Is Social Justice un-Catholic? Are we better off focusing on personal charity alone?
In this video, Pedro Gabriel unpacks a recent controversial article from Word on Fire that claims the Church’s social encyclicals have caused confusion by overstepping into political territory. Using Church teaching, papal encyclicals, and historical context, Pedro debunks three widespread myths:
- That “no one knows what social justice means”;
- That charity and social justice are opposites;
- That the Church should stay silent on policy matters.
Through quotes from Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis, and St. Pius X, Pedro reveals how Catholic social teaching clearly affirms the role of both charity and justice—even in political life. Discover how concepts like political love and social justice are central to Church Social Teaching, and why reducing Catholic teaching to private good deeds misses the bigger picture.
Pedro Gabriel, MD, is a Catholic layman and physician, born and residing in Portugal. He is a medical oncologist, currently employed in a Portuguese public hospital. A published writer of Catholic novels with a Tolkienite flavor, he is also a parish reader and a former catechist. He seeks to better understand the relationship of God and Man by putting the lens on the frailty of the human condition, be it physical and spiritual. He also wishes to provide a fresh perspective of current Church and World affairs from the point of view of a small western European country, highly secularized but also highly Catholic by tradition.
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