THE CATEGORY OF FREEDOM IN CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING

Abstract

Freedom is one of the core values explored in Catholic social teaching. It is part of human nature and is essential for human existence. It is realised in all subsystems of our social life, i.e., social, economic, political, and cultural. By using their freedom, people can develop integrally. The subject of the following paper is the operationalisation of the concept of freedom in Catholic social teaching. The paper presents, in a historically systematised fashion, the ideological dispute between the Catholic Church and liberalism, and describes a positive approach to freedom as an essential category in Catholic social teaching. The method used in this paper corresponds to the way the position of the Catholic Church crystallised in relation to freedom as a value. The article narrows its analysis down to socio-economic aspects. This has been dictated by the nature of the scientific discipline in the paradigm of which the problem was explored.

Keywords

• freedom
• liberalism
• catholic social teaching
• human rights