From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
III. RESPONSIBILITY AND PARTICIPATION
1913 “Participation” is the voluntary and generous engagement of a
person in social interchange. It is necessary that all participate, each
according to his position and role, in promoting the common good. This
obligation is inherent in the dignity of the human person.
1914 Participation is achieved first of all by taking charge of
the areas for which one assumes personal responsibility: by the care
taken for the education of his family, by conscientious work, and so forth, man
participates in the good of others and of society.31
1915 As far as possible citizens should take an active part in
public life. The manner of this participation may vary from one country or
culture to another. “One must pay tribute to those nations whose systems permit
the largest possible number of the citizens to take part in public life in a
climate of genuine freedom.”32
1916 As with any ethical obligation, the participation of all in
realizing the common good calls for a continually renewed conversion of
the social partners. Fraud and other subterfuges, by which some people evade the
constraints of the law and the prescriptions of societal obligation, must be
firmly condemned because they are incompatible with the requirements of justice.
Much care should be taken to promote institutions that improve the conditions of
human life.33
1917 It is incumbent on those who exercise authority to strengthen
the values that inspire the confidence of the members of the group and encourage
them to put themselves at the service of others. Participation begins with
education and culture. “One is entitled to think that the future of humanity is
in the hands of those who are capable of providing the generations to come with
reasons for life and optimism.”34
31 Cf. CA 43.
32 GS 31 § 3.
33 Cf. GS 30 § 1.
34 GS 31 § 3.
V. THE AUTHORITIES IN CIVIL SOCIETY
2234 God’s fourth commandment also enjoins us to honor all who for
our good have received authority in society from God. It clarifies the duties of
those who exercise authority as well as those who benefit from it.
Duties of civil authorities
2235 Those who exercise authority should do so as a service.
“Whoever would be great among you must be your servant.”41
The exercise of authority is measured morally in terms of its divine origin, its
reasonable nature and its specific object. No one can command or establish what
is contrary to the dignity of persons and the natural law.
2236 The exercise of authority is meant to give outward expression
to a just hierarchy of values in order to facilitate the exercise of freedom and
responsibility by all. Those in authority should practice distributive justice
wisely, taking account of the needs and contribution of each, with a view to
harmony and peace. They should take care that the regulations and measures they
adopt are not a source of temptation by setting personal interest against that
of the community.42
2237 Political authorities are obliged to respect the
fundamental rights of the human person. They will dispense justice humanely by
respecting the rights of everyone, especially of families and the disadvantaged.
The political rights attached to citizenship can and should be granted according
to the requirements of the common good. They cannot be suspended by public
authorities without legitimate and proportionate reasons. Political rights are
meant to be exercised for the common good of the nation and the human community.
The duties of citizens
2238 Those subject to authority should regard those in authority
as representatives of God, who has made them stewards of his gifts:43
“Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution. . . . Live as free
men, yet without using your freedom as a pretext for evil; but live as servants
of God.”44
Their loyal collaboration includes the right, and at times the duty, to voice
their just criticisms of that which seems harmful to the dignity of persons and
to the good of the community.
2239 It is the duty of citizens to contribute along with the civil
authorities to the good of society in a spirit of truth, justice, solidarity,
and freedom. The love and service of one’s country follow from the duty of
gratitude and belong to the order of charity. Submission to legitimate
authorities and service of the common good require citizens to fulfill their
roles in the life of the political community.
2240 Submission to authority and co-responsibility for the common
good make it morally obligatory to pay taxes, to exercise the right to vote, and
to defend one’s country:
Pay to all of them their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to
whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is
due.45
[Christians] reside in their own nations, but as resident aliens. They
participate in all things as citizens and endure all things as foreigners. . .
. They obey the established laws and their way of life surpasses the laws. . .
. So noble is the position to which God has assigned them that they are not
allowed to desert it.46
The Apostle exhorts us to offer prayers and thanksgiving for kings and all
who exercise authority, “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and
respectful in every way.”47
2241 The more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they
are able, to welcome the foreigner in search of the security and the means of
livelihood which he cannot find in his country of origin. Public authorities
should see to it that the natural right is respected that places a guest under
the protection of those who receive him.
Political authorities, for the sake of the common good for which they are
responsible, may make the exercise of the right to immigrate subject to various
juridical conditions, especially with regard to the immigrants’ duties toward
their country of adoption. Immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the
material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its
laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens.
2242 The citizen is obliged in conscience not to follow the
directives of civil authorities when they are contrary to the demands of the
moral order, to the fundamental rights of persons or the teachings of the
Gospel. Refusing obedience to civil authorities, when their demands are contrary
to those of an upright conscience, finds its justification in the distinction
between serving God and serving the political community. “Render therefore to
Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”48
“We must obey God rather than men”:49
When citizens are under the oppression of a public authority which
oversteps its competence, they should still not refuse to give or to do what
is objectively demanded of them by the common good; but it is legitimate for
them to defend their own rights and those of their fellow citizens against the
abuse of this authority within the limits of the natural law and the Law of
the Gospel.50
2243 Armed resistance to oppression by political authority is
not legitimate, unless all the following conditions are met: 1) there is
certain, grave, and prolonged violation of fundamental rights; 2) all other
means of redress have been exhausted; 3) such resistance will not provoke worse
disorders; 4) there is well-founded hope of success; and 5) it is impossible
reasonably to foresee any better solution.
41 Mt 20:26.
42 Cf. CA 25.
43 Cf. Rom 13:1-2.
44 1 Pet 2:13,16.
45 Rom 13:7.
46 Ad Diognetum 5,5 and 10; 6,10:PG 2,1173 and 1176.
47 1 Tim 2:2.
48 Mt 22:21.
49 Acts 5:29.
50 GS 74 § 5.
The political community and the Church
2244 Every institution is inspired, at least implicitly, by a
vision of man and his destiny, from which it derives the point of reference for
its judgment, its hierarchy of values, its line of conduct. Most societies have
formed their institutions in the recognition of a certain preeminence of man
over things. Only the divinely revealed religion has clearly recognized man’s
origin and destiny in God, the Creator and Redeemer. The Church invites
political authorities to measure their judgments and decisions against this
inspired truth about God and man:
Societies not recognizing this vision or rejecting it in the name of
their independence from God are brought to seek their criteria and goal in
themselves or to borrow them from some ideology. Since they do not admit that
one can defend an objective criterion of good and evil, they arrogate to
themselves an explicit or implicit totalitarian power over man and his
destiny, as history shows.51
2245 The Church, because of her commission and competence, is
not to be confused in any way with the political community. She is both the sign
and the safeguard of the transcendent character of the human person. “The Church
respects and encourages the political freedom and responsibility of the
citizen.”52
2246 It is a part of the Church’s mission “to pass moral judgments
even in matters related to politics, whenever the fundamental rights of man or
the salvation of souls requires it. The means, the only means, she may use are
those which are in accord with the Gospel and the welfare of all men according
to the diversity of times and circumstances.”53
51 Cf. CA 45; 46.
52 GS 76 § 3.
53 GS 76 § 5.
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