POPE LEO XIV

Pope Leo XIV
A warm welcome to Pope Leo XIV from the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation, its members, their families and their stakeholders. We look forward to sharing Pope Leo XIV's contributions to Catholic social teaching.
READ HIS ADDRESS TO THE WORLD READ HIS FIRST HOMILY
  • ABOUT CST
    • The Three Principles
      • The Three Principles
      • Human Dignity
      • Solidarity
      • Subsidiarity
      • What is Catholic Social Teaching?
    • Major Themes
      • The Common Good
      • Preferential Option for the Poor
      • Right to Private Property
      • Universal Destination of Goods
      • The Dignity of Work
    • Pathologies
      • 4 Dangers to Society
      • Consumerism
      • Environmental Degradation
      • Physical Environment
      • Human Environment
      • Integral Ecology
      • Alienation
    • The Family
      • What is The Family?
      • The Family and the State
      • The Family is Connected to Ecology
    • Contemporary Issues
      • Abortion
      • Climate Change
      • Contemporary Issues
      • Democratic Socialism
      • Euthanasia
      • Gun Control and Self-Defense
      • Homosexuality
      • Immigration
      • Racism in the United States
      • The Death Penalty
      • The Dignity of Work
      • The COVID-19 Response
      • Transgenderism
      • Universal Healthcare
      • Voting
    • Structures of Society
      • Overview
      • Culture
      • Economics
      • Politics
  • Articles
  • Events
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • About CAPP
    • CAPP-USA Introduction
    • CAPP-USA Team
    • Join CAPP
    • Papal Addresses to CAPP
    • Study Center
    • Articles
    • Magisterial Resources
    • Infographics & Videos
    • Announcements
    • Vatican Home
HABEMUS PAPAM!
Join our Articles community
XFacebookLinkedInEmailPrint
Join our Newsletter

 

What is a Wholesome Culture?

 

by CAPP-USA

 

A wholesome culture is one that has God, human dignity, and the family at its heart.

A wholesome culture is one built on God and human dignity.

What Defines a Wholesome Culture?


Wholesome is defined as “indicative of good health or well-being”.

As to culture, Pope St. John Paul II elevated culture in Catholic social teaching to be the third, and preeminent, structure of society – joining government and economics. Why? Because “Man is understood in a more complete way when he is situated within the sphere of culture through his language, history, and the position he takes towards the fundamental events of life, such as birth, love, work and death.” (Centesimus Annus, 24)

So, a wholesome culture is one that promotes well-being. And not just physical, mental or financial well-being. “[A]uthentic human development concerns the whole of the person in every single dimension.” (Pope Benedict XVI, 11)

“At the heart of every culture lies the attitude man takes to the greatest mystery: the mystery of God. Different cultures are basically different ways of facing the question of the meaning of personal existence.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 24)

Do we have a wholesome culture?

A Wholesome Culture Would Not Be in Crisis


Catholic social teaching makes a strong case that the culture in the United States is NOT wholesome.

Our fragmented culture finds many alienated, depressed, and selfish people. People who do not care for the environment, the next generation, each other, or even themselves.

Pope Benedict XVI called our culture’s secular mindset (which assumes truth and morality are subjective), the “dictatorship of relativism”.

He warned that without God at the heart of culture, “public life is sapped of its motivation and politics takes on a domineering and aggressive character. Human rights risk being ignored”. (Caritas in Veritate, 56)

“As Saint John XXIII wrote: ‘There is nothing human about a society based on relationships of power…it proves oppressive and restrictive.’” (Pope Francis, 8)

Without the Truth, culture becomes about power, and we see this playing out in an increasingly tribal and divisive society. Hardly wholesome.

We are a culture in crisis where “human beings are themselves considered consumer goods to be used and then discarded. We have created a ‘throw away’ culture which is now spreading…The excluded are not the ‘exploited’ but the outcast, the ‘leftovers’.” (Pope Francis, 53)

What Does a Wholesome Culture Require?


Firstly, a wholesome culture requires God. “Man remains above all a being who seeks the truth and strives to live in that truth…From this…the culture of a nation derives its character.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 51) 

Culture “must not be understood solely in economic terms, but in a way that is fully human.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 29)

A wholesome culture requires religious freedom. “Freedom…demands the courage to engage in civic life and to bring one’s deepest beliefs and values to reasoned public debate.” (Pope Benedict XVI) 

A wholesome culture requires the family, “founded on marriage…the mutual gift of self by husband and wife“. (Pope St. John Paul II, 39) Yet rising divorce rates, the normalization of cohabitation, and advocacy for same-sex marriages erode the “fundamental cell of society”. (Pope Francis, 66)

Abortion, euthanasia, and assisted suicide are part of a “culture of death”. A wholesome culture promotes and defends the dignity of human life. The dignity of the human person is the prime principle of Catholic social teaching.

We must throw off the yoke of materialism and consumerism. “[P]olitics and economy cannot be reduced to mere technical know-how bereft of ideals and unconcerned with the transcendent dimension of man…” (Pope Francis, 10)

Finally, our culture requires solidarity and subsidiarity.

Learn More About the Dignity of Work
Back to Articles
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)

Sign Up For Our Newsletter:

Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice, Inc (CAPP-USA) is the United States affiliate of Fondazione Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice at the Vatican. | Sitemap
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow

[email protected]

Phone: (888) 473-3331
Address: 295 Madison Avenue, 12th Floor, New York, NY, 10017

Join

Join our Articles Community
Bi-weekly insights facing our society.
Join our Articles Community
Bi-weekly insights facing our society.