CATHOLIC POLITICAL DOCTRINE: DEFINITION OF THE CONCEPT AND ITS ESSENTIAL FEATURES

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to study the process of the Catholic political doctrine formation, which is defined as a set of official texts of the Catholic Church, expressing its position on current issues of political structure, political life, economic policy of the state and principles of civil society functioning. The use of the method of analyzing the content of the encyclics of the Popes and the historical approach allows the author to distinguish the stages of the Catholic political doctrine evolution. The period before the XVIII century is characterized by distancing the church from political issues. The period of the end of the XVIII–XIX centuries is defined as the time of the formation of the Catholic doctrine and is characterized by the rejection of the revolutionary movement and the anti-liberal position of the church. The period from the end of the XIX century up till the present is defined as the era of forming the concept of Christian democracy, which recognizes the value of the dignity of the individual The essential content of modern political doctrine of Catholicism is the combination of freedom and justice as principles of the organization of political life. The Catholic Church contrasts this balance with two destructive alternatives to the development of society: totalitarianism (“justice without freedom”) and liberalism (“freedom without truth”). According to the author, Catholic political doctrine is the most important factor of political influence in the modern world.

Keywords

• history of political thought
• Catholic political doctrine
• Catholicism
• the Catholic Church
• Syllabus Errorum
• Rerum Novarum