The Role of the Principles of Catholic Social Teaching in Building a Post-Pandemic World Based on the 2020 Catecheses of Pope Francis. An Outline of the Issue
The Role of the Principles of Catholic Social Teaching in Building a Post-Pandemic World Based on the 2020 Catecheses of Pope Francis. An Outline of the Issue

Summary/Abstract: Successive crises of the modern world open up new fields of reflection on the moral condition of man. An important challenge at the beginning of the third millennium turned out to be the coronavirus pandemic, which causes the COVID-19 disease. The main purpose of this article is to analyse the Wednesday catecheses of Pope Francis, delivered in August and September 2020 under the collective title “Healing the world.” In them, the Pope raises the issue of the topicality of Catholic social teaching and reminds us that building the world in the post-pandemic period should primarily take into account adequate anthropology and the dignity of every human person. With reference to the traditional moral teaching, subsequent catechesis concerned the updating of the following principles: the principle of the dignity of the person, the principle of the common good, the principle of the preferential option for the poor, the principle of the universal destination of goods, the principle of solidarity, the principle of subsidiarity and the principle of care for the common home. In the papal texts, it is interesting to combine these principles with the theological virtues of faith, hope and love, which reveals even more the essence of the Christian life, expressed in the call to bring the fruits of love for the life of the world. Francis’ idea of the need to refer to ethics in the assessment of public life is referred to and extended by the project The Economy of Francesco, related to the meeting of young people in Assisi, based on consultations in twelve “thematic villages,” and illustrating specific examples how to combine faith, economics, ethics and social life. In this perspective, the social teaching of the Church, cited by Francis, seems to be still valuable and up to date in terms of a constructive proposal to renew the world.

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