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Top Pope St. John XXIII Quotes

 

by CAPP-USA

 

Pope St. John XXIII quotes that are brilliant and timely.

Top Pope St. John XXIII Quotes

Top 10 Pope St. John XXIII Quotes


From the Common Good to the Truth about man, the moral order and the poor, Pope St. John XXIII spoke on every issue facing the Church in the middle of the 20th century.

With a warm smile, he guided the Barque of Peter, especially through his great social encyclical, Mater et Magistra.

  1. “[T]he moral order has no existence except in God; cut off from God it must necessarily disintegrate.” (208)
  2. “The most fundamental modern error is that of imagining that man’s natural sense of religion is nothing more than the outcome of feeling or fantasy.” (214)
  3. “The most perniciously typical aspect of the modern era consists in the absurd attempt to reconstruct a solid and fruitful temporal order divorced from God, who is, in fact, the only foundation on which it can endure.” (217)
  4. “Separated from God a man is but a monster, in himself and toward others; for the right ordering of human society presupposes the right ordering of man’s conscience with God”. (215)
  5. “[I]n his striving to master and transform the world around him he is in danger of forgetting and of destroying himself.” (242)
  6. “First consideration must obviously be given to those values which concern man’s dignity generally, and the immense worth of each individual human life.” (192)
  7. “We are all equally responsible…it is necessary to educate one’s conscience to the sense of responsibility which weighs upon each and every one”. (158)
  8. “Experience has shown that where personal initiative is lacking, political tyranny ensues.” (57)
  9. “Considerations of justice and equity can at times demand that those in power pay more attention to the weaker members of society, since these are at a disadvantage when it comes to defending their own rights and asserting their legitimate interests.” (56)
  10. “The family is based upon a marriage which is one and indissoluble and, with respect to Christians, raised to the dignity of a sacrament”. (193)
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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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