CSDC 282

The Church's social Magisterium sees an expression of the relationship between labour and capital also in the institution of private property, in the right to and the use of private property. The right to private property is subordinated to the principle of the universal destination of goods and must not constitute a reason for impeding the work or development of others. Property, which is acquired in the first place through work, must be placed at the service of work. This is particularly true regarding the possession of the means of production, but the same principle also concerns the goods proper to the world of finance, technology, knowledge, and personnel. The means of production “cannot be possessed against labour, they cannot even be possessed for possession's sake”.⁶⁰⁶ John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Laborem Exercens, 14: AAS 73AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 73 (1981) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1981), 613. It becomes illegitimate to possess them when property “is not utilized or when it serves to impede the work of others, in an effort to gain a profit which is not the result of the overall expansion of work and the wealth of society, but rather is the result of curbing them or of illicit exploitation, speculation or the breaking of solidarity among working people”.⁶⁰⁷ John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 43: AAS 83AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 83 (1991) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1991), 847.