While the Seventh Commandment speaks specifically of theft, as we’ve seen in previous columns, it deals with other topics as well. At its heart is a concern for basic justice in our relationships. While justice can take different forms depending on the relationships involved (commutative, distributive, etc.), all justice is fundamentally about ensuring that each person is given their due. Therefore, this commandment inevitably speaks to the way society itself should be structured. 

 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church dedicates considerable space speaking about some of these concerns regarding the structuring of human society. 

 

The basic issues are intended for all human societies regardless of where in the world they happen to exist. However, not all the issues are necessarily applicable to the life situation we might happen to find ourselves in. Nevertheless, the core issues are applicable and consistent with human flourishing according to God’s design for us regardless of the particulars involved. 

 

For example, take things like economics and work. Both are discussed under the 7th Commandment. Regardless of the century or the country we happen to live in, concerns like these, which are essentially concerns for providing for oneself and one’s family, are universal. 

 

While much of what the Catechism says is intentionally general in nature, there are those times in which it is very specific and gives names to historical injustices in these areas. If one were to look at paragraph 2425, one would see three specific forms of societal governance which are incompatible with the Christian understanding of the human person. 

 

First, there is a rejection of communism and socialism altogether. The reasons for this are simple. Both communism and socialism (and indeed the totalitarian states they produce) are based on a concept of humanity that is at odds with our basic human dignity. In ideologies such as these, the individual human person is seen ultimately as a servant to the state instead of the state being at the service of the individual. Thus they completely reverse the relationship proper between the individual and the state. In the process, the individual person’s worth comes more from what they offer the state, not from being made in God’s image and likeness. 

 

In fact, concepts like our dignity coming from being made in God’s image and likeness are completely foreign to governments born of communist and socialist ideologies simply because these ideologies themselves are born of atheism. Rather than allow freedom of religion they inevitably seek its destruction or at the very least, seek absolute sovereignty over it. 

 

There can never be true human flourishing in a society by removing the origin of humanity from that society. History has shown this to be the case time and again. In a sense, regimes such as these “rob” people of what they have a right to, and unjustly deprive them of the path that leads them to their destiny of happiness. 

 

The third governmental ideology which is mentioned and specifically rejected by the Catechism under the 7th Commandment, is that of a specific kind of capitalism. This rejection is very nuanced however since it is not a rejection of capitalism in general (in fact the Church is accepting of capitalism if practiced in certain ways). Within it, there is generally ample room for not only religion, but also an appropriate sense of the value of the human person. 

 

Unlike the other two ideologies mentioned, which are problematic through and through, capitalism might become problematic if it allows monetary concerns to become greater than the good of the persons involved. If the focus becomes too much about advancing economic interests, it begins to lose sight of where a person’s true worth is found. As this happens, a person’s dignity gets set aside for a lesser good. And once again, the person ends up in servitude to something that should be serving him/her instead. This results in something unjustly being taken from the human person.