Editing Common good (section)

== In Catholic social teaching ==
{{Integralism}}
{{Main|Catholic social teaching}}
One of the earliest references in Christian literature to the concept of the common good is found in the ''[[Epistle of Barnabas]]'': "Do not live entirely isolated, having retreated into yourselves, as if you were already [fully] justified, but gather instead to seek together the common good."<ref>''[http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/barnabas.html Epistle of Barnabas]{{dead link|date=November 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}'', 4, 10.</ref>

The concept is strongly present in [[Augustine of Hippo]]'s ''magnum opus'' ''[[City of God (book)|City of God]]''. Book XIX of this, the main locus of Augustine's normative political thought, is focused on the question, 'Is the good life social?' In other words, 'Is human wellbeing found in the good of the whole society, the common good?' Chapters 5–17 of Book XIX address this question. Augustine's emphatic answer is yes (see start of chap. 5).

Augustine's understanding was taken up and, under the influence of [[Aristotle]], developed by [[Thomas Aquinas]]. Aquinas's conception of the common good became standard in Roman Catholic moral theology.

Against that background, the common good became a central concept in the modern tradition of [[Catholic social teaching]], beginning with the foundational document, ''[[Rerum novarum]]'', a [[papal encyclical]] by [[Pope Leo XIII]], issued in 1891. This addressed the crisis of the conditions of industrial workers in Europe and argued for a position different from both [[laissez-faire capitalism]] and [[socialism]]. In this letter, Pope Leo guarantees the right to [[private property]] while insisting on the role of collective bargaining to establish a [[living wage]].

Contemporary Catholic social teaching on the common good is summarised in the 2004 ''Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church'', chapter 4, part II.<ref>Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace, [https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeace_doc_20060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church]. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160801220128/https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeace_doc_20060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html |date=August 1, 2016 }} (2004). Chapter 4, part II.</ref> Quoting the [[Second Vatican Council]] document, ''[[Gaudium et spes]]'' (1965), this says, "According to its primary and broadly accepted sense, ''the common good'' indicates 'the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfilment more fully and more easily{{'"}} (#164, quoting ''Gaudium et spes'', #26; italics original).

The ''Compendium'' later gives statements that communicate what can be seen as a partly different, more classical, sense of the concept – as not only "social conditions" that enable persons to reach fulfilment, but as the [[Telos|''end'' ''goal'']] of human life. "''[T]he common good [is] the good of all people and of the whole person... The human person cannot find fulfilment in himself, that is, apart from the fact that he exists "with" others and "for" others''" (#165; italics original). "The goal of life in society is in fact the historically attainable common good" (#168).

The Roman Catholic [[International Theological Commission]] drew attention to these two partly different understandings of the common good in its 2009 publication, ''In Search of a Universal Ethic: A New Look at the Natural Law''. It referred to them as "two levels" of the common good.<ref>International Theological Commission, ''[https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20090520_legge-naturale_en.html ''In Search of a Universal Ethic: A New Look at the Natural Law'']. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130311183453/https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20090520_legge-naturale_en.html |date=March 11, 2013 }}''. (2009), #85.</ref>

Other relevant documents are ''[[Veritatis Splendor]]'', a papal encyclical by [[Pope John Paul II]], issued in 1993 to combat the relaxation of moral norms and the [[political corruption]] (see paragraph 98) that affects millions of persons, and [[Pope Francis]]' 2015 encyclical, ''[[Laudato si']]''. In ''Veritatis Splendor'', Pope John Paul describes the characteristics and virtues that political [[leadership]] should require, which are [[honesty|truthfulness]], honesty, fairness, [[temperance (virtue)|temperance]] and [[solidarity]] (as described in paragraph 98 to 100), given that truth extends from honesty, good faith, and sincerity in general, to agreement with fact or reality in particular. In ''Laudato si''', Pope Francis links the "common good" to the "integral ecology" which is a core element of his appeal for greater care for "our common home".<ref>Pope Francis (2015), [https://www.vatican.va/content/dam/francesco/pdf/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si_en.pdf Laudato si'], paragraph 156, accessed 20 February 2024</ref>