Saints Light
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Catholic Social Teaching

The principles the Church offers for building a just society: human dignity, the common good, subsidiarity, solidarity, work, the poor, creation and peace. Principles, not party platforms.

Who it is for: Catholics who want to think about public life with the mind of the Church instead of the mind of a political party.

8 lessons. Each lesson below has a summary, the Catechism paragraphs it cites and a sample question. The full lessons are in the Saints Light app, open free for 14 days.

Saint Martin and the Beggar, a painting by El Greco
Saint Martin and the Beggar, El Greco, 1597-1599

The lessons

  1. What Is Catholic Social Teaching, and Where Did It Come From?

    Catholic social teaching is the Church's guidance, begun in its modern form with Rerum Novarum in 1891, for building a society that respects every person; it offers principles, not party politics.

  2. Why Does Every Person Matter?

    Every human being, at every stage and in every condition, has equal dignity because each is made in God's image, and society exists to serve persons.

  3. What Is the Common Good?

    The common good is the network of conditions that lets every person and community flourish, and building it is everyone's job, not just the government's.

  4. Subsidiarity and Solidarity: How Do They Fit Together?

    Subsidiarity keeps decisions and help as close to people as possible; solidarity insists we never stop caring for each other; we need both at once.

  5. What Does the Church Teach About Work?

    Work is a dignified share in God's creation that exists for the person; workers deserve a just wage and the right to organize, and they owe honest work in return.

  6. What Is the Preferential Option for the Poor?

    The preferential option for the poor means that Christians judge their choices first by how they affect the poorest, because Christ Himself is found in them.

  7. Why Care for Creation?

    The earth belongs to God and is entrusted to us for all people and future generations; Laudato Si' teaches that caring for it, for the poor and for human life is one task.

  8. How Should Christians Think About Peace and War?

    Peace is the order that comes from justice and love; war may be used only in strict self-defense, never against the innocent, and every Christian is called to be a peacemaker.

Read Social Teaching in full

All 8 lessons of this course are in the Saints Light app, with Scripture, three questions each and your progress kept on your phone.

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Every course is open free for your first 14 days. After that, one payment of $14.99 unlocks every course. There is no subscription.

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