The idea that government should be based on Christian principles is continually under attack – not least on several occasions in the assisted suicide debate. Not only is that proposed law itself incompatible with Christian principles, but many of those proposing it have suggested that Christians should not be involved in the debate or that Christian principles should not determine our views on the issue.
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Catholic social teaching has always valued independent institutions for the provision of care, education, and welfare for workers. Culturally, such institutions provide a protection against a form of radical individualism which can elevate certain individual rights that are created by legislators above the common good of the community. They also protect against an over-bearing state. Far from undermining individual rights, civil society institutions provide the opportunity for people to work collaboratively for the common good: people choose to work for such institutions and they choose to be involved with them in other ways. The state, in turn, is there to protect the rights of civil society institutions and nurture their foundation.
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At the beginning of his Pontificate, Pope Leo XIV explained that “in our own day, the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defence of human dignity, justice and labour”.
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I welcome the addition to the calendar of a ‘Jubilee for Entrepreneurs’ by the late Pope Francis. As the Holy Father noted in his encyclical letter on fraternity and social friendship, Fratelli Tutti, “In God’s plan, each individual is called to promote his or her own development, and this includes finding the best economic and technological means of multiplying goods and increasing wealth.”
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As we continue to pray for Pope Francis through the Novemdiales – the period of mourning after the death of a pope – we also celebrate his legacy. Pope Francis was committed to upholding the dignity of workers and, with modifications, the ‘Jubilee for Workers’ and the ‘Jubilee for Entrepreneurs’ are both going ahead at the start of May.
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In the coverage of the passing of Pope Francis to eternal life, surprisingly little has been said about an important aspect of Pope Francis’s social teaching – fraternity. This was the theme of his second social encyclical, Fratelli tutti. It is an important theme because it links the pastoral, spiritual, theological and social teaching of the late pope. The title of Fratelli tutti in English is “Brothers All”, and it is subtitled “On Fraternity and Social Friendship”.
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I have been giving talks about globalisation to Christian groups for some years. Over those years, it seemed to be a less and less interesting subject. It is disappointing that it has become topical again.
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Recent media coverage promoting assisted dying clearly demonstrates a significant problem with perceptions on the current proposals to change the law. To garner support for assisted dying, media stories and celebrity interviews already refer to situations that lie well beyond the scope of the proposed assisted dying legislation. As a result, we may be marching towards the inevitable expansion of assisted dying to include death on request, based on feelings of pity, and in situations not confined to the request of the patient.
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This document was published by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and Dicastery for Culture and Education on 14th January 2025. Below is a summary which follows the headings and structure of the original document.
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We have a new government which is just as fiscally constrained as the previous government. One reason it is fiscally constrained is because of the low birthrate. Perhaps we would do better in that respect if we had a tax system which did not discriminate against a parent staying at home (or working limited hours outside the home) whilst caring for the famiy’s children and elderly.
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