Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church

Among the areas of the social commitment of the laity, service to the human person emerges as a priority. Promoting the dignity of every person, the most precious possession of men and women, is the “essential task, in a certain sense, the central and unifying task of the service which the Church, and the lay faithful in her, are called to render to the human family”^{1155John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici, 37: AAS 81 (1989), 460.}. The first form in which this task is undertaken consists in the commitment and efforts to renew oneself interiorly, because human history is not governed by an impersonal determinism but by a plurality of subjects whose free acts shape the social order. Social institutions do not of themselves guarantee, as if automatically, the common good; the internal “renewal of the Christian spirit” ^{1156Pius XI, Encyclical Letter Quadragesimo Anno: AAS 23 (1931), 218.} must precede the commitment to improve society “according to the mind of the Church on the firmly established basis of social justice and social charity”^{1157Pius XI, Encyclical Letter Quadragesimo Anno: AAS 23 (1931), 218.}. It is from the conversion of hearts that there arises concern for others, loved as brothers or sisters. This concern helps us to understand the obligation and commitment to heal institutions, structures and conditions of life that are contrary to human dignity. The laity must therefore work at the same time for the conversion of hearts and the improvement of structures, taking historical situations into account and using legitimate means so that the dignity of every man and woman will be truly respected and promoted within institutions.

Promoting human dignity implies above all affirming the inviolability of the right to life, from conception to natural death, the first among all rights and the condition for all other rights of the person^{1158Cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction Donum Vitae, (22 February 1987): AAS 80 (1988), 70-102.}. Respect for personal dignity requires, moreover, that the religious dimension of the person be recognized. “This is not simply a requirement ‘concerning matters of faith', but a requirement that finds itself inextricably bound up with the very reality of the individual”.^{1159John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici, 39: AAS 81 (1989), 466.} The effective recognition of the right to freedom of conscience and religious freedom is one of the highest goods and one of the most serious duties of every people that truly wishes to ensure the good of the individual and of society^{1160Cf. John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici, 39: AAS 81 (1989), 466.}. In the present cultural context, there is a particularly urgent need to defend marriage and the family, which can be adequately met only if one is convinced of the unique and singular value of these two realities for an authentic development of human society^{1161Cf. John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio, 42-48: AAS 74 (1982), 134-140.}.