CSDC 273

Human work also has an intrinsic social dimension. A person's work, in fact, is naturally connected with that of other people. Today “more than ever, work is work with others and work for others. It is a matter of doing something for someone else”⁵⁸⁹ John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 31: AAS 83AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 83 (1991) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1991), 832.. The fruits of work offer occasions for exchange, relationship and encounter. Work, therefore, cannot be properly evaluated if its social nature is not taken into account: “For man's productive effort cannot yield its fruits unless a truly social and organic body exists, unless a social and juridical order watches over the exercise of work, unless the various occupations, being interdependent, cooperate with and mutually complete one another, and, what is still more important, unless mind, material things, and work combine and form as it were a single whole. Therefore, where the social and individual nature of work is neglected, it will be impossible to evaluate work justly and pay it according to justice”⁵⁹⁰ Pius XI, Encyclical Letter Quadragesimo Anno: AAS 23AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 23 (1931) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1931), 200..