Previous Article
Next Article
Speaking during the General Audience in the Vatican, Pope Francis looks to a post-pandemic world and reflects on the principle of subsidiarity, whereby every level of society has a role to play in revitalizing the social fabric.
By Vatican News
Continuing in his series of catecheses on the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic in light of the Church’s teachings, Pope Francis said, “Every one of us is called to assume responsibility for his or her part,” and he highlighted the fact that we must look to the future working for a social order in which the dignity and the gifts of all of its members are respected.
Speaking during the weekly General Audience in the Vatican, the Pope reflected on the principle of subsidiarity.
From top to bottom and from bottom to top
To better explain its meaning, he recalled how after the great economic depression of 1929, Pope Pius XI explained that “this principle has a double movement: from top to bottom and from bottom to top.”
“To emerge better from a crisis, the principle of subsidiarity must be enacted, respecting the autonomy and the capacity to take initiative that everyone has, especially the least,” the Pope said elaborating on the fact that this principle “allows everyone to assume his or her own role for the healing and destiny of society.”
He decried the fact that many people are unable to participate in the reconstruction of the common good because they are marginalised, excluded or ignored.
