Catechism of the Catholic Church · Part Three › Section Two › Chapter Two · Article 7 (§§2401–2463)
Paragraphs · 63
The Catechism's text is under copyright, so each paragraph is quoted briefly here with a link to the full text at vatican.va.
The Seventh Commandment
- §2401 — The seventh commandment forbids unjustly taking or keeping the goods of one's neighbor and wronging him in any way with respect to his goods. It commands justice and charity in the care of earthly goods and the fruits of men's labor.vatican.va
I. The Universal Destination and the Private Ownership of Goods
- §2402 — In the beginning God entrusted the earth and its resources to the common stewardship of mankind to take care of them, master them by labor, and enjoy their fruits.vatican.va
- §2403 — The right to private property, acquired by work or received from others by inheritance or gift, does not do away with the original gift of the earth to the whole of mankind.vatican.va
- §2404 — "In his use of things man should regard the external goods he legitimately owns not merely as exclusive to himself but common to others also, in the sense that they can benefit others as well as himself."vatican.va
- §2405 — Goods of production - material or immaterial - such as land, factories, practical or artistic skills, oblige their possessors to employ them in ways that will benefit the greatest number.vatican.va
- §2406 — Political authority has the right and duty to regulate the legitimate exercise of the right to ownership for the sake of the common good.vatican.va
II. Respect for Persons and Their Goods
- §2407 — In economic matters, respect for human dignity requires the practice of the virtue of temperance, so as to moderate attachment to this world's goods; the practice of the virtue of justice, to preserve our neighbor's rights and render him what is his due; and the…vatican.va
- §2408 — The seventh commandment forbids theft, that is, usurping another's property against the reasonable will of the owner. There is no theft if consent can be presumed or if refusal is contrary to reason and the universal destination of goods.vatican.va
- §2409 — Even if it does not contradict the provisions of civil law, any form of unjustly taking and keeping the property of others is against the seventh commandment: thus, deliberate retention of goods lent or of objects lost; business fraud; paying unjust wages; forcing up prices by taking advantage of the ignorance or hardship of another.vatican.va
- §2410 — Promises must be kept and contracts strictly observed to the extent that the commitments made in them are morally just. A significant part of economic and social life depends on the honoring of contracts between physical or moral persons - commercial contracts of purchase or sale, rental or labor contracts.vatican.va
- §2411 — Contracts are subject to commutative justice which regulates exchanges between persons in accordance with a strict respect for their rights. Commutative justice obliges strictly; it requires safeguarding property rights, paying debts, and fulfilling obligations freely contracted.vatican.va
- §2412 — In virtue of commutative justice, reparation for injustice committed requires the restitution of stolen goods to their owner:vatican.va
- §2413 — Games of chance (card games, etc.) or wagers are not in themselves contrary to justice. They become morally unacceptable when they deprive someone of what is necessary to provide for his needs and those of others.vatican.va
- §2414 — The seventh commandment forbids acts or enterprises that for any reason - selfish or ideological, commercial, or totalitarian - lead to the enslavement of human beings, to their being bought, sold and exchanged like merchandise, in disregard for their personal dignity.vatican.va
- §2415 — The seventh commandment enjoins respect for the integrity of creation. Animals, like plants and inanimate beings, are by nature destined for the common good of past, present, and future humanity.vatican.va
- §2416 — Animals are God's creatures. He surrounds them with his providential care. By their mere existence they bless him and give him glory. Thus men owe them kindness.vatican.va
- §2417 — God entrusted animals to the stewardship of those whom he created in his own image. Hence it is legitimate to use animals for food and clothing.vatican.va
- §2418 — It is contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer or die needlessly. It is likewise unworthy to spend money on them that should as a priority go to the relief of human misery.vatican.va
III. The Social Doctrine of the Church
- §2419 — "Christian revelation . . promotes deeper understanding of the laws of social living." The Church receives from the Gospel the full revelation of the truth about man.vatican.va
- §2420 — The Church makes a moral judgment about economic and social matters, "when the fundamental rights of the person or the salvation of souls requires it."vatican.va
- §2421 — The social doctrine of the Church developed in the nineteenth century when the Gospel encountered modern industrial society with its new structures for the production of consumer goods, its new concept of society, the state and authority, and its new forms of labor and ownership.vatican.va
- §2422 — The Church's social teaching comprises a body of doctrine, which is articulated as the Church interprets events in the course of history, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, in the light of the whole of what has been revealed by Jesus Christ.vatican.va
- §2423 — The Church's social teaching proposes principles for reflection; it provides criteria for judgment; it gives guidelines for action:vatican.va
- §2424 — A theory that makes profit the exclusive norm and ultimate end of economic activity is morally unacceptable. the disordered desire for money cannot but produce perverse effects.vatican.va
- §2425 — The Church has rejected the totalitarian and atheistic ideologies associated in modem times with "communism" or "socialism." She has likewise refused to accept, in the practice of "capitalism," individualism and the absolute primacy of the law of the marketplace over human labor.vatican.va
IV. Economic Activity and Social Justice
- §2426 — The development of economic activity and growth in production are meant to provide for the needs of human beings. Economic life is not meant solely to multiply goods produced and increase profit or power; it is ordered first of all to the service of persons, of the whole man, and of the entire human community.vatican.va
- §2427 — Human work proceeds directly from persons created in the image of God and called to prolong the work of creation by subduing the earth, both with and for one another.vatican.va
- §2428 — In work, the person exercises and fulfills in part the potential inscribed in his nature. the primordial value of labor stems from man himself, its author and its beneficiary.vatican.va
- §2429 — Everyone has the right of economic initiative; everyone should make legitimate use of his talents to contribute to the abundance that will benefit all and to harvest the just fruits of his labor.vatican.va
- §2430 — Economic life brings into play different interests, often opposed to one another. This explains why the conflicts that characterize it arise. Efforts should be made to reduce these conflicts by negotiation that respects the rights and duties of each social partner: those responsible for business…vatican.va
- §2431 — The responsibility of the state. "Economic activity, especially the activity of a market economy, cannot be conducted in an institutional, juridical, or political vacuum. On the contrary, it presupposes sure guarantees of individual freedom and private property, as well as a stable currency and efficient public services.vatican.va
- §2432 — Those responsible for business enterprises are responsible to society for the economic and ecological effects of their operations. They have an obligation to consider the good of persons and not only the increase of profits.vatican.va
- §2433 — Access to employment and to professions must be open to all without unjust discrimination: men and women, healthy and disabled, natives and immigrants. For its part society should, according to circumstances, help citizens find work and employment.vatican.va
- §2434 — A just wage is the legitimate fruit of work. To refuse or withhold it can be a grave injustice. In determining fair pay both the needs and the contributions of each person must be taken into account.vatican.va
- §2435 — Recourse to a strike is morally legitimate when it cannot be avoided, or at least when it is necessary to obtain a proportionate benefit. It becomes morally unacceptable when accompanied by violence, or when objectives are included that are not directly linked to working conditions or are contrary to the common good.vatican.va
- §2436 — Unemployment almost always wounds its victim's dignity and threatens the equilibrium of his life. Besides the harm done to him personally, it entails many risks for his family.vatican.va
V. Justice and Solidarity Among Nations
- §2437 — On the international level, inequality of resources and economic capability is such that it creates a real "gap" between nations. On the one side there are those nations possessing and developing the means of growth and, on the other, those accumulating debts.vatican.va
- §2438 — Various causes of a religious, political, economic, and financial nature today give "the social question a worldwide dimension." There must be solidarity among nations which are already politically interdependent.vatican.va
- §2439 — Rich nations have a grave moral responsibility toward those which are unable to ensure the means of their development by themselves or have been prevented from doing so by tragic historical events.vatican.va
- §2440 — Direct aid is an appropriate response to immediate, extraordinary needs caused by natural catastrophes, epidemics, and the like. But it does not suffice to repair the grave damage resulting from destitution or to provide a lasting solution to a country's needs.vatican.va
- §2441 — An increased sense of God and increased self-awareness are fundamental to any full development of human society. This development multiplies material goods and puts them at the service of the person and his freedom.vatican.va
- §2442 — It is not the role of the Pastors of the Church to intervene directly in the political structuring and organization of social life. This task is part of the vocation of the lay faithful, acting on their own initiative with their fellow citizens.vatican.va
VI. Love For the Poor
- §2443 — God blesses those who come to the aid of the poor and rebukes those who turn away from them: "Give to him who begs from you, do not refuse him who would borrow from you"; "you received without pay, give without pay."vatican.va
- §2444 — "The Church's love for the poor . . is a part of her constant tradition." This love is inspired by the Gospel of the Beatitudes, of the poverty of Jesus, and of his concern for the poor.vatican.va
- §2445 — Love for the poor is incompatible with immoderate love of riches or their selfish use:vatican.va
- §2446 — St. John Chrysostom vigorously recalls this: "Not to enable the poor to share in our goods is to steal from them and deprive them of life.vatican.va
- §2447 — The works of mercy are charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbor in his spiritual and bodily necessities. Instructing, advising, consoling, comforting are spiritual works of mercy, as are forgiving and bearing wrongs patiently.vatican.va
- §2448 — "In its various forms - material deprivation, unjust oppression, physical and psychological illness and death - human misery is the obvious sign of the inherited condition of frailty and need for salvation in which man finds himself as a consequence of original sin.vatican.va
- §2449 — '" Jesus makes these words his own: "The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me." In so doing he does not soften the vehemence of former oracles against "buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals .vatican.va
In Brief
- §2450 — "You shall not steal" (Ex 20:15; Deut 5:19). "Neither thieves, nor the greedy, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor 6:10).vatican.va
- §2451 — The seventh commandment enjoins the practice of justice and charity in the administration of earthly goods and the fruits of men's labor.vatican.va
- §2452 — The goods of creation are destined for the entire human race. the right to private property does not abolish the universal destination of goods.vatican.va
- §2453 — The seventh commandment forbids theft. Theft is the usurpation of another's goods against the reasonable will of the owner.vatican.va
- §2454 — Every manner of taking and using another's property unjustly is contrary to the seventh commandment. the injustice committed requires reparation. Commutative justice requires the restitution of stolen goods.vatican.va
- §2455 — The moral law forbids acts which, for commercial or totalitarian purposes, lead to the enslavement of human beings, or to their being bought, sold or exchanged like merchandise.vatican.va
- §2456 — The dominion granted by the Creator over the mineral, vegetable, and animal resources of the universe cannot be separated from respect for moral obligations, including those toward generations to come.vatican.va
- §2457 — Animals are entrusted to man's stewardship; he must show them kindness. They may be used to serve the just satisfaction of man's needs.vatican.va
- §2458 — The Church makes a judgment about economic and social matters when the fundamental rights of the person or the salvation of souls requires *. She is concerned with the temporal common good of men because they are ordered to the sovereign Good, their ultimate end.vatican.va
- §2459 — Man is himself the author, center, and goal of all economic and social life. the decisive point of the social question is that goods created by God for everyone should in fact reach everyone in accordance with justice and with the help of charity.vatican.va
- §2460 — The primordial value of labor stems from man himself, its author and beneficiary. By means of his labor man participates in the work of creation.vatican.va
- §2461 — True development concerns the whole man. It is concerned with increasing each person's ability to respond to his vocation and hence to God's call (cf CA 29).vatican.va
- §2462 — Giving alms to the poor is a witness to fraternal charity: it is also a work of justice pleasing to God.vatican.va
- §2463 — How can we not recognize Lazarus, the hungry beggar in the parable (cf Lk 17:19-31), in the multitude of human beings without bread, a roof or a place to stay?vatican.va
Scripture cited · 92 verses
Genesis 1:26 · Genesis 1:27 · Genesis 1:28 · Genesis 1:29 · Genesis 2:19 · Genesis 2:20 · Genesis 3:14 · Genesis 3:15 · Genesis 3:16 · Genesis 3:17 · Genesis 3:18 · Genesis 3:19 · Genesis 9:1 · Genesis 9:2 · Genesis 9:3 · Genesis 9:4 · Leviticus 19:13 · Deuteronomy 15:11 · Deuteronomy 24:14 · Deuteronomy 24:15 · Deuteronomy 25:13 · Deuteronomy 25:14 · Deuteronomy 25:15 · Deuteronomy 25:16 · Tobit 4:5 · Tobit 4:6 · Tobit 4:7 · Tobit 4:8 · Tobit 4:9 · Tobit 4:10 · Tobit 4:11 · Sirach 17:22 · Isaiah 58:6 · Isaiah 58:7 · Daniel 3:79 · Daniel 3:80 · Daniel 3:81 · Amos 8:4 · Amos 8:5 · Amos 8:6 · Matthew 5:42 · Matthew 6:2 · Matthew 6:3 · Matthew 6:4 · Matthew 6:24 · Matthew 6:26 · Matthew 8:20 · Matthew 10:8 · Matthew 11:5 · Matthew 25:31 · Matthew 25:32 · Matthew 25:33 · Matthew 25:34 · Matthew 25:35 · Matthew 25:36 · Matthew 25:37 · Matthew 25:38 · Matthew 25:39 · Matthew 25:40 · Matthew 25:41 · Matthew 25:42 · Matthew 25:43 · Matthew 25:44 · Matthew 25:45 · Matthew 25:46 · Mark 12:41 · Mark 12:42 · Mark 12:43 · Mark 12:44 · Luke 3:11 · Luke 4:18 · Luke 6:20 · Luke 6:21 · Luke 6:22 · Luke 11:41 · Luke 16:13 · Luke 19:8 · John 12:8 · 2 Corinthians 8:9 · Ephesians 4:28 · 1 Thessalonians 4:11 · 2 Thessalonians 3:10 · Hebrews 13:3 · James 2:15 · James 2:16 · James 5:1 · James 5:2 · James 5:3 · James 5:4 · James 5:5 · James 5:6 · 1 John 3:17