II. Respect for Persons
and Their Goods
2407
In economic matters, respect for human dignity requires the practice of the
virtue of temperance, so as to moderate attachment to this world's goods; the
practice of the virtue of justice, to preserve our neighbor's rights and render
him what is his due; and the practice of solidarity, in accordance with the
golden rule and in keeping with the generosity of the Lord, who "though he
was rich, yet for your sake . . . became poor so that by his poverty, you might
become rich."189
Respect for
the goods of others
2408
The seventh commandment forbids theft, that is, usurping another's property
against the reasonable will of the owner. There is no theft if consent can be
presumed or if refusal is contrary to reason and the universal destination of
goods. This is the case in obvious and urgent necessity when the only way to
provide for immediate, essential needs (food, shelter, clothing . . .) is to
put at one's disposal and use the property of others.190
2409
Even if it does not contradict the provisions of civil law, any form of
unjustly taking and keeping the property of others is against the seventh
commandment: thus, deliberate retention of goods lent or of objects lost;
business fraud; paying unjust wages; forcing up prices by taking advantage of
the ignorance or hardship of another.191
The following are also morally illicit: speculation in which one
contrives to manipulate the price of goods artificially in order to gain an
advantage to the detriment of others; corruption in which one influences the
judgment of those who must make decisions according to law; appropriation and
use for private purposes of the common goods of an enterprise; work poorly
done; tax evasion; forgery of checks and invoices; excessive expenses and
waste. Willfully damaging private or public property is contrary to the moral
law and requires reparation.
2410
Promises must be kept and contracts strictly observed to the extent that the
commitments made in them are morally just. A significant part of economic and
social life depends on the honoring of contracts between physical or moral
persons - commercial contracts of purchase or sale, rental or labor contracts.
All contracts must be agreed to and executed in good faith.
2411
Contracts are subject to commutative justice which regulates exchanges between
persons in accordance with a strict respect for their rights. Commutative
justice obliges strictly; it requires safeguarding property rights, paying
debts, and fulfilling obligations freely contracted. Without commutative
justice, no other form of justice is possible.
One distinguishes commutative justice from legal justice which concerns
what the citizen owes in fairness to the community, and from distributive
justice which regulates what the community owes its citizens in proportion to
their contributions and needs.
2412
In virtue of commutative justice, reparation for injustice committed requires
the restitution of stolen goods to their owner:
Jesus blesses Zacchaeus for his pledge: "If I have defrauded anyone
of anything, I restore it fourfold."192 Those who, directly or
indirectly, have taken possession of the goods of another, are obliged to make
restitution of them, or to return the equivalent in kind or in money, if the
goods have disappeared, as well as the profit or advantages their owner would
have legitimately obtained from them. Likewise, all who in some manner have
taken part in a theft or who have knowingly benefited from it - for example,
those who ordered it, assisted in it, or received the stolen goods - are
obliged to make restitution in proportion to their responsibility and to their
share of what was stolen.
2413
Games
of chance (card games, etc.) or wagers are not in themselves contrary to
justice. They become morally unacceptable when they deprive someone of what is
necessary to provide for his needs and those of others. the passion for
gambling risks becoming an enslavement. Unfair wagers and cheating at games
constitute grave matter, unless the damage inflicted is so slight that the one
who suffers it cannot reasonably consider it significant.
2414
The seventh commandment forbids acts or enterprises that for any reason -
selfish or ideological, commercial, or totalitarian - lead to the enslavement
of human beings, to their being bought, sold and exchanged like merchandise, in
disregard for their personal dignity. It is a sin against the dignity of
persons and their fundamental rights to reduce them by violence to their
productive value or to a source of profit. St. Paul directed a Christian master
to treat his Christian slave "no longer as a slave but more than a slave,
as a beloved brother, . . . both in the flesh and in the Lord."193
Respect for
the integrity of creation
2415
The seventh commandment enjoins respect for the integrity of creation. Animals,
like plants and inanimate beings, are by nature destined for the common good of
past, present, and future humanity.194 Use of the mineral, vegetable,
and animal resources of the universe cannot be divorced from respect for moral
imperatives. Man's dominion over inanimate and other living beings granted by
the Creator is not absolute; it is limited by concern for the quality of life
of his neighbor, including generations to come; it requires a religious respect
for the integrity of creation.195
2416
Animals are God's creatures. He surrounds them with his providential care. By
their mere existence they bless him and give him glory.196 Thus men owe
them kindness. We should recall the gentleness with which saints like St.
Francis of Assisi or St. Philip Neri treated animals.
2417
God entrusted animals to the stewardship of those whom he created in his own image.197
Hence it is legitimate to use animals for food and clothing. They may be
domesticated to help man in his work and leisure. Medical and scientific
experimentation on animals is a morally acceptable practice, if it remains
within reasonable limits and contributes to caring for or saving human lives.
2418
It is contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer or die needlessly.
It is likewise unworthy to spend money on them that should as a priority go to
the relief of human misery. One can love animals; one should not direct to them
the affection due only to persons.
|