
especially of psychology and sociology, so that the faithful may be
brought to a more adequate and mature life of faith.
 
Literature and the arts are also, in their own way, of great importance
to the life of the Church. They strive to make known the proper nature of
man, his problems and his experiences in trying to know and perfect both
himself and the world. They have much to do with revealing man's place in
history and in the world; with illustrating the miseries and joys, the
needs and strengths of man and with foreshadowing a better life for him.
Thus they are able to elevate human life, expressed in multifold forms
according to various times and regions.
 
Efforts must be made so that those who foster these arts feel that the
Church recognizes their activity and so that, enjoying orderly liberty,
they may initiate more friendly relations with the Christian community.
The Church acknowledges also new forms of art which are adapted to our
age and are in keeping with the characteristics of various nations and
regions. They may be brought into the sanctuary since they raise the mind
to God, once the manner of expression is adapted and they are conformed
to liturgical requirements.[13]
 
Thus the knowledge of God is better manifested and the preaching of the
Gospel becomes clearer to human intelligence and shows itself to be
relevant to man's actual conditions of life.
 
May the faithful, therefore, live in very close union with the other men
of their time and may they strive to understand perfectly their way of
thinking and judging, as expressed in their culture. Let them blend new
sciences and theories and the understanding of the most recent
discoveries with Christian morality and the teaching of Christian
doctrine, so that their religious culture and morality may keep pace with
scientific knowledge and with the constantly progressing technology. Thus
they will be able to interpret and evaluate all things in a truly
Christian spirit.
 
Let those who teach theology in seminaries and universities strive to
collaborate with men versed in the other sciences through a sharing of
their resources and points of view. Theological inquiry should pursue a
profound understanding of revealed truth; at the same time it should not
neglect close contact with its own time that it may be able to help those
men skilled in various disciplines to attain to a better understanding of
the faith. This common effort will greatly aid the formation of priests,
who will be able to present to our contemporaries the doctrine of the
Church concerning God, man and the world, in a manner more adapted to
them so that they may receive it more willingly.[14] Furthermore, it is
to be hoped that many of the laity will receive a sufficient formation in
the sacred sciences and that some will dedicate themselves professionally
to these studies, developing and deepening them by their own labors. In
order that they may fulfill their function, let it be recognized that all
the faithful, whether clerics or laity, possess a lawful freedom of
inquiry, freedom of thought and of expressing their mind with humility
and fortitude in those matters on which they enjoy competence.[15]
 
 
 
CHAPTER III  ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL LIFE
 
63. In the economic and social realms, too, the dignity and complete
vocation of the human person and the welfare of society as a whole are to
be respected and promoted. For man is the source, the center, and the
purpose of all economic and social life.
 
Like other areas of social life, the economy of today is marked by man's
increasing domination over nature, by closer and more intense
relationships between citizens, groups, and countries and their mutual
dependence, and by the increased intervention of the state. At the same
time progress in the methods of production and in the exchange of goods
and services has made the economy an instrument capable of better meeting
the intensified needs of the human family.
 
Reasons for anxiety, however, are not lacking. Many people, especially in
economically advanced areas, seem, as it were, to be ruled by economics,
so that almost their entire personal and social life is permeated with a
certain economic way of thinking. Such is true both of nations that favor
a collective economy and of others. At the very time when the development
of economic life could mitigate social inequalities (provided that it be
guided and coordinated in a reasonable and human way), it is often made
to embitter them; or, in some places, it even results in a decline of the
social status of the underprivileged and in contempt for the poor. While
an immense number of people still lack the absolute necessities of life,
some, even in less advanced areas, live in luxury or squander wealth.
Extravagance and wretchedness exist side by side. While a few enjoy very
great power of choice, the majority are deprived of almost all
possibility of acting on their own initiative and responsibility, and
often subsist in living and working conditions unworthy of the human
person.
 
A similar lack of economic and social balance is to be noticed between
agriculture, industry, and the services, and also between different parts
of one and the same country. The contrast between the economically more
advanced countries and other countries is becoming more serious day by
day, and the very peace of the world can be jeopardized thereby.
 
Our contemporaries are coming to feel these inequalities with an ever
sharper awareness, since they are thoroughly convinced that the ampler
technical and economic possibilities which the world of today enjoys can
and should correct this unhappy state of affairs. Hence, many reforms in
the socioeconomic realm and a change of mentality and attitude are
required of all. For this reason the Church down through the centuries
and in the light of the Gospel has worked out the principles of justice
and equity demanded by right reason both for individual and social life
and for international life, and she has proclaimed them especially in
recent times. This sacred council intends to strengthen these principles
according to the circumstances of this age and to set forth certain
guidelines, especially with regard to the requirements of economic
development.[1]
 
 
SECTION 1 Economic Development
 
64. Today more than ever before attention is rightly given to the
increase of the production of agricultural and industrial goods and of
the rendering of services, for the purpose of making provision for the
growth of population and of satisfying the increasing desires of the
human race. Therefore, technical progress, an inventive spirit, an
eagerness to create and to expand enterprises, the application of methods
of production, and the strenuous efforts of all who engage in
production--in a word, all the elements making for such development--must
be promoted. The fundamental finality of this production is not the mere
increase of products nor profit or control but rather the service of man,
and indeed of the whole man with regard for the full range of his
material needs and the demands of his intellectual, moral, spiritual, and
religious life; this applies to every man whatsoever and to every group
of men, of every race and of every part of the world. Consequently,
economic activity is to be carried on according to its own methods and
laws within the limits of the moral order,[2] so that God's plan for
mankind may be realized.[3]
 
65. Economic development must remain under man's determination and must
not be left to the judgment of a few men or groups possessing too much
economic power or of the political community alone or of certain more
powerful nations. It is necessary, on the contrary, that at every level
the largest possible number of people and, when it is a question of
international relations, all nations have an active share in directing
that development. There is need as well of the coordination and fitting
and harmonious combination of the spontaneous efforts of individuals and
of free groups with the undertakings of public authorities.
 
Growth is not to be left solely to a kind of mechanical course of the
economic activity of individuals, nor to the authority of government. For
this reason, doctrines which obstruct the necessary reforms under the
guise of a false liberty, and those which subordinate the basic rights of
individual persons and groups to the collective organization of
production must be shown to be erroneous.[4]
 
Citizens, on the other hand, should remember that it is their right and
duty, which is also to be recognized by the civil authority, to
contribute to the true progress of their own community according to their
ability. Especially in underdeveloped areas, where all resources must
urgently be employed, those who hold back their unproductive resources or
who deprive their community of the material or spiritual aid that it
needs--saving the personal right of migration--gravely endanger the
common good.
 
66. To satisfy the demands of justice and equity, strenuous efforts must
be made, without disregarding the rights of persons or the natural
qualities of each country, to remove as quickly as possible the immense
economic inequalities, which now exist and in many cases are growing and
which are connected with individual and social discrimination. Likewise,
in many areas, in view of the special difficulties of agriculture
relative to the raising and selling of produce, country people must be
helped both to increase and to market what they produce, and to introduce
the necessary development and renewal and also obtain a fair income.
Otherwise, as too often happens, they will remain in the condition of
lower-class citizens. Let farmers themselves, especially young ones,
apply themselves to perfecting their professional skill, for without it,
there can be no agricultural advance.[5]
 
Justice and equity likewise require that the mobility, which is necessary
in a developing economy, be regulated in such a way as to keep the life
of individuals and their families from becoming insecure and precarious.
When workers come from another country or district and contribute to the
economic advancement of a nation or region by their labor, all
discrimination as regards wages and working conditions must be carefully
avoided. All the people, moreover, above all the public authorities, must
treat them not as mere tools of production but as persons, and must help
them to bring their families to live with them and to provide themselves
with a decent dwelling; they must also see to it that these workers are
incorporated into the social life of the country or region that receives
them. Employment opportunities, however, should be created in their own
areas as far as possible.
 
In economic affairs which today are subject to change, as in the new
forms of industrial society in which automation, for example, is
advancing, care must be taken that sufficient and suitable work and the
possibility of the appropriate technical and professional formation are
furnished. The livelihood and the human dignity especially of those who
are in very difficult conditions because of illness or old age must be
guaranteed.
 
 
SECTION 2  Certain Principles Governing Socio-Economic Life as a Whole
 
67. Human labor which is expended in the production and exchange of goods
or in the performance of economic services is superior to the other
elements of economic life, for the latter have only the nature of tools.
 
This labor, whether it is engaged in independently or hired by someone
else, comes immediately from the person, who as it were stamps the things
of nature with his seal and subdues them to his will. By his labor a man
ordinarily supports himself and his family, is joined to his fellow men
and serves them, and can exercise genuine charity and be a partner in the
work of bringing divine creation to perfection. Indeed, we hold that
through labor offered to God man is associated with the redemptive work
of Jesus Christ, Who conferred an eminent dignity on labor when at
Nazareth He worked with His own hands. From this there follows for every
man the duty of working faithfully and also the right to work. It is the
duty of society, moreover, according to the circumstances prevailing in
it, and in keeping with its role, to help the citizens to find sufficient
employment. Finally, remuneration for labor is to be such that man may be
furnished the means to cultivate worthily his own material, social,
cultural and spiritual life and that of his dependents, in view of the
function and productiveness of each one, the conditions of the factory or
workshop, and the common good.[6]
 
Since economic activity for the most part implies the associated work of
human beings, any way of organizing and directing it which may be
detrimental to any working men and women would be wrong and inhuman. It
happens too often, however, even in our days, that workers are reduced to
the level of being slaves to their own work. This is by no means
justified by the so-called economic laws. The entire process of
productive work, therefore, must be adapted to the needs of the person
and to his way of life, above all to his domestic life, especially in
respect to mothers of families, always with due regard for sex and age.
The opportunity, moreover, should be granted to workers to unfold their
own abilities and personality through the performance of their work.
Applying their time and strength to their employment with a due sense of
responsibility, they should also all enjoy sufficient rest and leisure to
cultivate their familial, cultural, social and religious life. They
should also have the opportunity freely to develop the energies and
potentialities which perhaps they cannot bring to much fruition in their
professional work.
 
68. In economic enterprises it is persons who are joined together, that
is, free and independent human beings created to the image of God.
Therefore, with attention to the functions of each--owners or employers,
management or labor--and without doing harm to the necessary unity of
management, the active sharing of all in the administration and profits
of these enterprises in ways to be properly determined is to be
promoted.[7] Since more often, however, decisions concerning economic and
social conditions, on which the future lot of the workers and of their
children depends, are made not within the business itself but by
institutions on a higher level, the workers themselves should have a
share also in determining these conditions--in person or through freely
elected delegates.
 
Among the basic rights of the human person is to be numbered the right of
freely founding unions for working people. These should be able truly to
represent them and to contribute to the organizing of economic life in
the right way. Included is the right of freely taking part in the
activity of these unions without risk of reprisal. Through this orderly
participation joined to progressive economic and social formation, all
will grow day by day in the awareness of their own function and
responsibility, and thus they will be brought to feel that they are
comrades in the whole task of economic development and in the attainment
of the universal common good according to their capacities and aptitudes.
 
When, however, socio-economic disputes arise, efforts must be made to
come to a peaceful settlement. Although recourse must always be had first
to a sincere dialogue between the parties, a strike, nevertheless, can
remain even in present-day circumstances a necessary, though ultimate,
aid for the defense of the workers' own rights and the fulfillment of
their just desires. As soon as possible, however, ways should be sought
to resume negotiation and the discussion of reconciliation.
 
69. God intended the earth with everything contained in it for the use of
all human beings and peoples. Thus, under the leadership of justice and
in the company of charity, created goods should be in abundance for all
in like manner.[8] Whatever the forms of property may be, as adapted to
the legitimate institutions of peoples, according to diverse and
changeable circumstances, attention must always be paid to this universal
destination of earthly goods. In using them, therefore, man should regard
the external things that he legitimately possesses not only as his own
but also as common in the sense that they should be able to benefit not
only him but also others.[9] On the other hand, the right of having a
share of earthly goods sufficient for oneself and one's family belongs to
everyone. The Fathers and Doctors of the Church held this opinion,
teaching that men are obliged to come to the relief of the poor and to do
so not merely out of their superfluous goods.[10] If one is in extreme
necessity, he has the right to procure for himself what he needs out of
the riches of others.[11] Since there are so many people prostrate with
hunger in the world, this sacred council urges all, both individuals and
governments, to remember the aphorism of the Fathers, "Feed the man dying
of hunger, because if you have not fed him, you have killed him,"[12] and
really to share and employ their earthly goods, according to the ability
of each, especially by supporting individuals or peoples with the aid by
which they may be able to help and develop themselves.
 
In economically less advanced societies the common destination of earthly
goods is partly satisfied by means of the customs and traditions proper
to the community, by which the absolutely necessary things are furnished
to each member. An effort must be made, however, to avoid regarding
certain customs as altogether unchangeable, if they no longer answer the
new needs of this age. On the other hand, imprudent action should not be
taken against respectable customs which, provided they are suitably
adapted to present-day circumstances, do not cease to be very useful.
Similarly, in highly developed nations a body of social institutions
dealing with protection and security can, for its own part, bring to
reality the common destination of earthly goods. Family and social
services, especially those that provide for culture and education, should
be further promoted. When all these things are being organized, vigilance
is necessary to prevent the citizens from being led into a certain
inactivity vis-a-vis society or from rejecting the burden of taking up
office or from refusing to serve.
 
70. Investments, for their part, must be directed toward procuring
employment and sufficient income for the people both now and in the
future. Whoever makes decisions concerning these investments and the
planning of the economy-- whether they be individuals or groups of public
authorities-- are bound to keep these objectives in mind and to recognize
their serious obligation of watching, on the one hand, that provision be
made for the necessities required for a decent life both of individuals
and of the whole community and, on the other, of looking out for the
future and of establishing a right balance between the needs of
present-day consumption, both individual and collective, and the demands
of investing for the generation to come. They should also always bear in
mind the urgent needs of underdeveloped countries or regions. In monetary
matters they should beware of hurting the welfare of their own country or
of other countries. Care should also be taken lest the economically weak
countries unjustly suffer any loss from a change in the value of money.
 
71. Since property and other forms of private ownership of external goods
contribute to the expression of the personality, and since, moreover,
they furnish one an occasion to exercise his function in society and in
the economy, it is very important that the access of both individuals and
communities to some ownership of external goods be fostered.
 
Private property or some ownership of external goods confers on everyone
a sphere wholly necessary for the autonomy of the person and the family,
and it should be regarded as an extension of human freedom. Lastly, since
it adds incentives for carrying on one's function and charge, it
constitutes one of the conditions for civil liberties.[13]
 
The forms of such ownership or property are varied today and are becoming
increasingly diversified. They all remain, however, a cause of security
not to be underestimated, in spite of social funds, rights, and services
provided by society. This is true not only of material property but also
of immaterial things such as professional capacities.
 
The right of private ownership, however, is not opposed to the right
inherent in various forms of public property. Goods can be transferred to
the public domain only by the competent authority, according to the
demands and within the limits of the common good, and with fair
compensation. Furthermore, it is the right of public authority to prevent
anyone from abusing his private property to the detriment of the common
good.[14]
 
By its very nature private property has a social quality which is based
on the law of the common destination of earthly goods.[15] If this social
quality is overlooked, property often becomes an occasion of passionate
desires for wealth and serious disturbances, so that a pretext is given
to the attackers for calling the right itself into question.
 
In many underdeveloped regions there are large or even extensive rural
estates which are only slightly cultivated or lie completely idle for the
sake of profit, while the majority of the people either are without land
or have only very small fields, and, on the other hand, it is evidently
urgent to increase the productivity of the fields. Not infrequently those
who are hired to work for the landowners or who till a portion of the
land as tenants receive a wage or income unworthy of a human being, lack
decent housing and are exploited by middlemen. Deprived of all security,
they live under such personal servitude that almost every opportunity of
acting on their own initiative and responsibility is denied to them and
all advancement in human culture and all sharing in social and political
life is forbidden to them. According to the different cases, therefore,
reforms are necessary: that income may grow, working conditions should be
improved, security in employment increased, and an incentive to working
on one's own initiative given. Indeed, insufficiently cultivated estates
should be distributed to those who can make these lands fruitful; in this
case, the necessary things and means, especially educational aids and the
right facilities for cooperative organization, must be supplied.
Whenever, nevertheless, the common good requires expropriation,
compensation must be reckoned in equity after all the circumstances have
been weighed.
 
72. Christians who take an active part in present-day socio-economic
development and fight for justice and charity should be convinced that
they can make a great contribution to the prosperity of mankind and to
the peace of the world. In these activities let them, either as
individuals or as members of groups, give a shining example. Having
acquired the absolutely necessary skill and experience, they should
observe the right order in their earthly activities in faithfulness to
Christ and His Gospel. Thus their whole life, both individual and social,
will be permeated with the spirit of the beatitudes, notably with a
spirit of poverty.
 
Whoever in obedience to Christ seeks first the Kingdom of God, takes
therefrom a stronger and purer love for helping all his brethren and for
perfecting the work of justice under the inspiration of charity.[16]
 
 
 
CHAPTER IV  THE LIFE OF THE POLITICAL COMMUNITY
 
73. In our day, profound changes are apparent also in the structure and
institutions of peoples. These result from their cultural, economic and
social evolution. Such changes have a great influence on the life of the
political community, especially regarding the rights and duties of all in
the exercise of civil freedom and in the attainment of the common good,
and in organizing the relations of citizens among themselves and with
respect to public authority.
 
The present keener sense of human dignity has given rise in many parts of
the world to attempts to bring about a politico-juridical order which
will give better protection to the rights of the person in public life.
These include the right freely to meet and form associations, the right
to express one's own opinion and to profess one's religion both publicly
and privately. The protection of the rights of a person is indeed a
necessary condition so that citizens, individually or collectively, can
take an active part in the life and government of the state.
 
Along with cultural, economic and social development, there is a growing
desire among many people to play a greater part in organizing the life of
the political community. In the conscience of many arises an increasing
concern that the rights of minorities be recognized, without any neglect
for their duties toward the political community. In addition, there is a
steadily growing respect for men of other opinions or other religions. At
the same time, there is wider cooperation to guarantee the actual
exercise of personal rights to all citizens, and not only to a few
privileged individuals.
 
However, those political systems, prevailing in some parts of the world
are to be reproved which hamper civic or religious freedom, victimize
large numbers through avarice and political crimes, and divert the
exercise of authority from the service of the common good to the
interests of one or another faction or of the rulers themselves.
 
There is no better way to establish political life on a truly human basis
than by fostering an inward sense of justice and kindliness, and of
service to the common good, and by strengthening basic convictions as to
the true nature of the political community and the aim, right exercise,
and sphere of action of public authority.
 
74. Men, families and the various groups which make up the civil
community are aware that they cannot achieve a truly human life by their
own unaided efforts. They see the need for a wider community, within
which each one makes his specific contribution every day toward an ever
broader realization of the common good.[1] For this purpose they set up a
political community according to various forms. The political community
exists, consequently, for the sake of the common good, in which it finds
its full justification and significance, and the source of its inherent
legitimacy. Indeed, the common good embraces the sum of those conditions
of the social life whereby men, families and associations more adequately
and readily may attain their own perfection.[2]
 
Yet the people who come together in the political community are many and
diverse, and they have every right to prefer divergent solutions. If the
political community is not to be torn apart while everyone follows his
own opinion, there must be an authority to direct the energies of all
citizens toward the common good, not in a mechanical or despotic fashion,
but by acting above all as a moral force which appeals to each one's
freedom and sense of responsibility.
 
It is clear, therefore, that the political community and public authority
are founded on human nature and hence belong to the order designed by
God, even though the choice of a political regime and the appointment of
rulers are left to the free will of citizens.[3]
 
It follows also that political authority, both in the community as such
and in the representative bodies of the state, must always be exercised
within the limits of the moral order and directed toward the common
good--with a dynamic concept of that good--according to the juridical
order legitimately established or due to be established. When authority
is so exercised, citizens are bound in conscience to obey.[4]
 Accordingly, the responsibility, dignity and importance of leaders are
indeed clear.
 
But where citizens are oppressed by a public authority overstepping its
competence, they should not protest against those things which are
objectively required for the common good; but it is legitimate for them
to defend their own rights and the rights of their fellow citizens
against the abuse of this authority, while keeping within those limits
drawn by the natural law and the Gospels.
 
According to the character of different peoples and their historic
development, the political community can, however, adopt a variety of
concrete solutions in its structures and the organization of public
authority. For the benefit of the whole human family, these solutions
must always contribute to the formation of a type of man who will be
cultivated, peace loving and well-disposed towards all his fellow men.
 
75. It is in full conformity with human nature that there should be
juridico-political structures providing all citizens in an ever better
fashion and without any discrimination the practical possibility of
freely and actively taking part in the establishment of the juridical
foundations of the political community and in the direction of public
affairs, in fixing the terms of reference of the various public bodies
and in the election of political leaders.[5] All citizens, therefore,
should be mindful of the right and also the duty to use their free vote
to further the common good. The Church praises and esteems the work of
those who for the good of men devote themselves to the service of the
state and take on the burdens of this office.
 
If the citizens' responsible cooperation is to produce the good results
which may be expected in the normal course of political life, there must
be a statute of positive law providing for a suitable division of the
functions and bodies of authority and an efficient and independent system
for the protection of rights. The rights of all persons, families and
groups, and their practical application, must be recognized, respected
and furthered, together with the duties binding on all citizens.[6]
 
Among the latter, it will be well to recall the duty of rendering the
political community such material and personal services as are required
by the common good. Rulers must be careful not to hamper the development
of family, social or cultural groups, nor that of intermediate bodies or
organizations, and not to deprive them of opportunities for legitimate
and constructive activity; they should willingly seek rather to promote
the orderly pursuit of such activity. Citizens, for their part, either
individually or collectively, must be careful not to attribute excessive
power to public authority, not to make exaggerated and untimely demands
upon it in their own interests, lessening in this way the responsible
role of persons, families and social groups.
 
The complex circumstances of our day make it necessary for public
authority to intervene more often in social, economic and cultural
matters in order to bring about favorable conditions which will give more
effective help to citizens and groups in their free pursuit of man's
total well-being. The relations, however, between socialization[7] and
the autonomy and development of the person can be understood in different
ways according to various regions and the evolution of peoples. But when
the exercise of rights is restricted temporarily for the common good,
freedom should be restored immediately upon change of circumstances.
Moreover, it is inhuman for public authority to fall back on dictatorial
systems or totalitarian methods which violate the rights of the person or
social groups.
 
Citizens must cultivate a generous and loyal spirit of patriotism, but
without being narrow-minded. This means that they will always direct
their attention to the good of the whole human family, united by the
different ties which bind together races, people and nations.
 
All Christians must be aware of their own specific vocation within the
political community. It is for them to give an example by their sense of
responsibility and their service of the common good. In this way they are
to demonstrate concretely how authority can be compatible with freedom,
personal initiative with the solidarity of the whole social organism, and
the advantages of unity with fruitful diversity. They must recognize the
legitimacy of different opinions with regard to temporal solutions, and
respect citizens, who, even as a group, defend their points of view by
honest methods. Political parties, for their part, must promote those
things which in their judgment are required for the common good; it is
never allowable to give their interests priority over the common good.
 
Great care must be taken about civic and political formation, which is of
the utmost necessity today for the population as a whole, and especially
for youth, so that all citizens can play their part in the life of the
political community. Those who are suited or can become suited should
prepare themselves for the difficult, but at the same time, the very
noble art of politics,[8] and should seek to practice this art without
regard for their own interests or for material advantages. With integrity
and wisdom, they must take action against any form of injustice and
tyranny, against arbitrary domination by an individual or a political
party and any intolerance. They should dedicate themselves to the service
of all with sincerity and fairness, indeed, with the charity and
fortitude demanded by political life.
 
76. It is very important, especially where a pluralistic society
prevails, that there be a correct notion of the relationship between the
political community and the Church, and a clear distinction between the
tasks which Christians undertake, individually or as a group, on their
own responsibility as citizens guided by the dictates of a Christian
conscience, and the activities which, in union with their pastors, they
carry out in the name of the Church.
 
The Church, by reason of her role and competence, is not identified in
any way with the political community nor bound to any political system.
She is at once a sign and a safeguard of the transcendent character of
the human person.
 
The Church and the political community in their own fields are autonomous
and independent from each other. Yet both, under different titles, are
devoted to the personal and social vocation of the same men. The more
that both foster sounder cooperation between themselves with due
consideration for the circumstances of time and place, the more effective
will their service be exercised for the good of all. For man's horizons
are not limited only to the temporal order; while living in the context
of human history, he preserves intact his eternal vocation. The Church,
for her part, founded on the love of the Redeemer, contributes toward the
reign of justice and charity within the borders of a nation and between
nations. By preaching the truths of the Gospel, and bringing to bear on
all fields of human endeavor the light of her doctrine and of a Christian
witness, she respects and fosters the political freedom and
responsibility of citizens.
 
The Apostles, their successors and those who cooperate with them, are
sent to announce to mankind Christ, the Savior. Their apostolate is based
on the power of God, Who very often shows forth the strength of the
Gospel on the weakness of its witnesses. All those dedicated to the
ministry of God's Word must use the ways and means proper to the Gospel
which in a great many respects differ from the means proper to the
earthly city.
 
There are, indeed, close links between earthly things and those elements
of man's condition which transcend the world. The Church herself makes
use of temporal things insofar as her own mission requires it. She, for
her part, does not place her trust in the privileges offered by civil
authority. She will even give up the exercise of certain rights which
have been legitimately acquired, if it becomes clear that their use will
cast doubt on the sincerity of her witness or that new ways of life
demand new methods. It is only right, however, that at all times and in
all places, the Church should have true freedom to preach the faith, to
teach her social doctrine, to exercise her role freely among men, and
also to pass moral judgment in those matters which regard public order
when the fundamental rights of a person or the salvation of souls require
it. In this, she should make use of all the means-- but only those--which
accord with the Gospel and which correspond to the general good according
to the diversity of times and circumstances.
 
While faithfully adhering to the Gospel and fulfilling her mission to the
world, the Church, whose duty it is to foster and elevate[9] all that is
found to be true, good and beautiful in the human community, strengthens
peace among men for the glory of God.[10]
 
 
 
CHAPTER V  THE FOSTERING OF PEACE AND THE PROMOTION OF A COMMUNITY OF
NATIONS
 
77. In our generation when men continue to be afflicted by acute
hardships and anxieties arising from the ravages of war or the threat of
it, the whole human family faces an hour of supreme crisis in its advance
toward maturity. Moving gradually together and everywhere more conscious
already of its unity, this family cannot accomplish its task of
constructing for all men everywhere a world more genuinely human unless
each person devotes himself to the cause of peace with renewed vigor.
Thus it happens that the Gospel message, Which is in harmony with the
loftier strivings and aspirations of the human race, takes on a new
luster in our day as it declares that the artisans of peace are blessed
"because they will be called the sons of God" (Matt. 5:9).
 
Consequently, as it points out the authentic and noble meaning of peace
and condemns the frightfulness of war, the Council wishes passionately to
summon Christians to cooperate, under the help of Christ, the author of
peace, with all men in securing among themselves a peace based on justice
and love and in setting up the instruments of peace.
 
78. Peace is not merely the absence of war; nor can it be reduced solely
to the maintenance of a balance of power between enemies; nor is it
brought about by dictatorship. Instead, it is rightly and appropriately
called an enterprise of justice. Peace results from that order structured
into human society by its divine Founder, and actualized by men as they
thirst after ever greater justice. The common good of humanity finds its
ultimate meaning in the eternal law. But since the concrete demands of
this common good are constantly changing as time goes on, peace is never
attained once and for all, but must be built up ceaselessly. Moreover,
since the human will is unsteady and wounded by sin, the achievement of
peace requires a constant mastering of passions and the vigilance of
lawful authority.
 
But this is not enough. This peace on earth cannot be obtained unless
personal well-being is safeguarded and men freely and trustingly share
with one another the riches of their inner spirits and their talents. A
firm determination to respect other men and peoples and their dignity, as
well as the studied practice of brotherhood are absolutely necessary for
the establishment of peace. Hence peace is likewise the fruit of love,
which goes beyond what justice can provide.
 
That earthly peace which arises from love of neighbor symbolizes and
results from the peace of Christ which radiates from God the Father. For
by the cross the incarnate Son, the prince of peace reconciled all men
with God. By thus restoring all men to the unity of one people and one
body, He slew hatred in His own flesh; and, after being lifted on high by
His resurrection, He poured forth the spirit of love into the hearts of
men.
 
For this reason, all Christians are urgently summoned to do in love what
the truth requires, and to join with all true peacemakers in pleading for
peace and bringing it about.
 
Motivated by this same spirit, we cannot fail to praise those who
renounce the use of violence in the vindication of their rights and who
resort to methods of defense which are otherwise available to weaker
parties too, provided this can be done without injury to the rights and
duties of others or of the community itself.
 
Insofar as men are sinful, the threat of war hangs over them, and hang
over them it will until the return of Christ. But insofar as men vanquish
sin by a union of love, they will vanquish violence as well and make
these words come true: "They shall turn their swords into plough-shares,
and their spears into sickles. Nation shall not lift up sword against
nation, neither shall they learn war any more" (Isaias 2:4).
 
 
SECTION 1 The Avoidance of War
 
79. Even though recent wars have wrought physical and moral havoc on our
world, the devastation of battle still goes on day by day in some part of
the world. Indeed, now that every kind of weapon produced by modern
science is used in war, the fierce character of warfare threatens to lead
the combatants to a savagery far surpassing that of the past.
Furthermore, the complexity of the modern world and the intricacy of
international relations allow guerrilla warfare to be drawn out by new
methods of deceit and subversion. In many causes the use of terrorism is
regarded as a new way to wage war.
 
Contemplating this melancholy state of humanity, the council wishes,
above all things else, to recall the permanent binding force of universal
natural law and its all-embracing principles. Man's conscience itself
gives ever more emphatic voice to these principles. Therefore, actions
which deliberately conflict with these same principles, as well as orders
commanding such actions are criminal, and blind obedience cannot excuse
those who yield to them. The most infamous among these are actions
designed for the methodical extermination of an entire people, nation or
ethnic minority. Such actions must be vehemently condemned as horrendous
crimes. The courage of those who fearlessly and openly resist those who
issue such commands merits supreme commendation.
 
On the subject of war, quite a large number of nations have subscribed to
international agreements aimed at making military activity and its
consequences less inhuman. Their stipulations deal with such matters as
the treatment of wounded soldiers and prisoners. Agreements of this sort
must be honored. Indeed they should be improved upon so that the
frightfulness of war can be better and more workably held in check. All
men, especially government officials and experts in these matters, are
bound to do everything they can to effect these improvements. Moreover,
it seems right that laws make humane provisions for the case of those who
for reasons of conscience refuse to bear arms, provided however, that
they agree to serve the human community in some other way.
 
Certainly, war has not been rooted out of human affairs. As long as the
danger of war remains and there is no competent and sufficiently powerful
authority at the international level, governments cannot be denied the
right to legitimate defense once every means of peaceful settlement has
been exhausted. State authorities and others who share public
responsibility have the duty to conduct such grave matters soberly and to
protect the welfare of the people entrusted to their care. But it is one
thing to undertake military action for the just defense of the people,
and something else again to seek the subjugation of other nations. Nor,
by the same token, does the mere fact that war has unhappily begun mean
that all is fair between the warring parties.
 
Those too who devote themselves to the military service of their country
should regard themselves as the agents of security and freedom of
peoples. As long as they fulfill this role properly, they are making a
genuine contribution to the establishment of peace.
 
80. The horror and perversity of war is immensely magnified by the
addition of scientific weapons. For acts of war involving these weapons
can inflict massive and indiscriminate destruction, thus going far beyond
the bounds of legitimate defense. Indeed, if the kind of instruments
which can now be found in the armories of the great nations were to be
employed to their fullest, an almost total and altogether reciprocal
slaughter of each side by the other would follow, not to mention the
widespread devastation that would take place in the world and the deadly
after effects that would be spawned by the use of weapons of this kind.
 
All these considerations compel us to undertake an evaluation of war with
an entirely new attitude.[1] The men of our time must realize that they
will have to give a somber reckoning of their deeds of war for the course
of the future will depend greatly on the decisions they make today.
 
With these truths in mind, this most holy synod makes its own the
condemnations of total war already pronounced by recent popes,[2] and
issues the following declaration.
 
Any act of war aimed indiscriminately at the destruction of entire cities
of extensive areas along with their population is a crime against God and
man himself. It merits unequivocal and unhesitating condemnation.
 
The unique hazard of modem warfare consists in this: it provides those
who possess modem scientific weapons with a kind of occasion for
perpetrating just such abominations; moreover, through a certain
inexorable chain of events, it can catapult men into the most atrocious
decisions. That such may never truly happen in the future, the bishops of
the whole world gathered together, beg all men, especially government
officials and military leaders, to give unremitting thought to their
gigantic responsibility before God and the entire human race.
 
81. To be sure, scientific weapons are not amassed solely for use in war.
Since the defensive strength of any nation is considered to be dependent
upon its capacity for immediate retaliation, this accumulation of arms,
which increases each year, likewise serves, in a way heretofore unknown,
as deterrent to possible enemy attack. Many regard this procedure as the
most effective way by which peace of a sort can be maintained between
nations at the present time.
 
Whatever be the facts about this method of deterrence, men should be
convinced that the arms race in which an already considerable number of
countries are engaged is not a safe way to preserve a steady peace, nor
is the so-called balance resulting from this race a sure and authentic
peace. Rather than being eliminated thereby, the causes of war are in
danger of being gradually aggravated. While extravagant sums are being
spent for the furnishing of ever new weapons, an adequate remedy cannot
be provided for the multiple miseries afflicting the whole modern world.
Disagreements between nations are not really and radically healed; on the
contrary, they spread the infection to other parts of the earth. New
approaches based on reformed attitudes must be taken to remove this trap
and to emancipate the world from its crushing anxiety through the
restoration of genuine peace.
 
Therefore, we say it again: the arms race is an utterly treacherous trap
for humanity, and one which ensnares the poor to an intolerable degree.
It is much to be feared that if this race persists, it will eventually
spawn all the lethal ruin whose path it is now making ready. Warned by
the calamities which the human race has made possible, let us make use of
the interlude granted us from above and for which we are thankful, to
become more conscious of our own responsibility and to find means for
resolving our disputes in a manner more worthy of man. Divine Providence
urgently demands of us that we free ourselves from the age-old slavery of
war. If we refuse to make this effort, we do not know where we will be
led by the evil road we have set upon.
 
It is our clear duty, therefore, to strain every muscle in working for
the time when all war can be completely outlawed by international
consent. This goal undoubtedly requires the establishment of some
universal public authority acknowledged as such by all and endowed with
the power to safeguard on the behalf of all, security, regard for
justice, and respect for rights. But before this hoped for authority can
be set up, the highest existing international centers must devote
themselves vigorously to the pursuit of better means for obtaining common
security. Since peace must be born of mutual trust between nations and
not be imposed on them through a fear of the available weapons, everyone
must labor to put an end at last to the arms race, and to make a true
beginning of disarmament, not unilaterally indeed, but proceeding at an
equal pace according to agreement, and backed up by true and workable
safeguards.[3]
 
82. In the meantime, efforts which have already been made and are still
underway to eliminate the danger of war are not to be underrated. On the
contrary, support should be given to the good will of the very many
leaders who work hard to do away with war, which they abominate. These
men, although burdened by the extremely weighty preoccupations of their
high office, are nonetheless moved by the very grave peacemaking task to
which they are bound, even if they cannot ignore the complexity of
matters as they stand. We should fervently ask God to give these men the
strength to go forward perseveringly and to follow through courageously
on this work of building peace with vigor. It is a work of supreme love
for mankind. Today it certainly demands that they extend their thoughts
and their spirit beyond the confines of their own nation, that they put
aside national selfishness and ambition to dominate other nations, and
that they nourish a profound reverence for the whole of humanity, which
is already making its way so laboriously toward greater unity.
 
The problems of peace and of disarmament have already been the subject of
extensive, strenuous and constant examination. Together with
international meetings dealing with these problems, such studies should
be regarded as the first steps toward solving these serious questions,
and should be promoted with even greater urgency by way of yielding
concrete results in the future.
 
Nevertheless, men should take heed not to entrust themselves only to the
efforts of some, while not caring about their own attitudes. For
government officials who must at one and the same time guarantee the good
of their own people and promote the universal good are very greatly
dependent on public opinion and feeling. It does them no good to work for
peace as long as feelings of hostility, contempt and distrust, as well as
racial hatred and unbending ideologies, continue to divide men and place
them in opposing camps. Consequently there is above all a pressing need
for a renewed education of attitudes and for new inspiration in public
opinion. Those who are dedicated to the work of education, particularly
of the young, or who mold public opinion, should consider it their most
weighty task to instruct all in fresh sentiments of peace. Indeed, we all
need a change of heart as we regard the entire world and those tasks
which we can perform in unison for the betterment of our race.
 
But we should not let false hope deceive us. For unless enmities and
hatred are put away and firm, honest agreements concerning world peace
are reached in the future, humanity, which already is in the middle of a
grave crisis, even though it is endowed with remarkable knowledge, will
perhaps be brought to that dismal hour in which it will experience no
peace other than the dreadful peace of death. But, while we say this, the
Church of Christ, present in the midst of the anxiety of this age, does
not cease to hope most firmly. She intends to propose to our age over and
over again, in season and out of season, this apostolic message: "Behold,
now is the acceptable time for a change of heart; behold! now is the day
of salvation."[4]
 
 
SECTlON II
 
Setting Up An International Community
 
83. In order to build up peace above all the causes of discord among men,
especially injustice, which foment wars must be rooted out. Not a few of
these causes come from excessive economic inequalities and from putting
off the steps needed to remedy them. Other causes of discord, however,
have their source in the desire to dominate and in a contempt for
persons. And, if we look for deeper causes, we find them in human envy,
distrust, pride, and other egotistical passions. Man cannot bear so many
ruptures in the harmony of things. Consequently, the world is constantly
beset by strife and violence between men, even when no war is being
waged. Besides, since these same evils are present in the relations
between various nations as well, in order to overcome or forestall them
and to keep violence once unleashed within limits it is absolutely
necessary for countries to cooperate more advantageously and more closely
together and to organize together international bodies and to work
tirelessly for the creation of organizations which will foster peace.
 
84. In view of the increasingly close ties of mutual dependence today
between all the inhabitants and peoples of the earth, the apt pursuit and
efficacious attainment of the universal common good now require of the
community of nations that it organize itself in a manner suited to its
present responsibilities, especially toward the many parts of the world
which are still suffering from unbearable want.
 
To reach this goal, organizations of the international community, for
their part, must make provision for men's different needs, both in the
fields of social life--such as food supplies, health, education, labor
and also in certain special circumstances which can crop up here and
there, e.g., the need to promote the general improvement of developing
countries, or to alleviate the distressing conditions in which refugees
dispersed throughout the world find themselves, or also to assist
migrants and their families.
 
Already existing international and regional organizations are certainly
well-deserving of the human race. These are the first efforts at laying
the foundations on an international level for a community of all men to
work for the solution to the serious problems of our times, to encourage
progress everywhere, and to obviate wars of whatever kind. In all of
these activities the Church takes joy in the spirit of true brotherhood
flourishing between Christians and non-Christians as it strives to make
ever more strenuous efforts to relieve abundant misery.
 
85. The present solidarity of mankind also calls for a revival of greater
international cooperation in the economic field. Although nearly all
peoples have become autonomous, they are far from being free of every
form of undue dependence, and far from escaping all danger of serious
internal difficulties.
 
The development of a nation depends on human and financial aids. The
citizens of each country must be prepared by education and professional
training to discharge the various tasks of economic and social life. But
this in turn requires the aid of foreign specialists who, when they give
aid, will not act as overlords, but as helpers and fellow-workers.
Developing nations will not be able to procure material assistance unless
radical changes are made in the established procedures of modern world
commerce. Other aid should be provided as well by advanced nations in the
form of gifts, loans or financial investments. Such help should be
accorded with generosity and without greed on the one side, and received
with complete honesty on the other side.
 
If an authentic economic order is to be established on a world-wide
basis, an end will have to be put to profiteering, to national ambitions,
to the appetite for political supremacy, to militaristic calculations,
and to machinations for the sake of spreading and imposing ideologies.
 
86. The following norms seem useful for such cooperation:
 
a) Developing nations should take great pains to seek as the object of
progress to express and secure the total human fulfillment of their
citizens. They should bear in mind that progress arises and grows above
all out of the labor and genius of the nations themselves because it has
to be based, not only on foreign aid, but especially on the full
utilization of their own resources, and on the development of their own
culture and traditions. Those who exert the greatest influence on others
should be outstanding in this respect.
 
b) On the other hand, it is a very important duty of the advanced nations
to help the developing nations in discharging their above-mentioned
responsibilities. They should therefore gladly carry out on their own
home front those spiritual and material readjustments that are required
for the realization of this universal cooperation.
 
Consequently, in business dealings with weaker and poorer nations, they
should be careful to respect their profit, for these countries need the
income they receive on the sale of their homemade products to support
themselves.
 
c) It is the role of the international community to coordinate and
promote development, but in such a way that the resources earmarked for
this purpose will be allocated as effectively as possible, and with
complete equity. It is likewise this community's duty, with due regard
for the principle of subsidiarity, so to regulate economic relations
throughout the world that these will be carried out in accordance with
the norms of justice.
 
Suitable organizations should be set up to foster and regulate
international business affairs, particularly with the underdeveloped
countries, and to compensate for losses resulting from an excessive
inequality of power among the various nations. This type of organization,
in unison with technical cultural and financial aid, should provide the
help which developing nations need so that they can advantageously pursue
their own economic advancement.
 
d) In many cases there is an urgent need to revamp economic and social
structures. But one must guard against proposals of technical solutions
that are untimely. This is particularly true of those solutions providing
man with material conveniences, but nevertheless contrary to man's
spiritual nature and advancement. For "not by bread alone does man live,
but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God" (Matt. 4:4).
Every sector of the family of man carries within itself and in its best
traditions some portion of the spiritual treasure entrusted by God to
humanity, even though many may not be aware of the source from which it
comes.
 
87. International cooperation is needed today especially for those
peoples who, besides facing so many other difficulties, likewise undergo
pressures due to a rapid increase in population. There is an urgent need
to explore, with the full and intense cooperation of all, and especially
of the wealthier nations, ways whereby the human necessities of food and
a suitable education can be furnished and shared with the entire human
community. But some peoples could greatly improve upon the conditions of
their life if they would change over from antiquated methods of farming
to the new technical methods, applying them with needed prudence
according to their own circumstances. Their life would likewise be
improved by the establishment of a better social order and by a fairer
system for the distribution of land ownership.
 
Governments undoubtedly have rights and duties, within the limits of
their proper competency, regarding the population problem in their
respective countries, for instance, in the line of social and family life
legislation, or regarding the migration of country-dwellers to the
cities, or with respect to information concerning the condition and needs
of the country. Since men today are giving thought to this problem and
are so greatly disturbed over it, it is desirable in addition that
Catholic specialists, especially in the universities, skillfully pursue
and develop studies and projects on all these matters.
 
But there are many today who maintain that the increase in world
population, or at least the population increase in some countries, must
be radically curbed by every means possible and by any kind of
intervention on the part of public authority. In view of this contention,
the council urges everyone to guard against solutions, whether publicly
or privately supported, or at times even imposed, which are contrary to
the moral law. For in keeping with man's inalienable right to marry and
generate children, a decision concerning the number of children they will
have depends on the right judgment of the parents and it cannot in any
way be left to the judgment of public authority. But since the judgment
of the parents presupposes a rightly formed conscience, it is of the
utmost importance that the way be open for everyone to develop a correct
and genuinely human responsibility which respects the divine law and
takes into consideration the circumstances of the situation and the time.
But sometimes this requires an improvement in educational and social
conditions, and, above all, formation in religion or at least a complete
moral training. Men should discreetly be informed, furthermore, of
scientific advances in exploring methods whereby spouses can be helped in
regulating the number of their children and whose safeness has been well
proven and whose harmony with the moral order has been ascertained.
 
88. Christians should cooperate willingly and wholeheartedly in
establishing an international order that includes a genuine respect for
all freedoms and amicable brotherhood between all. This is all the more
pressing since the greater part of the world is still suffering from so
much poverty that it is as if Christ Himself were crying out in these
poor to beg the charity of the disciples. Do not let men, then, be
scandalized because some countries with a majority of citizens who are
counted as Christians have an abundance of wealth, whereas others are
deprived of the necessities of life and are tormented with hunger,
disease, and every kind of misery. The spirit of poverty and charity are
the glory and witness of the Church of Christ.
 
Those Christians are to be praised and supported, therefore, who
volunteer their services to help other men and nations. Indeed, it is the
duty of the whole People of God, following the word and example of the
bishops, to alleviate as far as they are able the sufferings of the
modern age. They should do this too, as was the ancient custom in the
Church, out of the substance of their goods, and not only out of what is
superfluous.
 
The procedure of collecting and distributing aids, without being
inflexible and completely uniform, should nevertheless be carried on in
an orderly fashion in dioceses, nations, and throughout the entire world.
Wherever it seems convenient, this activity of Catholics should be
carried on in unison with other Christian brothers. For the spirit of
charity does not forbid, but on the contrary commands that charitable
activity he carried out in a careful and orderly manner. Therefore, it is
essential for those who intend to dedicate themselves to the services of
the developing nations to be properly trained in appropriate institutes.
 
89. Since, in virtue of her mission received from God, the Church
preaches the Gospel to all men and dispenses the treasures of grace, she
contributes to the ensuring of peace everywhere on earth and to the
placing of the fraternal exchange between men  on solid ground by
imparting knowledge of the divine and natural law. Therefore, to
encourage and stimulate cooperation among men, the Church must be clearly
present in the midst of the community of nations, both through her
official channels and through the full and sincere collaboration of all
Christians--a collaboration motivated solely by the desire to be of
service to all.
 
This will come about more effectively if the faithful themselves,
conscious of their responsibility as men and as Christians will exert
their influence in their own milieu to arouse a ready willingness to
cooperate with the international community. Special care must be given,
in both religious and civil education, to the formation of youth in this
regard.
 
90. An outstanding form of international activity on the part of
Christians is found in the joint efforts which, both as individuals and
in groups, they contribute to institutes already established or to be
established for the encouragement of cooperation among nations. There are
also various Catholic associations on an international level which can
contribute in many ways to the building up of a peaceful and fraternal
community of nations. These should be strengthened by augmenting in them
the number of well qualified collaborators, by increasing needed
resources, and by advantageously fortifying the coordination of their
energies. For today both effective action and the need for dialogue
demand joint projects. Moreover, such associations contribute much to the
development of a universal outlook--something certainly appropriate for
Catholics. They also help to form an awareness of genuine universal
solidarity and responsibility.
 
Finally, it is very much to be desired that Catholics, in order to
fulfill their role properly in the international community, will seek to
cooperate actively and in a positive manner both with their separated
brothers who together with them profess the Gospel of charity and with
all men thirsting for true peace.
 
The council, considering the immensity of the hardships which still
afflict the greater part of mankind today, regards it as most opportune
that an organism of the universal Church be set up in order that both the
justice and love of Christ toward the poor might be developed everywhere.
The role of such an organism would be to stimulate the Catholic community
to promote progress in needy regions and international social justice.
 
91. Drawn from the treasures of Church teaching, the proposals of this
sacred synod look to the assistance of every man of our time, whether he
believes in God, or does not explicitly recognize Him. If adopted, they
will promote among men a sharper insight into their full destiny, and
thereby lead them to fashion the world more to man's surpassing dignity,
to search for a brotherhood which is universal and more deeply rooted,
and to meet the urgencies of our ages with a gallant and unified effort
born of love.
 
Undeniably this conciliar program is but a general one in several of its
parts; and deliberately so, given the immense variety of situations and
forms of human culture in the world. Indeed while it presents teaching
already accepted in the Church, the program will have to be followed up
and amplified since it sometimes deals with matters in a constant state
of development. Still, we have relied on the word of God and the spirit
of the Gospel. Hence we entertain the hope that many of our proposals
will prove to be of substantial benefit to everyone, especially after
they have been adapted to individual nations and mentalities by the
faithful, under the guidance of their pastors.
 
92. By virtue of her mission to shed on the whole world the radiance of
the Gospel message, and to unify under one Spirit all men of whatever
nation, race or culture, the Church stands forth as a sign of that
brotherhood which allows honest dialogue and gives it vigor.
 
Such a mission requires in the first place that we foster within the
Church herself mutual esteem, reverence and harmony, through the full
recognition of lawful diversity. Thus all those who compose the one
People of God, both pastors and the general faithful, can engage in
dialogue with ever abounding fruitfulness. For the bonds which unite the
faithful are mightier than anything dividing them. Hence, let there be
unity in what is necessary; freedom in what is unsettled, and charity in
any case.
 
Our hearts embrace also those brothers and communities not yet living
with us in full communion; to them we are linked nonetheless by our
profession of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and by the bond
of charity. We do not forget that the unity of Christians is today
awaited and desired by many, too, who do not believe in Christ; for the
farther it advances toward truth and love under the powerful impulse of
the Holy Spirit, the more this unity will be a harbinger of unity and
peace for the world at large. Therefore, by common effort and in ways
which are today increasingly appropriate for seeking this splendid goal
effectively, let us take pains to pattern ourselves after the Gospel more
exactly every day, and thus work as brothers in rendering service to the
human family. For, in Christ Jesus this family is called to the family of
the sons of God.
 
We think cordially too of all who acknowledge God, and who preserve in
their traditions precious elements of religion and humanity. We want
frank conversation to compel us all to receive the impulses of the Spirit
faithfully and to act on them energetically.
 
For our part, the desire for such dialogue, which can lead to truth
through love alone, excludes no one, though an appropriate measure of
prudence must undoubtedly be exercised. We include those who cultivate
outstanding qualities of the human spirit, but do not yet acknowledge the
Source of these qualities. We include those who oppress the Church and
harass her in manifold ways. Since God the Father is the origin and
purpose of all men, we are all called to be brothers. Therefore, if we
have been summoned to the same destiny, human and divine, we can and we
should work together without violence and deceit in order to build up the
world in genuine peace.
 
93. Mindful of the Lord's saying: "by this will all men know that you are
my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35), Christians
cannot yearn for anything more ardently than to serve the men of the
modern world with mounting generosity and success. Therefore, by holding
faithfully to the Gospel and benefiting from its resources, by joining
with every man who loves and practices justice, Christians have
shouldered a gigantic task for fulfillment in this world, a task
concerning which they must give a reckoning to Him who will judge every
man on the last of days.
 
Not everyone who cries, "Lord, Lord," will enter into the kingdom of
heaven, but those who do the Father's will by taking a strong grip on the
work at hand. Now, the Father wills that in all men we recognize Christ
our brother and love Him effectively, in word and in deed. By thus giving
witness to the truth, we will share with others the mystery of the
heavenly Father's love. As a consequence, men throughout the world will
be aroused to a lively hope--the gift of the Holy Spirit--that some day
at last they will be caught up in peace and utter happiness in that
fatherland radiant with the glory of the Lord.
 
Now to Him who is able to accomplish all things in a measure far beyond
what we ask or conceive, in keeping with the power that is at work in
us--to Him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus, down through all
the ages of time without end. Amen. (Eph. 3:20-21).
 
 
 
FOOTNOTES
 
PREFACE
 
1. The Pastoral Constitution "De Ecclesia in Mundo Huius Temporis" is
made up of two parts; yet it constitutes an organic unity.
 
By way of explanation: the constitution is called "pastoral" because,
while resting on doctrinal principles, it seeks to express the relation
of the Church to the world and modern mankind. The result is that, on the
one hand, a pastoral slant is present in the first part, and, on the
other hand, a doctrinal slant is present in the second part.
 
In the first part, the Church develops her teaching on man, on the world
which is the enveloping context of man's existence, and on man's
relations to his fellow men. In part two, the Church gives closer
consideration to various aspects of modern life and human society;
special consideration is given to those questions and problems which, in
this general area, seem to have a greater urgency in our day. As a
result, in part two the subject matter which is viewed in the light of
doctrinal principles is made up of diverse elements. Some elements have a
permanent value; others, only a transitory one.
 
Consequently, the constitution must be interpreted according to the
general norms of theological interpretation. Interpreters must bear in
mind--especially in part two--the changeable circumstances which the
subject matter, by its very nature, involves.
 
2. Cf. John 18:37; Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45.
 
 
INTRODUCTION
 
1. Cf. Rom. 7:14 ff.
 
2. Cf. 2 Cor. 5:15.
 
3. Cf. Acts 4:12.
 
4. Cf. Heb. 13:8.
 
5. Cf. Col. 1:15.
 
 
CHAPTER 1 PART I
 
1. Cf. Gen. 1:26; Wis. 2:23.
 
2. Cf. Sir. 17:3-10.
 
3. Cf. Rom. 1:21-25.
 
4. Cf. John 8:34.
 
5. Cf. Dan. 3:57-90.
 
6. Cf. 1 Cor. 6:13-20.
 
7. Cf. 1 Kings 16:7; Jer. 17:10.
 
8. Cf. Sir. 17:7-8.
 
9. Cf. Rom. 2:15-16.
 
10. Cf. Pius XII, radio address on the correct formation of a Christian
conscience in the young, March 23, 1952: AAS (1952), p. 271.
 
11. Cf. Matt. 22:37-40, Gal. 5:14.
 
12. Cf. Sir. 15:14.
 
13. Cf. 2 Cor. 5:10.
 
14. Cf. Wis. 1:13; 2:23-24; Rom. 5:21; 6:23; Jas. 1:15.
 
15. Cf. 1 Cor. 15:56-57.
 
16. Cf. Pius XI, encyclical letter Divini Redemptoris, March 19, 1937:
AAS 29 (1937), pp. 65-106, Pius XII, encyclical letter Ad Apostolorum
Principis, June 29, 1958: AAS 50 (1958), pp. 601614; John XXIII,
encyclical letter Mater et Magistra, May 15, 1961: AAS 53 (1961), pp.
451-453; Paul VI, encyclical letter Ecclesiam Suam, Aug. 6, 1964: AAS 56
(1964), pp. 651-653.
 
17. Cf. Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church,
Chapter I, n. 8: AAS 57 (1965), p. 12.
 
18. Cf. Phil. 1:27.
 
19. St. Augustine, Confessions I, 1: PL 32, 661.
 
20. Cf. Rom. 5:14. Cf. Tertullian, De carnis resurrectione 6: "The shape
that the slime of the earth was given was intended with a view to Christ,
the future man.": P. 2, 282; CSEL 47, p. 33, 1. 12-13.
 
21. Cf. 2 Cor. 4:4.
 
22. Cf. Second Council of Constantinople, canon 7: "The divine Word was
not changed into a human nature, nor was a human nature absorbed by the
Word." Denzinger 219 (428).--Cf. also Third Council of Constantinople:
"For just as His most holy and immaculate human nature, though deified,
was not destroyed (theotheisa ouk anerethe), but rather remained in its
proper state and mode of being": Denzinger 291 (556).--Cf. Council of
Chalcedon: "to be acknowledged in two natures, without confusion, change,
division, or separation." Denzinger 148 (302).
 
23. Cf. Third Council of Constantinople: "and so His human will, though
deified, is not destroyed": Denzinger 291 (556).
 
24. Cf. Heb. 4:15.
 
25. Cf. 2 Cor. 5:18-19, Col. 1:20-22.
 
26. Cf. 1 Pet. 2:21, Matt. 16:24; Luke 14:27.
 
27. Cf. Rom. 8:29; Col. 3:10-14.
 
28. Cf. Rom. 8:1-11.
 
29. Cf. 2 Cor. 4 :14.
 
30. Cf. Phil. 3:19; Rom. 8:17.
 
31. Cf. Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church,
Chapter 2, n. 16: AAS 57 (1965), p. 20.
 
32. Cf. Rom. 8:32.
 
33. Cf. The Byzantine Easter Liturgy.
 
34. Cf. Rom. 8:15 and Gal. 4:6, cf. also John 1:22 and John 3: 1-2.
 
 
CHAPTER 2
 
1. Cf. John XXIII, encyclical letter, Mater et Magistra, May 15, 1961:
AAS 53 (1961), pp. 401-464, and encyclical letter Pacem
 
in Terris, April 11, 1963: AAS 55 (1963), pp. 257-304; Paul VI encyclical
letter Ecclesiam Suam, Aug. 6, 1964: AAS 54 (1964) pp.609-659.
 
2 Cf. Luke 17:33.
 
3 Cf. St. Thomas, 1 Ethica Lect. 1.
 
4. Cf. John XXIII, encyclical letter Mater et Magistra: AAS 53 (1961), p.
418. Cf. also Pius XI, encyclical letter Quadragesimo Anno: AAS 23
(1931), p. 222 ff.
 
5. Cf. John XXIII, encyclical letter Mater et Magistra: AAS 53 (1961).
 
6. Cf. Mark 2:27.
 
7. Cf. John XXIII, encyclical letter Pacem in Terris: AAS 55 (1963), p.
266.
 
8. Cf. Jas. 2, 15-16.
 
9. Cf. Luke 16:18-31.
 
10. Cf. John XXIII, encyclical letter Pacem in Terris: AAS 55 (1963), p.
299 and 300.
 
11. Cf. Luke 6:37-38; Matt. 7:1-2; Rom. 2:1-11, 14:10 14.10-12.
 
12. Cf. Matt. 5:43-47.
 
13. Cf. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Chapter II, n. 9: AAS 57
(1965). pp. 12-13.
 
14. Cf. Exodus 24:1-8.
 
 
CHAPTER 3
 
1. Cf. Gen. 1:26-27; 9:3, Wis. 9:3.
 
2. Cf. Ps. 8:7 and 10.
 
3. Cf. John XXIII, encyclical letter Pacem in Terris: AAS 55 (1963), p.
297.
 
4. Cf. message to all mankind sent by the Fathers at the beginning of the
Second Vatican Council, Oct. 20, 1962: AAS 54 (1962), p. 823.
 
5. Cf. Paul VI, address to the diplomatic corps, Jan. 7, 1965: AAS 57 (
1965 ), p. 232.
 
6. Cf. First Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic
Faith, Chapter III: Denz. 1785-1786 (3004-3005).
 
7. Cf. Msgr. Pio Paschini, Vita e opere di Galileo Galilei, 2 volumes,
Vatican Press (1964).
 
8. Cf. Matt. 24:13: 13:24-30 and 36-43.
 
9. Cf. 2 Cor. 6:10.
 
10. Cf. John 1:3 and 14.
 
11. Cf. Eph. 1:10.
 
12. Cf. John 3:16; Rom. 5:8.
 
13. Cf. Acts 2:36, Matt. 28:18.
 
14. Cf. Rom. 15: 16.
 
15. Cf. Acts 1:7.
 
16. Cf. 1 Cor. 7:31; St. Irenaeus, Adversus haereses, V, 36, PG, VIII,
1221.
 
17. Cf. 2 Cor. 5:2; 2 Pet. 3:13.
 
18. Cf. 1 Cor. 2:9, Apoc. 21:4-5.
 
19. Cf. 1 Cor. 15:42 and 53.
 
20. Cf. 1 Cor. 13:8; 3:14.
 
21. Cf. Rom. 8:19-21.
 
22. Cf. Luke 9:25.
 
23. Cf. Pius XI, encyclical letter Quadragesimo Anno: AAS 23 (1931), p.
207.
 
24. Preface of the Feast of Christ the King.
 
 
CHAPTER 4
 
1. Cf. Paul VI, encyclical letter Ecclesiam suam, III: AAS 56 (1964), pp.
637-659.
 
2. Cf. Titus 3:4: "love of mankind."
 
3. Cf. Eph. 1:3; 5:6; 13-14, 23.
 
4. Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Chapter
I, n. 8: AAS 57 (1965), p. 12.
 
5. Ibid., Chapter II, no. 9: AAS 57 ( 1965), p. 14; Cf. n. 8: AAS loc.
cit., p. 11.
 
6. Ibid., Chapter I, n. 8: AAS 57 (1965), p. 11.
 
7. Cf. ibid., Chapter IV, n. 38: AAS 57 (1965), p. 43, with note 120.
 
8. Cf. Rom. 8:14-17.
 
9. Cf. Matt. 22:39.
 
10. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Chapter II, n. 9: AAS 57 (1965),
pp. 12-14.
 
11. Cf. Pius XII, Address to the International Union of Institutes of
Archeology, History and History of Art, March 9, 1956: AAS 48 (1965), p.
212: "Its divine Founder, Jesus Christ, has not given it any mandate or
fixed any end of the cultural order. The goal which Christ assigns to it
is strictly religious. . . The Church must lead men to God, in order that
they may be given over to him without reserve.... The Church can never
lose sight of the strictly religious, supernatural goal. The meaning of
all its activities, down to the last canon of its Code, can only
cooperate directly or indirectly in this goal."
 
12. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Chapter I, n. 1: AAS 57 (1965),
p. 5.
 
13. Cf. Heb. 13:14.
 
14. Cf. 2 Thess. 3:6-13; Eph. 4:28.
 
15. Cf. Is. 58:1-12.
 
16. Cf. Matt. 23:3-23; Mark 7:10-13.
 
17. Cf. John XXIII, encyclical letter Mater et Magistra, IV: AAS 53
(1961), pp. 456-457; cf. I: AAS loc. cit., pp. 407, 410411.
 
18. Cf. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Chapter III, n. 28: AAS 57
(1965), p. 35.
 
19. Ibid., n. 28: AAS loc. cit. pp. 35-36.
 
20. Cf. St. Ambrose, De virginitate, Chapter VIII, n. 48: ML 16, 278.
 
21. Cf. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Chapter II, n. 15: AAS 57
(1965),p. 20.
 
22. Cf. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Chapter II, n. 13: AAS 57
(1965), n. 17.
 
23. Cf. Justin, Dialogus cum Tryphene, Chapter 110; MG 6, 729 (ed. Otto),
1897, pp. 391-393: ". . . but the greater the number of persecutions
which are inflicted upon us, so much the greater the number of other men
who become devout believers through the name of Jesus." Cf. Tertullian,
Apologeticus, Chapter L, 13: "Every time you mow us down like grass, we
increase in number: the blood of Christians is a seed!" Cf. Dogmatic
Constitution on the Church, Chapter II, no. 9: AAS 57 (1965), p. 14.
 
24. Cf. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Chapter II, n. 15: AAS 57
(1965), o. 20.
 
25. Cf. Paul VI, address given on Feb. 3, 1965.
 
 
PART II CHAPTER 1
 
1. Cf. St. Augustine, De Bene coniugali PL 40, 375-376 and 394, St.
Thomas, Summa Theologica, Suppl. Quaest. 49, art. 3 ad 1, Decretum pro
Armenis: Denz.-Schoen. 1327; Pius XI, encyclical letter Casti Connubii:
AAS 22 (1930, pp. 547-548; Denz.Schoen. 3703-3714.
 
2. Cf. Pius XI, encyclical letter Casti Connubii: AAS 22 (1930), pp.
546-547- Denz.-Schoen. 3706.
 
3. Cf. Osee 2, Jer. 3:6-13- Ezech. 16 and 23, Is. 54.
 
4. Cf. Matt. 9:15, Mark 2:19-20- Luke 5:34-35; John 3:29; Cf. also 2 Cor.
11:2- Eph. 5:27; Apoc. 19:7-8; 21:2 and 9.
 
5. Cf. Eph. 5:25.
 
6. Cf. Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church: AAS
57 (1965), pp. 15-16; 40-41; 47.
 
7. Pius XI, encyclical letter Casti Connubii: AAS 22 ( 1930) P. 583.
 
8. Cf. 1 Tim. 5:3.
 
9. Cf . Eph. 5: 32.
 
10. Cf. Gen. 2:22-24, Prov. 5:15-20, 31:10-31, Tob. 8:4-8 Cant. 1:2-3;
1:16; 4:16-5, 1; 7:8-14; 1 Cor. 7:3-6; Eph. 5:25-33.
 
11. Cf. Pius XI, encyclical letter Casti Connubii: AAS 22 (1930), P. 547
and 548; Denz.-Schoen. 3707.
 
12. Cf. 1 Cor. 7:5.
 
13. Cf. Pius XII, Address Tra le visite, Jan. 20, 1958: AAS 50 (1958), P.
91.
 
14. Cf. Pius XI, encyclical letter Casti Connubii: AAS 22 ( 1930):
Denz-Schoen. 3716-3718; Pius XII, Allocutio Conventui Unionis Italicae
inter Obstetrices, Oct. 29, 1951: AAS 43 (1951), PP. 835-854, Paul VI,
address to a group of cardinals, June 23 1964: AAS 56 (1964), PP.
581-589. Certain questions which need further and more careful
investigation have been handed over, at the command of the Supreme
Pontiff, to a commission for the study of population, family, and births,
in order that, after it fulfills its function, the Supreme Pontiff may
pass judgment. With the doctrine of the magisterium in this state, this
holy synod does not intend to propose immediately concrete solutions.
 
15. Cf. Eph. 5:16; Col. 4:5.
 
16. Cf. Sacramentarium Gregorianum: PL 78, 262.
 
17. Cf. Rom. 5:15 and 18; 6:5-11; Gal. 2:20.
 
18. Cf. Eph. 5:25-27.
 
 
CHAPTER 2
 
1. Cf. Introductory statement of this constitution, n. 4 ff.
 
2. Cf. COl. 3:2.
 
3. Cf. Gen. 1:28.
 
4. Cf. Prov. 8:30-31.
 
5. Cf. St. Irenaeus, Adversus haereses. III, 11, 8 (ed. Sagnard, P. 200;
cf. ibid., 16, 6: PP. 290-292; 21, 10-22: PP. 370-372; 22, 3: P. 378;
etc. )
 
6. Cf. Eph. 1:10.
 
7. Cf. the words of Pius XI to Father M. D. Roland-Gosselin: "It is
necessary never to lose sight of the fact that the objective of the
Church is to evangelize, not to civilize. If it civilizes, it is for the
sake of evangelization." (Semaines sociales de France, Versailles, 1936,
PP. 461-462).
 
8. First Vatican Council, Constitution on the Catholic Faith: Denzinger
1795, 1799 (3015, 3019). Cf. Pius XI, encyclical letter Quadragesimo
Anno: AAS 23 (1931), P. 190.
 
9. Cf. John XXIII, encyclical letter Pacem in Terris: AAS 55 (1963), P.
260.
 
10. Cf. John XXIII, encyclical letter Pacem in Terris: AAS 55 (1963), P.
283; Pius XII, radio address, Dec. 24, 1941: AAS 34 (1942), PP. 16-17.
 
11. John XXIII, encyclical letter Pacem in Terris: AAS 55 (1963), p. 260.
 
12. Cf. John XXIII, prayer delivered on Oct. 11, 1962, at the beginning
of the council: AAS 54 (1962), P. 792.
 
13. Cf. Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy n. 123: AAS 56 (1964), P. 131,
Paul VI, discourse to the artists of Rome: AAS 56 (1964), PP. 439-442.
 
14. Cf. Second Vatican Council, Decree on Priestly Training and
Declaration on Christian Education.
 
15. Cf. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Chapter IV, n. 37: AAS 57
(1965) , PP. 42-43.
 
 
CHAPTER 3
 
1. Cf. Pius XII, address on March 23, 1952: AAS 44 (1953), P. 273, John
XXIII, allocution to the Catholic Association of Italian Workers, May 1,
1959: AAS 51 (1959), P. 358.
 
2. Cf. Pius XI, encyclical letter Quadragesimo Anno: AAS 23 (1931), P.
190 ff, Pius XII, address of March 23, 1952: AAS 44 (1952), P. 276 ff;
John XXIII, encyclical letter Mater et Magistra: AAS 53 (1961), P. 450;
Vatican Council II, Decree on the Media of Social Communication, Chapter
I, n. 6 AAS 56 (1964), P. 147.
 
3. Cf. Matt. 16:26, Luke 16:1-31, Col. 3:17.
 
4. Cf. Leo XIII, encyclical letter Libertas, in Acta Leonis XIII, t.
VIII, p. 220 ff; Pius XI, encyclical letter Quadragesimo Anno: AAS 23
(1931), P. 191 ff; Pius XI, encyclical letter Divini Redemptoris: AAS 39
(1937), P. 65 ff; Pius XII, Nuntius natalicius 1941: AAS 34 (1942), P. 10
ff: John XXIII, encyclical letter Mater et Magistra: AAS 53 (1961), PP.
401-464.
 
5. In reference to agricultural problems cf. especially John XXIII,
encyclical letter Mater et Magistra: AAS 53 (1961), P. 341 ff.
 
6. Cf. Leo XIII, encyclical letter Rerum Novarum: AAS 23 (1890-91), P.
649, P. 662, Pius XI, encyclical letter Quadragesimo Anno: AAS 23 (1931),
PP. 200-201, PiUS XI, encyclical letter Divini Redemptoris: AAS 29
(1937), p. 92; Pius XII, radio address on Christmas Eve, 1942: AAS 35
(1943) p. 20; Pius XII, allocution of June 13, 1943: AAS 35 (1943), p.
172; Pius XII, radio address to the workers of Spain, March 11, 1951: AAS
43 (1951), p. 215; John XXIII, encyclical letter Mater et Magistra: AAS
53 (1961), p. 419.
 
7. Cf. John XXIII, encyclical letter Mater et Magistra: AAS 53 (1961),
pp. 408, 424, 427; however, the word "curatione" has been taken from the
Latin text of the encyclical letter Quadragesimo Anno: AAS 23 (1931) p.
199. Under the aspect of the evolution of the question cf. also: Pius
XII, allocution of June 3, 1950: AAS 42 (1950) pp. 485488; Paul VI,
allocution of June 8, 1964: AAS 56 (1964), pp. 573-579.
 
8. Cf. Pius XII, encyclical Sertum Laetitiae: AAS 31 ( 1939), p. 642;
John XXIII, consistorial allocution: AAS 52 (1960), pp. 5-11; John XXIII,
encyclical letter Mater et Magistra: AAS 53 (1961), p. 411.
 
9. Cf. St. Thomas, Summa Theologica: II-II, q. 32, a. 5 ad 2; Ibid. q.
66, a. 2: cf. explanation in Leo XIII, encyclical letter Rerum Novarum:
AAS 23 (1890-91) p. 651; cf. also Pius XII allocution of June 1, 1941:
AAS 33 (1941), p. 199; Pius XII, birthday radio address 1954: AAS 47
(1955), p. 27.
 
10. Cf. St. Basil, Hom. in illud Lucae "Destruam horrea mea," n. 2 (PG
31, 263); Lactantius, Divinarum institutionum, lib. V. on justice (PL 6,
565 B); St. Augustine, In Ioann. Ev. tr. 50, n. 6 (PL 35, 1760); St.
Augustine, Enarratio in Ps. CXLVII, 12 (PL 37, 192); St. Gregory the
Great, Homiliae in Ev., hom. 20 (PL 76,1165); St. Gregory the Great,
Regulae Pastoralis liber, pars III, c. 21 (PL 77, 87); St. Bonaventure,
In III Sent. d. 33, dub. 1 (ed Quacracchi, III, 728), St. Bonaventure, In
IV Sent. d. 15 p. II, a. 2 q. 1 (ed. cit. IV, 371 b )- q. de superfluo
(ms. Assisi, Bibl. Comun. 186, ff. 112a-113a); St. Albert the Great, In
III Sent., d. 33, a.3, sol. 1 (ed. Borgnet XXVIII, 611); Id. In IV Sent.
d. 15, a. 16 (ed. cit. XXIX, 494-497). As for the determination of what
is superfluous in our day and age, cf. John XXIII, radio-television
message of Sept. 11, 1962: AAS 54 (1962) p. 682: "The obligation of every
man, the urgent obligation of the Christian man, is to reckon what is
superfluous by the measure of the needs of others, and to see to it that
the administration and the distribution of created goods serve the common
good."
 
11. In that case, the old principle holds true: "In extreme necessity all
goods are common, that is, all goods are to be shared." On the other
hand, for the order, extension, and manner by which the principle is
applied in the proposed text, besides the modern authors: cf. St. Thomas,
Summa Theologica II-II, q. 66, a. 7. Obviously, for the correct
application of the principle, all the conditions that are morally
required must be met.
 
12. Cf. Gratiam, Decretum, C. 21, dist. LXXXVI (ed. Friedberg I, 302).
This axiom is also found already in PL 54, 591 A (cf. in Antonianum 27
(1952) 349-366).
 
13. Cf. Leo XIII, encyclical letter Rerum Novarum: AAS 23 (1890-91) pp.
643-646, Pius XI, encyclical letter Quadragesimo Anno: AAS 23 (1931) p.
191; Pius XII, radio message of June 1, 1941: AAS 33 (1941), p. 199; Pius
XII, radio message on Christmas Eve 1942: AAS 35 (1943), p. 17; Pius XII,
radio message of Sept. 1, 1944: AAS 36 (1944) p. 253 John XXIII,
encyclical letter Mater et Magistra: AAS 53 (1961j pp. 428-429.
 
14. Cf. Pius XI, encyclical letter Quadragesimo Anno: AAS 23 (1931) p.
214; John XXIII, encyclical letter Mater et Magistra: AAS 53 (1961), p.
429.
 
15. Cf. Pius XII, radio message of Pentecost 1941: AAS 44 (1941) p. 199,
John XXIII, encyclical letter Mater et Magistra: AAS 53 (1961) p. 430.
 
16. For the right use of goods according to the doctrine of the New
Testament, cf. Luke 3:11; 10:30 ff; 11:41; 1 Pet. 5:3; Mark 8:36;
12:39-41; Jas. 5:1-6; 1 Tim. 6:8; Eph. 4:28; 2 Cor. 8:13; 1 John 3:17 ff.
 
 
CHAPTER 4
 
1. Cf. John XXIII, encyclical letter Mater et Magistra: AAS 53 (1961), p.
417.
 
2. Cf. John XXIII, ibid.
 
3. Cf. Rom. 13:1-5.
 
4. Cf. Rom. 13:5.
 
5. Cf. Pius XII, radio message, Dec. 24, 1942: AAS 35 (1943), pp. 9-24,
Dec. 24, 1944: AAS 37 (1945), pp. 11-17; John XXIII, encyclical letter
Pacem In Terris: AAS 55 (1963), pp. 263, 271, 277 and 278.
 
6. Cf. Pius XII, radio message of June 7, 1941: AAS 33 (1941),
 
p. 200: John XXIII, encyclical letter Pacem In Terris: 1.c., p. 273 and
274.
 
7. Cf. John XXIII, encyclical letter Mater et Magistra: AAS 53 (1961), p.
416.
 
8. Pius XI, allocution "Ai dirigenti della Federazione Universitaria
Cattolica". Discorsi di Pio XI (ed. Bertetto), Turin, vol. 1 (1960), P.
743.
 
9. Cf. Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, n.
13: AAS 57 (1965), P. 17.
 
10. Cf. Luke 2:14.
 
 
CHAPTER 5
 
1. Cf. John XXIII, encyclical letter Pacem in Terris, April 11, 1963: AAS
55 (1963), P. 291: "Therefore in this age of ours which prides itself on
its atomic power, it is irrational to believe that war is still an apt
means of vindicating violated rights."
 
2. Cf. Pius XII, allocution of Sept. 30, 1954: AAS 46 (1954), P. 589;
radio message of Dec. 24, 1954: AAS 47 (1955), PP. 15 ff; John XXIII,
encyclical letter Pacem in Terris: AAS 55 (1963), PP. 286-291; Paul VI,
allocution to the United Nations, Oct. 4, 1965.
 
3. Cf. John XXIII, encyclical letter Pacem in Terris, where reduction of
arms is mentioned: AAS 55 (1963), P. 287.
 
4. Cf. 2 Cor. 2:6.