The Church’s Social Doctrine brings us to the very heart of our faith: the mystery of the living God, revealed in Jesus Christ, who, as a communion of Persons — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — is love itself in relationship, expressed in the mutual gift of self and in sharing with the world. 51Cf. Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, Vatican City 2004, 32. As the Council recalled, human persons are called to communion with God and “can fully discover their true selves only in sincere self-giving.” 52Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 24: AAS 58 (1966), 1045. Indeed their deepest vocation is to enter into the Trinitarian dynamic of love received and shared.
If the mystery of God as Love is the source of Social Doctrine, we see its most concrete expression in the face of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word. By becoming man, the Son of God enters our history and takes on human flesh, bringing with him the love that unites him to the Father and the Holy Spirit. In him, “the mystery of humanity truly becomes clear” 53Ibid., 22: AAS 58 (1966), 1042. because his humanity is completely free, open to others, capable of building healthy and beautiful relationships and committed to the total gift of self. Those who believe in him are engaged in the great work of renewal that began with the mystery of his passion, death and resurrection, and they cooperate in building up the Kingdom of God, learning to embrace all men and women as brothers and sisters, children of one Father. In this way, both the proclamation of the Gospel and Christian life, guided by the action of the Holy Spirit, tend to bring about social consequences in the world. 54Cf. Pontifical Council For Justice and Peace, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 38.
At the heart of the Christian understanding of the human person lies the great biblical affirmation that men and women are created in the image and likeness (cf. Gen 1:26-27) of the Triune God. Created for relationship, every human person is planned and willed by God to enter into communion with him, with others and with creation. Human dignity does not depend on a person’s abilities, wealth or position in life, nor on the right or wrong choices made; instead, it is a gift that precedes and transcends each person, endowed by God as an expression of his unfailing love. For this reason, the human person always remains the “way for the Church” 55Saint John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptor Hominis (4 March 1979), 14: AAS 71 (1979), 284. and the heart of every authentic path of integral human development. 56Cf. Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate (29 June 2009), 11: AAS 101 (2009), 647-648.