UN APPROCCIO CRITICO ALLA NOZIONE DI “GIUSTIZIA SOCIALE” NELLA DOTTRINA SOCIALE DELLA CHIESA
di Beniamino Di Martino
Ist. Claretianum – Pontificia Università Lateranense

Abstract

The social teaching of the Catholic Church has adopted the principle of the so called “social justice”.

We are dealing with a quite recent acceptance which was formalized in the Thirty’s of the XX

century. Nevertheless, there are some significant hypotheses that would have the conception of “social

justice” correspond to some similar notions already developed by both Aristotles and Saint Thomas

of Aquino. Even beyond the origins, the principle of “social justice” implies not few questions and

just as many doubts, and the way by which the texts of the Church adopt the principle, do not

resolve the questions at all. The utterances of the Church concerning the matter not only remain

without a clear definition, but give rise to easy misunderstanding.