Catholic Social Teaching

Three Principles | One Framework | A Gift from the Church

Human Dignity is the central principle of Catholic Social Teaching. Subsidiarity and Solidarity flow from Human Dignity. These three principles work together to define the common good.

1. Human Dignity

Every human person is made in the image of God deserving of respect and protection from conception to natural death. This dignity cannot be granted or taken away by any state, vote, or circumstance. It is the prime principle — all other principles flow from it.

"The State is bound to protect natural rights, not to destroy them."

— Rerum Novarum, 135 — Pope Leo XIII

2. Solidarity

We share one Father, so we belong to one family. We have a genuine responsibility to care for one another— especially the most vulnerable.

"Solidarity arises precisely when we decide not to remain indifferent to what happens to our neighbor..."

— Magnifica Humanitas, 74 — Pope Leo XIV

3. Subsidiarity

Problems are best solved at the lowest level of competent authority. The family is the first society. The state exists to support families and communities, not to absorb their responsibilities.

"…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 — Pope Pius XI

These three principles work together with the aim of achieving…

The Common Good

“...the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily”.

— CCC 1906