What The Catholic Church Says About Socialism

The 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church, promulgated by Pope John Paul II, condemns socialism as an atheistic ideology. Paragraph 2425 states: "The Church has rejected the totalitarian and atheistic ideologies associated in modem times with 'communism' or 'socialism.

 

This socialism has been condemned by Catholic social teaching starting with Pope Leo XIII in 1891, through Pope Pius XI in 1931 to Pope St. John Paul II in 1991 as it violates private property rights, subsidiarity and anthropology.

 

Violates Private Property

​

Pope Leo XIII, in Rerum Novarum, found that socialism violates rights of private property and hurts the working person. Socialism, he said, is “emphatically unjust” for it “would rob the lawful possessor, distort the functions of the State, and create utter confusion in the community.” (Rerum Novarum, 4)

​​

One hundred year later Pope St. John Paul II endorsed this masterful insight: “This right, [to private property] which is fundamental for the autonomy and development of the person, has always been defended by the Church up to our own day”. (Pope St. John Paul II, 30)

​

And, “By defining the nature of the socialism of his day as the suppression of private property, Leo XIII arrived at the crux of the problem.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 12)

​

“The first and most fundamental principle, therefore, if one would undertake to alleviate the condition of the masses, must be the inviolability of private property.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 15)

 

Violates Subsidiarity

​

Pope Pius XI, in Quadragesimo Anno, found socialism violates the key Catholic social teaching principle of Subsidiarity:

​

“That most weighty principle, which cannot be set aside or changed, remains fixed and unshaken in social philosophy: Just as it is gravely wrong to take from individuals what they can accomplish by their own initiative and industry and give it to the community, so also it is an injustice and at the same time a grave evil and disturbance of right order to assign to a greater and higher association what lesser and subordinate organizations can do.” (Quadragesimo Anno, 79)

 

Violates Anthropology

​

Finally, Pope St. John Paul II, in Centesimus Anno, demonstrates socialism’s failure to comprehend anthropology – the human person. “It is not possible to understand man on the basis of economics alone”. (Centesimus Anno, 24)

​

Under socialism, freedom “is replaced by a burdensome system of bureaucratic control which dries up the wellsprings of initiative and creativity”. (Centesimus Anno, 25)

​

Thereby, socialism ultimately fails due to “an understanding of human freedom which detaches it from obedience to the truth, and consequently from the duty to respect."

 

Indeed, more moderate “socialism inclines toward and in a certain measure approaches the truths which Christian tradition has always held sacred; for it cannot be denied that its demands at times come very near those that Christian reformers of society justly insist upon.” (Quadragesimo Anno, 113)

​

The issues addressed in many cases demand a response arising from a simple consideration of the Catholic social teaching principles of human dignity and solidarity. In fact, “It can come even to the point that imperceptibly these ideas of the more moderate socialism will no longer differ from the desires and demands of those who are striving to remold human society on the basis of Christian principles.”

(Quadragesimo Anno, 114)

 

The “means” of even “moderate socialism” “cannot be reconciled with the teachings of the Catholic Church because its concept of society itself is utterly foreign to Christian truth”. (Pope Pius XI, 117)

Even moderate socialism “is based…on a theory of human society… irreconcilable with true Christianity.” (Pope Pius XI, 120)

​

“We have found all their forms, even the most modified, to wander far from the precepts of the Gospel.” (Pope Pius XI, 128)

 

Pope Pius XI “made it clear that no Catholic could subscribe even to moderate Socialism”. (Pope St. John XXIII, 34)

​

“According to Christian teaching, man, endowed with a social nature, is placed on this earth so that by leading a life in society and under an authority ordained of God he may fully cultivate and develop all his faculties unto the praise and glory of his Creator;” (Pope Pius XI, 118)

​

“Socialism…wholly ignoring and indifferent to this sublime end of both man and society, affirms that human association has been instituted for the sake of material advantage alone.” (Pope Pius XI, 118)

 

Democratic Socialism Tends to Violate Subsidiarity

​

“It is a fundamental principle of social philosophy, fixed and unchangeable, that one should not withdraw from individuals and commit to the community what they can accomplish by their own enterprise and industry.

So, too, it is an injustice and at the same time a grave evil and a disturbance of right order to transfer to the larger and higher collectivity functions which can be performed and provided for by the lesser and subordinate bodies”. (Pope Pius XI, 79)

 

Regarding Capitalism and Free Markets

 

Catholic social teaching says a “business economy has many positive aspects – its basis is human freedom exercised in the economic field”. (Pope St. John Paul II, 32)

​

It also recognizes the free market for its: 1. Better resource utilization; 2. Promotion of commerce, and; 3. Giving central place to individual desires and preferences in a contractual context. (Pope St. John Paul II, 40)

​

In summary: “It would appear that at the national and international level the free market is the most efficient way for utilizing resources and effectively responding to needs.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 34)

 

 

More On Socialism…

 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “The Church has rejected the totalitarian and atheistic ideologies associated in modern times with ‘communism’ or ‘socialism’” (2425). This does not mean, however, that Catholics can embrace a kinder, “Christian” socialism in its place. Pope Pius XI famously declared, “Religious socialism, Christian socialism, are contradictory terms; no one can be at the same time a good Catholic and a true socialist” (Quadragesimo Anno, 120).

 

As is shown in the book Can a Catholic be a Socialist? socialism is evil in principle because it deprives people of their natural rights and treats them as products of the state to be sculpted and used instead of creations of God to be dignified and respected. Furthermore, socialism is unworkable because it doesn’t “see the world as it really is” and, as a result, leads to physical evils such as food shortages and the neglect of natural resources and environments.

 

Pope Pius XI also said that "Religious socialism, Christian socialism, are contradictory terms; no one can be at the same time a good Catholic and a true socialist"

 

"No one can be at the same time a good Catholic and a true socialist (Pius XI’s Quadragesimo Anno, 120).

 

Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum explicitly rejects several main tenants of socialism.

​

Socialism severely curtails rights to private property. The Church, on the other hand, upholds the individual’s right to private property (Catechism, 2401).

 

socialists simply “want to build a world where everyone has a right to food, health care, a good home, an enriching education, and a union job that pays well.” But how the access to those goods is provided is something people can debate, and some ways of providing it are contrary to Catholic social doctrine.

 

the government could provide these goods directly through socialist programs such as government-run schools, hospitals, and grocery stores. Since socialism is often gradually introduced to societies through public policy, Catholics should approach with a healthy dose of skepticism government policies that seek to nationalize entire industries.

 

If the government has the only say over what services a hospital offers, then Catholic hospitals (to whatever extent they could remain identifiably so) could be mandated to provide contraception and to perform sterilizations, abortions, and so-called “sex-reassignment” surgeries, among other morally objectionable things. There would also be concerns about the state’s rationing of health care, potentially denying certain ordinary treatments to disabled patients and imposing euthanasia in their place.