Catholic Social Teaching:

Option for the Poor

“If someone who has worldly means sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion, how can the love of God remain in him? Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.”

-1 John 3:17–18

In every economic, political and social decision, a weighted concern must be given to the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable. When we do this, we strengthen the entire community because the powerlessness of any member wounds the rest of society.

“Love for others, and in the first place, love for the poor, in whom the Church sees Christ himself, is made concrete in the promotion of justice.”

-Pope John Paul II, Centesimus Annus, #58 (On the Hundredth Year)