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Condemnation of Latifundia
32. The social teaching of the
Church takes the principle of the subordination of private property to the
universal destination of goods as its basis in analyzing the exercise of the
right to ownership of the earth as productive land, and in condemning latifundia as intrinsically illegitimate.
Such large landholdings are often
poorly cultivated, or simply left uncultivated for speculation, while
agricultural production should, in fact, be increased in order to satisfy the
growing food needs of the majority of the population who have too little or no
land to farm.
In the social teaching of the
Church, such latifundia go against the principle that
"the world is given to all, and not only to the rich," so that
"no one is justified in keeping for his exclusive use what he does not
need, when others lack necessities."(28)
Latifundia deprive a vast number of people of the
right to take part in the process of production through their own labour and to take care of their own needs, and those of
their families, the community and nation to which they belong.(29)
The privileges ensured to latifundia give rise to scandalous inequalities and
situations of dependence and oppression on both national and international
levels.
33. The social teaching of the
Church also condemns the intolerable injustices caused by the misappropriation
of land by large landholders or national or international companies, at times
with the support of State institutions, which trample every acquired right —
sometimes even legal title to possession — in order to deprive small farmers
and indigenous populations of their land.
These are particularly serious
forms of misappropriation, because they not only increase inequalities in the
distribution of the goods of the earth, but usually lead to the destruction of
a part of these same goods, impoverishing the whole of humanity. They bring
about ways of exploiting the land that upset balances between the human person
and the environment that have been built up over centuries, thus causing major
environmental degradation.
This should be seen as a sign of
man's disobedience to God's command to act as guardian and wise administrator
of creation (cf. Gen 2:15; Wis 9:2-3). Such sinful disobedience has a very high
price, for it causes a particularly shameful lack of human solidarity, striking
the weakest and future generations.(30) is no longer under man's
control, thus creating an environment for tomorrow which may well be
intolerable. This is a wide-ranging social problem which concerns the entire
human family": Paul VI, Apostolic Letter Octogesima
Adveniens, 1971, no. 21. Rather, man has to work,
knowing that "he is the heir to the work of generations and at the same
time a sharer in building the future of those who will come after him in the
succession of history": John Paul II, Laborem
Exercens, no. 16.]
34. The social teaching of the
Church condemns not only latifundia and misappropriation
of land as contrary to the principle that earthly goods are meant for everyone,
but also various forms of exploitation of human labour,
especially when it is rewarded with wages or other forms of payment that are
unworthy of human dignity.
Unjust remuneration for work
performed and other forms of exploitation deny workers the "practical
means whereby the vast majority of people can have access to those goods which
are intended for common use: both the goods of nature and manufactured goods."(31)
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