Re-thinking Solidarity as a Principle of Catholic Social Teaching: Going Beyond Gaudium et spes and the Social Encyclicals of John Paul II

Abstract

The tradition of official Catholic Social Teaching, which emerged within the context of the European social question, has since expanded to incorporate developmental issues of the Two-Thirds World. This is shown in the social encyclicals of Pope John XXIII, but more significantly in the Vatican II Pastoral Constitution, Gaudium et spes, and the social documents of Popes Paul VI and John Paul II. In these writings, the principle of solidarity is a significant feature—both for discussions of the European social question, and in engaging with the problems of poverty and underdevelopment in the Two-Thirds World. This paper accepts that the principle of solidarity occupies a central position in Catholic social thought. It argues, however, that the ever-increasing poverty, exploitation and despair in the Two-Thirds World challenges our ethical and theological conceptualizations of solidarity. This paper intends to examine the use of the solidarity principle both in Gaudium et spes and in the social encyclicals of John Paul II. It will also raise the question whether their formulations and insights are adequate in confronting the ever-expanding challenges of international poverty and underdevelopment.