By choosing the name Leo XIV, the new Pope indicated his desire to give priority to a field known as Catholic social doctrine, or Catholic social teaching. This is the Church's response to questions concerning life in society, particularly by the promotion of seven core principles, such as solidarity and human dignity.
This May 17, Pope Leo had another opportunity to emphasize Catholic social doctrine, this time through an audience with representatives of the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation, which aims to promote the study and diffusion of the social doctrine of the Catholic Church.
In the Holy Father's address to the group, he highlighted the need to "build bridges through dialogue and encounter," saying that this requires "an active and continuous interplay of grace and freedom."
Pope Leo suggested that social doctrine and the Church's history of promoting it "helps us to realize that more important than our problems or eventual solutions is the way we approach them, guided by criteria of discernment, sound ethical principles, and openness to God’s grace."
Focus on approach
Pope Leo said that the approach is key to building a culture of encounter.
He said:
You have the opportunity to show that the Church’s social doctrine, with its specific anthropological approach, seeks to encourage genuine engagement with social issues. It does not claim to possess a monopoly on truth, either in its analysis of problems or its proposal of concrete solutions. Where social questions are concerned, knowing how best to approach them is more important than providing immediate responses to why things happen or how to deal with them. The aim is to learn how to confront problems, for these are always different, since every generation is new, and faces new challenges, dreams and questions.
This is a fundamental aspect of our attempts to build a “culture of encounter” through dialogue and social friendship. For many of our contemporaries, the words “dialogue” and “doctrine” can seem incompatible. Perhaps when we hear the word “doctrine,” we tend to think of a set of ideas belonging to a religion. The word itself makes us feel less disposed to reflect, call things into question or seek new alternatives.
In the case of the Church’s social doctrine, we need to make clear that the word “doctrine” has another, more positive meaning, without which dialogue itself would be meaningless. “Doctrine” can be a synonym of “science,” “discipline” and “knowledge.” Understood in this way, doctrine appears as the product of research, and hence of hypotheses, discussions, progress and setbacks, all aimed at conveying a reliable, organized and systematic body of knowledge about a given issue. Consequently, a doctrine is not the same as an opinion, but is rather a common, collective and even multidisciplinary pursuit of truth.
“Indoctrination” is immoral. It stifles critical judgement and undermines the sacred freedom of respect for conscience, even if erroneous. It resists new notions and rejects movement, change or the evolution of ideas in the face of new problems. “Doctrine,” on the other hand, as a serious, serene and rigorous discourse, aims to teach us primarily how to approach problems and, even more importantly, how to approach people. It also helps us to make prudential judgements when confronted with challenges. Seriousness, rigour and serenity are what we must learn from every doctrine, including the Church’s social doctrine.
Critical thinking
Pope Leo also encouraged training in critical thinking.
"There is so little dialogue around us; shouting often replaces it, not infrequently in the form of fake news and irrational arguments proposed by a few loud voices," he lamented. "Deeper reflection and study are essential, as well as a commitment to encounter and listen to the poor, who are a treasure for the Church and for humanity. Their viewpoints, though often disregarded, are vital if we are to see the world through God’s eyes."
In this regard, the Pope insisted that those far from the centers of power are instrumental in "carrying [Catholic social doctrine] forward and putting it into practice."
Quoting Gaudium et Spes, he invited the group to discernment, to find the "language intelligible to" this generation, to "contribute, with all of God’s people, to the development of the Church’s social doctrine in this age of significant social changes, listening to everyone and engaging in dialogue with all."
In our day, there is a widespread thirst for justice, a desire for authentic fatherhood and motherhood, a profound longing for spirituality, especially among young people and the marginalized, who do not always find effective means of making their needs known. There is a growing demand for the Church’s social doctrine, to which we need to respond.
Read the whole address here.
