摘要：Catholic social teaching addresses social, economic, political, and cultural issues.It exhibits both theoretical and practical aspects. Firstly, it formulates moralprinciples for social and economic life. Secondly, it elaborates on their practicalapplication on ruling economic relationships and within a specified time. It meansthat Catholic social teaching has a moral character of teaching.Catholic social teaching isn’t an ideology, “but rather the accurate formulationof the results of a careful reflection on the complex realities of human existence,in society and in the international order, in the light of faith and of theChurch’s tradition. Its main aim is to interpret these realities, determining theirconformity with or divergence from the lines of the Gospel teaching on man andhis vocation, a vocation which is at once earthly and transcendent; its aim is thusto guide Christian behaviour. It therefore belongs to the field, not of ideology,but of theology and particularly of moral theology” (John Paul II 1987, no. 41).The most important source of Catholic social teaching are the Pope’s statements(in particular, their social encyclicals) and documents of general councils.Encyclicals are directed to the entire Church and to people of goodwill.
