In announcing Pope Francis’s death, the common trope from the secular press is that Francis was the champion of “social justice.” The Wall Street Journal, for example, announced, “Pope Francis, Advocate for … Social Justice, Dies at 88.” Newsweek proclaimed that Francis “brought significant change, … focusing on social justice.” The Economic Times headline noted Pope Francis’ “legacy of social justice.” Of course, this is consistent with a certain portrait of Pope Francis throughout his papacy. His emphasis on immigration, compassion for the stranger and global economic reform were hallmarks of his papacy.
But to reduce Pope Francis’ approach to “social justice” is both too broad and too narrow. It is too broad because the Holy Father did not champion some sort of abstract commitment to social justice, as though it can be divorced from God’s revelation in Christ. It is too narrow because it does not take account of the broader tradition of Catholic social doctrine, in which justice is but one aspect of a more capacious theology of the human person and society. Failure to appreciate the body of doctrine that formed Pope Francis’ vision of justice is also a failure to recognize the particularity of the Christian moral vision.
The dignity of each human person
In his October 2020 encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, Francis accounted for this broader (yet particular) doctrine in the traditional terms of dignity, solidarity, subsidiarity and common good. “It is my desire that … by acknowledging the dignity of each human person, we can contribute to the rebirth of a universal aspiration to fraternity,” explained the Holy Father. This “inalienable dignity” is shared equally by all humans, who alone among God’s creatures share in his image and likeness. Pope Francis decried a “culture of walls” that are contrary to our shared dignity. Human dignity compels us toward an attitude of fraternal love, in which others are not “them,” but “us.”
The solidarity of humankind
Closely related to human dignity is the doctrine of solidarity, “a word that is not always well received; … a word that dare not be said.” Solidarity, the pope explained, “means thinking in terms of community.” Related to the universal destiny of human goods, solidarity tells us that “the lives of all are prior to the appropriation of goods by a few.” The Society of Jesus is noted for its motto of being “men for God and others.” Solidarity is the doctrinal expression of that charism. It finds “concrete expression in service, … in an effort to care for others.” Solidarity is not particular to party or nation because service “is never ideological,” the pope declared, “for we do not serve ideas, we serve people.”
Subsidiarity and mutual interdependence
The doctrine of subsidiarity is often misunderstood as relating only to the size and proximity of social structures. It is sometimes expressed primarily as the doctrine that social goods and problems should be addressed by solutions that are as small and local as possible. While it is not incorrect to include size and proximity in a discussion of solidarity, these are not the primary values of the doctrine. From the Latin word subsidium, subsidiarity should be understood primarily as help, aid, relief or assistance. It is a function of our mutual interdependence on one another balanced with the integrity of individual moral agency. According to subsidiarity, institutions should be small and local so that they do not overwhelm the integrity of the individual through distant and all-encompassing edicts. The principle of subsidiarity, Pope Francis explains, “justifies the participation and activity of communities … as a means of integrating and complementing the activity of the state.” It contributes to “new pathways of self-expression and participation in society.” As such, the Pope concludes, “subsidiarity … is inseparable from solidarity.”
The common good
All three of these social doctrines contribute to a robust theology of the common good. The common good can be understood as the state of affairs that obtains when dignity, solidarity and subsidiarity are achieved. As Pope Francis puts it in Fratelli Tutti, common good is the Catholic assertion of a “better kind of politics.” This is a “global community of fraternity based on the practice of social friendship on the part of peoples and nations.” The common good is different from “unhealthy populism,” the exploitation of cultural particularities that devolve into nationalist ideology. It looks to the long term, considering not simply the immediate implications of political decisions, but long-term policy implications. The common good places us in continuity with those who follow us, calling us to care for the future of political and social communities. The common good does not deny communities their “proper identity,” but it is open to being “mobilized, challenged, … and enriched by others.”
“Justice” in the Catholic tradition is defined as “rendering another his due.” Pope Francis was not a “social justice” pope. Rather, he was a Catholic social doctrine pope. This means that his legacy is broader than the aims of the “social justice warriors” who use the phrase as a cudgel. And because his ministry and mission were rooted in the particularity of discipleship to Jesus Christ, his legacy is properly narrow. As he puts it in Fratelli Tutti, “For us the wellspring of human dignity and fraternity is in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Catholic social doctrine, not “social justice,” is the legacy of Pope Francis. May he rest in peace.
