The political community, the social tissue, can be organized in different ways. Although the Catholic Church does not identify itself with any of these forms, it considers some of them unacceptable because they don’t respect the person’s dignity.
Social Doctrine considers the democracy as the better way to organize political life. However, none of the actual democratic systems is perfect. We need to commit to the searching for democratic models which serve people in a fulness way. Democracy must be permanently building itself. To achieve that, it must repose over three fundamental pillars.
- The same dignity of people, which demands the searching for the common good and to live solidarity
- Liberty and responsibility of people
- Consideration of people as active subjects, not as objects
Democracy has to be a social order building conditions to effectively live the liberty, equality, and justice. This way, when justice is made over every person’s dignity, each person can satisfy his or her humanity without the existence of excluded.But building this democratic system it’s only possible having a passion for The Common, leaving outside individualism. That implies a responsibility for the others and for the common good. We must aim to the common good from liberty.
Democracy needs citizens growing on democratic values. If that is not accomplished, democracy is poor and weak.
It’s a fundamental task that people grow on feeling responsible for The Common and on searching for a project of common coexistence based on our diversity.
DSI sentence
An authentic democracy is not merely the result of a formal observation of a set of rules but is the fruit of a convinced acceptance of the values that inspire democratic procedures: the dignity of every human person, the respect of human rights, commitment to the common good as the purpose and guiding criterion for political life.
Social Doctrine Compendium n. 407
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According to this video, What are the most important deficiencies in our democracy performance? What do you think we should change?
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Society, social institutions and state
People don’t live isolated. We need each other and we are all really responsible for all. That is why it’s something natural to relate with other people and to create institutions to live socially. Because of that, social life is composed of different institutions of all kind:
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Fundamental values in social life 2
A social life without ethic values is like a flower withering. Social Doctrine considers four values as central and fundamentals for life and political action: Truth, justice, liberty and, carrying all of them, love, the political charity. To live those values leads us to self-fulfillment and to a more human social coexistence.
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Church and political community
Did you ever heard the sentence “The church shouldn’t talk about those subjects”? Let’s see how the Social Doctrine understands the relationship between the Catholic Church and the political community. If we want a real democracy, it must receive and welcome the plurality of worldviews, ideologies and value systems that exist in society.
