CSDC 184

The Church's love for the poor is inspired by the Gospel of the Beatitudes, by the poverty of Jesus and by his attention to the poor. This love concerns material poverty and also the numerous forms of cultural and religious poverty³⁸⁹ Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2444.. The Church, “since her origin and in spite of the failing of many of her members, has not ceased to work for their relief, defence and liberation through numerous works of charity which remain indispensable always and everywhere”³⁹⁰ Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2448.. Prompted by the Gospel injunction, “You have received without paying, give without pay” (Mt 10:8), the Church teaches that one should assist one's fellow man in his various needs and fills the human community with countless works of corporal and spiritual mercy. “Among all these, giving alms to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to fraternal charity: it is also a work of justice pleasing to God”³⁹¹ Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2447., even if the practice of charity is not limited to alms-giving but implies addressing the social and political dimensions of the problem of poverty. In her teaching the Church constantly returns to this relationship between charity and justice: “When we attend to the needs of those in want, we give them what is theirs, not ours. More than performing works of mercy, we are paying a debt of justice”³⁹² Saint Gregory the Great, Regula Pastoralis, 3, 21: PL 77, 87PL — Patrologia Latina (Migne): “Nam cum qualibet necessaria indigentibus ministramus, sua illis reddimus, non nostra largimur; iustitiae potius debitum soluimus, quam misericordiae opera implemus”.. The Council Fathers strongly recommended that this duty be fulfilled correctly, remembering that “what is already due in justice is not to be offered as a gift of charity”³⁹³ Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Decree Apostolicam Actuositatem, 8: AAS 58AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 58 (1966) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1966), 845; cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2446.. Love for the poor is certainly “incompatible with immoderate love of riches or their selfish use” ³⁹⁴ Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2445. (cf. Jas 5:1-6).