There are four critical documents stating Catholic Social Doctrine. They are Rerum Novarum (1891), Quadragessimo Anno (1931), Octogessima Adveniens (1971), and Laborem Exercens (1981). The original doctrine was created in response the social changes taking place in Europe. The growth of industrialization and the doctrine of communism were important factors in its creation. For many in the church of the time it was felt that there was only a concern for the spiritual and not the temporal world. The doctrine espoused in the these encyclicals is designed to establish the church’s position on the great social issues. The church took the position that there is a moral dimension to economic and social affairs.
… the Church has a strict right–also a duty–to teach the moral aspects of the secular order, whether this be in politics, economics. or social matters (RN 12; QA 11, 41-43; MM 42)
This doctrine is designed to be pervasive and used for guidance throughout the community of believers.

The Church’s social doctrine ought to be known and taught by all the faithful (MM 224), who must also strive to address social problems in conformity with it (MM 225).
The Basic Elements
There are ten elements listed as the principles of Catholic Social Doctrine.

1. Dignity of the Human Person
Humans are made in the image of God. They deserve respect and are all important.

2. Common Good and Community
Humans are social animals. They have a responsibility to work for the common good.

3. Option for the Poor
How a society treats its most vulnerable citizens is a test of that society’s moral values.

4. Rights and Responsibilities
Humans have a right to life and the basic elements of human decency, food, shelter, clothing, employment, health care, and education.

5.Role of Government and Subsidiarity
Governments have a duty to work for the common good, protect human dignity, and care for the poor. All people should have a right to participate in their government.
Subsidarity is the principle that societies should be governed locally as much as possible.

6. Economic Justice
People are more important than the economy. The economy ‘s function is to serve the people. All workers have basic rights, among them safe working conditions, a wage that allows for basic human needs, and the right to associate and form unions. The church is opposed to the concentration of wealth unless these basic needs are met.
The church is opposed to communism and socialism. However, it does not support the idea of the free market without reservations. The basic needs of people still need to met even if this is contrary to some elements of the free market concept.

7. Stewardship of God’s Creation
This particular doctrine states the concept of a “social mortgage.” We are in temporary possession of things from the largest to the smallest, for instance, thousands of acres of land and a thumbtack. All are gifts from God and we are to treat these as caregivers with a responsibility to the people that come after us.

8. Promotion of Peace and Disarmament
The Catholic Church is opposed to war.

9. Participation
People should have the right to participate in their society politically, economically, and culturally.

10. Global Solidarity and Development
We are one human family. We have duties and responsibilities to one another. The pursuit of economic success is worth nothing without respect for the ethical, cultural and religious makeup of human beings.

An Expanded List
A recent list of the elements of the doctrine was presented by the Pontiff in 1979. It goes further in explaining some of the elements, particularly the social.

1) the right to life, liberty, and security of person;

2) the right to physical and moral integrity;

3) the right to sufficient and necessary means to live in a becoming manner (food, clothing, housing, rest, health care, social services);

4) the right to security in case of sickness, disability, widowhood, old age, unemployment, and any involuntary loss of the means of subsistence;

5) the right to due respect for one’s person and good name;

6) the right to religious freedom and to freedom of conscience-and of thought:

7) the right to declare and defend one’s own ideas (freedom of expression); the right to culture and access to objective information about public events;

8) the right to education and, in relation to it, freedom to teach;

9) the right to free choice of a state in life and the right to establish a family (marriage);

10) the right to work, to free choice of a position or profession, and to a just wage;

11) the right to private property, including ownership of the means of production (MM 96);

12) the right of assembly and of association;

13) the right to form unions and to strike (MM 14);

14) the right to choose one’s residence, to travel, and to emigrate;

15) the right to participate actively in public life;

16) the right to personal participation in attaining the common good;

17) the right to the legal protection of one’s rights;

18) the right to citizenship.

Address of John Paul II to the 36th General Assembly of the United Nations, Oct. 2. 1979.

Business Implications

The elements that have most implications for business in this doctrine are the concepts of “just wage,” the social mortgage, workers rights, in particular, the right to unionize, and the right to economic security.

The just wage concept is that each worker should make enough money to have the basic necessities of life, to raise a family, to have leisure time, housing and health care. This concept has been enacted into some form of legislation in a number of places in the United States. In this time of globalization and off sourcing it is highly likely to become more a part of the political discourse.

The social mortgage, the idea of a temporary possession of property with a duty to God, to care for it, have many implications. The issues of pollution, land use, the disposal of garbage, and abuse of the environment in term of extinctions and habitats and the actual endangerment of all life on earth by some forms misuse have implications for business.

Workers’ rights including the right to unionize are not implied in the document or referred to abstractly, they are listed directly. In the United States this is a controversial stance.

Economic security directly refers to security in case of sickness, disability, widowhood, old age, unemployment, and any involuntary loss of the means of subsistence … to once again quote the pontiff from his UN address.