Acta Benedicti Pp. XVI 383

How can solidarity and subsidiarity work together in the pursuit of the

common good in a way that not only respects human dignity, but allows it to

flourish? This is the heart of the matter which concerns you. As your pre-

liminary discussions have already revealed, a satisfactory answer can only

surface after careful examination of the meaning of the terms.2 Human dig-

nity is the intrinsic value of a person created in the image and likeness of God

and redeemed by Christ. The totality of social conditions allowing persons to

achieve their communal and individual fulfilment is known as the common

good. Solidarity refers to the virtue enabling the human family to share fully

the treasure of material and spiritual goods, and subsidiarity is the coordina-

tion of society's activities in a way that supports the internal life of the local

communities.

Yet definitions are only the beginning. What is more, these definitions are

adequately grasped only when linked organically to one another and seen as

mutually supportive of one another. We can initially sketch the interconnec-

tions between these four principles by placing the dignity of the person at the

intersection of two axes: one horizontal, representing ''solidarity'' and ''sub-

sidiarity'', and one vertical, representing the ''common good''. This creates a

field upon which we can plot the various points of Catholic social teaching

that give shape to the common good.

Though this graphic analogy gives us a rudimentary picture of how these

fundamental principles imply one another and are necessarily interwoven, we

know that the reality is much more complex. Indeed, the unfathomable

depths of the human person and mankind's marvellous capacity for spiritual

communion - realities which are fully disclosed only through divine revela-

tion - far exceed the capacity of schematic representation. The solidarity

that binds the human family, and the subsidiary levels reinforcing it from

within, must however always be placed within the horizon of the mysterious

life of the Triune God,3 in whom we perceive an ineffable love shared by

equal, though nonetheless distinct, persons.4

My friends, I invite you to allow this fundamental truth to permeate your

reflections: not only in the sense that the principles of solidarity and sub-

sidiarity are undoubtedly enriched by our belief in the Trinity, but particu-

larly in the sense that these principles have the potential to place men and

2 Cfr Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, Chapter 4. 3 Cfr Jn 5:26; 6:57. 4 Cfr Summa Theologiae, I, q. 42.