Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church

Besides the principles that must guide the building of a society worthy of man, the Church's social doctrine also indicates fundamental values. The relationship between principles and values is undoubtedly one of reciprocity, in that social values are an expression of appreciation to be attributed to those specific aspects of moral good that these principles foster, serving as points of reference for the proper structuring and ordered leading of life in society. These values require, therefore, both the practice of the fundamental principles of social life and the personal exercise of virtue, hence of those moral attitudes that correspond to these very values^{426Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1886.}. All social values are inherent in the dignity of the human person, whose authentic development they foster. Essentially, these values are: truth, freedom, justice, love^{427Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 26: AAS 58 (1966), 1046-1047; John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris: AAS 55 (1963), 265-266..}. Putting them into practice is the sure and necessary way of obtaining personal perfection and a more human social existence. They constitute the indispensable point of reference for public authorities, called to carry out “substantial reforms of economic, political, cultural and technological structures and the necessary changes in institutions”^{428Congregation for Catholic Education, Guidelines for the Study and Teaching of the Church's Social Doctrine in the Formation of Priests, 43, Vatican Polyglot Press, Rome 1988, p. 44.}. Respect for the legitimate autonomy of earthly realities prompts the Church not to claim specific competence of a technical or temporal order^{429Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 36: AAS 58 (1966), 1053-1054.}, but it does not prevent her from intervening to show how, in the different choices made by men and women, these values are either affirmed or denied^{430Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 1: AAS 58 (1966), 1025-1026; Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio, 13: AAS 59 (1967), 263-264.}.