Ten Awesome Justice Quotes from the Magisterium

by CAPP-USA

Justice quotes from the Magisterium of the Church.

Powerful quotes about justice from the Magisterium

Our Picks for Top Quotes about Justice

Justice can be often and badly misunderstood. The Magisterium defines justice and guides us toward a correct pursuit of it in our personal lives and in society.

“Justice is the moral virtue that consists in the constant and firm will to give their due to God and neighbor“. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1807)
Justice “upholds the fundamental human right to a dignified life”. (Pope Francis)
“[J]ustice is inseparable from charity, and intrinsic to it.” (Pope Benedict XVI, 6)
“To desire the common good and strive towards it is a requirement of justice”. (Caritas in Veritate, 7)
“It is the strict duty of justice and truth not to allow fundamental human needs to remain unsatisfied”. (Pope St. John Paul II, 34)
“Justice toward men disposes one to respect the rights of each“. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1807)
“True social justice…can only be possible in a perspective of genuine solidarity that commits people to live and work always for others.” (Pope Benedict XVI, Address to CAPP Members)
“Justice is the primary way of charity”. (Pope Benedict XVI, 60)
“Justice…disposes one to respect the rights of each and to establish in human relationships the harmony that promotes equity”. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1807)
Justice “requires the realignment of relationships between stronger and weaker peoples in terms of greater fairness“. (Pope Francis, 4)

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Three circles containing symbols of the three principles of catholic social teaching: human dignity, subsidiarity, and solidarity.

Three Key Principles

Catholic social teaching is built on three foundational principles - Human Dignity, Solidarity and Subsidiarity. Human Dignity, embodied in a correct understanding of the human person, is the greatest. The others flow from it. Good governments and good economic systems find ways of fostering the three principles.

Human Dignity

This means a correct understanding of the human person and of each person’s unique value. All Catholic social teaching flows from this: the inherent dignity of every person that comes from being made in God’s image.

Solidarity

Solidarity is not “a feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of others. It is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good”. (Pope St. John Paul II, 38) Love of God and love of neighbor are, in fact, linked and form one, single commandment.

Subsidiarity

Subsidiarity “is a fundamental principle of social philosophy, fixed and unchangeable, that one should not withdraw from individuals and commit to the community what they can accomplish by their own enterprise and industry. So, too, it is an injustice and at the same time a grave evil and a disturbance of right order to transfer to the larger and higher collectivity functions which can be performed and provided for by the lesser and subordinate bodies”. (Pope Pius XI)

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