From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
Excessive intervention by the state can threaten personal freedom and initiative. The teaching of the Church has elaborated the principle of subsidiarity, according to which 'a community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of need and help to coordinate its activity with the rest of society, always with a view to the common good.'
"God...entrusts to every creature the functions it is capable of performing, according to the capacities of its own nature. This mode of government ought to be followed in social life.
"Subsidiarity is opposed to all forms of collectivism. It sets limits for state intervention" (nn. 1883-1885).
3 comments:
And now in English please!
Taking the first sentence and the last sentence sums it up pretty well.
Just as 'Thy shall not steal' and 'Thy shall not covet thy neighbour's goods' endorse the right to own property, so too the tenet of subsidiarity endorses hierarchy - as opposed to Egalitarianism or Socialism.
Post a Comment