What is Democratic Socialism?
And What’s Wrong with It
by CAPP-USA
Let’s first define democratic socialism.
What is Democratic Socialism?
Analysis of numerous “Democratic Socialism” and “Socialist” websites make clear a harmony in advocating for one or both of these positions:
Zohran Mamdani | © Bingjiefu He
Government provides a range of basic services, such as health care, housing, food and higher education, for free or at a significant discount, and/or;
Government control of vast sectors of the economy – in order to ameliorate perceived “ills” (climate change, income inequality, etc.).
Let’s state up front – Catholic Social Teaching rejects this.
Pope Pius XI “made it clear that no Catholic could subscribe even to moderate Socialism”. (Pope St. John XXIII, 34)
We’ll explain why.
Three Problems with Democratic Socialism
DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM VIOLATES ANTHROPOLOGY
Democratic socialism reduces mankind into economic elements. The Catholic Church rejects that human beings can be so understood.
“Socialism…wholly ignoring and indifferent to [the] sublime end of both man and society, affirms that human association has been instituted for the sake of material advantage alone.” (Pope Pius XI, 118)
As Pope St. John Paul II points out, “It is not possible to understand man on the basis of economics alone”. (Centesimus Annus, 24)
“[M]an, endowed with a social nature, is placed on this earth so that…he may fully cultivate and develop all his faculties unto the praise and glory of his Creator”. (Pope Pius XI, 118)
“Man is understood in a more complete way when he is situated within the sphere of culture”, and “[a]t the heart of every culture lies the attitude man takes to the greatest mystery: the mystery of God…When this question is eliminated, the culture and moral life of nations are corrupted.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 24)
Under socialism, freedom “is replaced by a burdensome system of bureaucratic control which dries up the wellsprings of initiative and creativity”. (Pope St. John Paul II, 25)
Socialism ultimately fails due to “an understanding of human freedom which detaches it from obedience to the truth, and consequently from the duty to respect the rights of others.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 17)
Basically, socialism ultimately fails because of the “spiritual void brought about by atheism”. (Pope St. John Paul II, 24)
Democratic socialism reduces mankind into economic elements.
DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM VIOLATES PRIVATE PROPERTY
“The first and most fundamental principle…if one would undertake to alleviate the condition of the masses, must be the inviolability of private property.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 15)
In 1891 Pope Leo XIII already found that socialism violates rights to private property and thereby hurts the working person. Democratic Socialism is “emphatically unjust” for it “would rob the lawful possessor, distort the functions of the State, and create utter confusion in the community.” (Rerum Novarum, 4)
“One hundred years later Pope St. John Paul II endorsed this masterful insight: “This right, [to private property] which is fundamental for the autonomy and development of the person, has always been defended by the Church up to our own day”. (Centesimus Annus, 30)
“By defining the nature of the socialism of his day as the suppression of private property, Leo XIII arrived at the crux of the problem.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 12)
Socialism “must be utterly rejected, since it only injures those whom it would seem meant to benefit, is directly contrary to the natural rights of mankind, and would introduce confusion and disorder into the commonweal.” (Pope Leo XIII, 24)
Learn About Private Property Rights
DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM VIOLATES SUBSIDIARITY
Pope Pius XI identified how socialism violates the key Catholic Social Teaching principle of Subsidiarity, “That most weighty principle, which cannot be set aside or changed, remains fixed and unshaken in social philosophy.” (Quadragesimo Anno, 79)
“The State…must not extend their ownership beyond what is clearly required by considerations of the common good properly understood, and even then there must be safeguards. Otherwise private ownership could be reduced beyond measure, or, even worse, completely destroyed.” (Pope St. John XXIII, 117)
“Just as it is gravely wrong to take from individuals what they can accomplish by their own initiative and industry and give it to the community, so also it is an injustice and at the same time a grave evil and disturbance of right order to assign to a greater and higher association what lesser and subordinate organizations can do.” (Pope Piux XI, 79)
The Bottom Line
THE CHURCH AFFIRMS MANY ENDS OF DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM
Catholic Social Teaching and democratic socialism share common end goals like Solidarity and the Common Good.
Indeed, democratic socialism “inclines toward and in a certain measure approaches the truths which Christian tradition has always held sacred; for it cannot be denied that its demands at times come very near those that Christian reformers of society justly insist upon.” (Pope Piux XI, 13)
In fact, “It can come even to the point that imperceptibly these ideas of the more moderate socialism will no longer differ from the desires and demands of those who are striving to remold human society on the basis of Christian principles”! (Pope Piux XI, 114)
NOT THE MEANS!
However, Democratic Socialism essentially reduces mankind into economic elements — losing an important insight into the basic idea of human anthropology and failing to appreciate man’s true grandeur.
This means democratic socialism “cannot be reconciled with the teachings of the Catholic Church because its concept of society itself is utterly foreign to Christian truth”. (Pope Piux XI, 117)
Democratic socialism “is based…on a theory of human society… irreconcilable with true Christianity.” (Pope Piux XI, 120) “We have found all their forms, even the most modified, to wander far from the precepts of the Gospel.” (Pope Piux XI, 128)
A CLOSING INSIGHT
“By intervening directly and depriving society of its responsibility, the Social Assistance State leads to a loss of human energies and an inordinate increase in public agencies which are dominated more by bureaucratic ways of thinking than by concern for serving their clients, and which are accompanied by an enormous increase in spending. In fact, it would appear that needs are best understood and satisfied by people who are closest to them and who act as neighbors to those in need”. (Pope St. John Paul II, 48)
