Rola mechanizmu rynkowego w kształtowaniu procesów gospodarczych w dziejach katolickiej myśli społeczno-ekonomicznej

Abstract

The Catholic Church, by assuming that a basic principle of social life is social justice and the condition of freedom of a human being, its initiative and personal independence is private property, criticizes the liberal doctrine, which ignores the need of conscious shaping of the socio-economic life, and which leads to social injustice. The Church also rejects a so-called marxist collectivism and the struggle of classes, which violate human right to freedom, property and initiative, making a human being dependent on totalitarian rule. The implementation of social justice in the contemporary world requires that a human being and his or her work be treated as sovereign subjects, and not as objects. It means the priority of work over capital and subsidiary character of property with respect to work. Though the Catholic Church does not impose a political and economic system on the international community, it nonetheless requires from the states, because of its priestly mission, that they shape socio-economic processes through their supervisory and legislative functions. Social order, implemented in the name of freedom, justice and international peace requires the coordination of socio-economic activity and the use of regulated market mechanism in the benefit of the mankind. However, state intervention in social and economic matters must not infringe market rules. Without a balanced and competitive market regulated by the state there are no objective criteria of evaluation of economic activity and there is no possibilty of implementing a just participation of societies in the social product and in the advantages of international division of labor and specialization.