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Hi, Thomas —
The official Compendium of
the Social Doctrine of the Church,
published in 2005, has a chapter
on Catholic principles regarding
the role of government:
Compendium
Of The Social Doctrine Of The
Church
— Chapter
Eight on this page called The Political Community.
It covers the following topics:
THE POLITICAL COMMUNITY
I. BIBLICAL ASPECTS
a. God's dominion
b. Jesus and political authority
c. The early Christian communities
II. FOUNDATION AND PURPOSE OF
THE POLITICAL COMMUNITY
a. Political community, the human
person and a people
b. Defending and promoting human
rights
c. Social life based on civil
friendship
III. POLITICAL AUTHORITY
a. The foundation of political
authority
b. Authority as moral force
c. The right to conscientious
objection
d. The right to resist
e. Inflicting punishment
IV. THE DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM
a. Values and democracy
b. Institutions and democracy
c. Moral components of political
representation
d. Instruments for political participation
e. Information and democracy
V. THE POLITICAL COMMUNITY AT
THE SERVICE OF CIVIL SOCIETY
a. Value of civil society
b. Priority of civil society
c. Application of the principle
of subsidiarity
VI. THE STATE AND RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES
A. Religious freedom, a fundamental
human right
B. The Catholic Church and the
political community
a. Autonomy and independence
b. Cooperation
For example, some of the principles
are:
- Man is social by nature, and
no society can hold together without
some authority, so political authority
is a necessary part of life in
society.
- Political authority must guarantee
and ordered and upright community
life without usurping the free
activity of individuals and groups,
but disciplining and orienting
this freedom... for the attainment
of the common good.
- Authority must be guided by
the moral law.
- Authority must respect human
and moral values.
- Authority must enact just laws.
- Citizens are not obligated in
conscience to follow the prescription
of civil authority if their precepts
are contrary to the demands of
the moral order.
- It is legitimate to resist authority
if it should violate the essential
principles of natural law in a
serious or repeated manner.
- To protect the common good,
the lawful public authority must
exercise the right and the duty
to inflict punishments according
to the seriousness of crimes committed.
- Pope John Paul II's encyclical "Centesimus
Annus" explicitly values
democracy inasmuch as it ensures
the participation of citizens
in making political choices, and
guarantees the possibility of
electing public officials, and
peacefully replacing them when
appropriate. Thus the Church cannot
encourage the formation of narrow
ruling groups that use the power
of the State for special interests
or ideological ends.
- Those with political responsibilities
must not forget the moral dimensions
of political representation.
- The political community is established
to be of service to civil society,
from which it originates. Civil
society is the sum of relationships
and resources, cultural and associative,
that are relatively independent
from the political sphere and
the economic sector. Civil society
cannot be considered an extension
of the political community.
There are numerous other points presented
in the Compendium, with references
to the various Church documents where
they are addressed.
Clearly, these do not go into specifics
about questions of:
- the economic system
- taxation
- regulation
- social protections, etc.
These matters will legitimately vary
from one society to another, and
will vary through time.
You can read the whole Compendium
on-line or get a copy
of the book on-line.
— RC
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