Joseph Cardinal Höffner CHRISTIAN SOCIAL ... - Ordo Socialis

the life of every other, let the isolation of certain countries from the rest of the civilized world,
which is so detrimental to peace, be abolished“ (December 23, l950). In spite of all divisions,
the consciousness of worldwide solidarity among all nations is becoming ever stronger. At
this same time, this unification of the world is a challenge for the Church, which has indeed
always professed catholicity, but was closed up all too long in the ‘Christian Occident’.
Christians are called upon to cooperate in building a brotherly world.
§ 2 Mankind as a Juridical Community
l. From the doctrine of natural law as binding on all people it follows that mankind is a juridical
community. The whole world, Francisco de Vitoria taught, is in some way „a single commonwealth,“
or, as Francisco Suarez expressed himself, it is a unity „that does not rest on the
identity of the human species, but is, as it were, of a political and moral nature.“
2. Pius XII underscored this teaching with particular emphasis: natural law, which stems from
God, is binding, „not only on individuals, but also on nations“ (December 24, l940). Every
individual state is „embedded in the order of international law and thus in the order of natural
law’, so that it cannot be considered „sovereign in the sense of an absolute unrestraint“ (December
6, l953). The common good and the essential end of individual states „can neither
exist nor be thought of without their inner relation to the unity of the human race“ (December
24, l95l). With particular clarity, the common good, which was usually limited to the individual
state before, was extended in the encyclical Mater et magistra to the common good of
mankind.
As all nations become increasingly interdependent one must not overlook the continuing fundamental
significance of the common good of the individual state. On this point John Paul[[
says: „Surmounting every type of imperialism and determination to preserve their own hegemony,
the stronger and richer nations must have a sense of moral responsibility for the
other nations, so that a real international system may be established which will rest on the
foundation of the equality of all peoples and on the necessary respect for their legitimate differences.
The economically weaker countries, or those still at subsistence level, must be enabled,
with the assistance of other peoples and of the international community, to make a contribution
of their own to the common good with their treasures of humanity and culture, which
otherwise would be lost forever“(Sollicitudo rei socialis 39.4).
From this point of view, therefore, mankind as a community in law always presupposes a nation
with its own culture and a political constitution, not mere groups of people. That kind of
a national common good must be secured. Otherwise it is not possible to develop durable
international or global relationships. The single state and the universal common good depend
upon one another.
§ 3 The Economic Solidarity of Mankind
l. Because God originally allotted earthly goods „to the human race“ and not to particular nations
or people (Quadragesimo anno, 45), mankind also forms a solidary unity in an economic
respect. God has established matters in such a way, thought John Chrysostom († 407), that not
everything is grown and produced in every place so that nations may be more closely connected
with one another in this way through the exchange of goods.
Theodoret of Cyrrhus († 458) compared the sea lying between countries with the market of an
extended city and the islands with the inns for merchants. In Heinrich von Langenstein (†
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