CSDC 333

If economic activity is to have a moral character, it must be directed to all men and to all peoples. Everyone has the right to participate in economic life and the duty to contribute, each according to his own capacity, to the progress of his own country and to that of the entire human family.⁶⁹⁶ Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 65: AAS 58AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 58 (1966) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1966), 1086-1087. If, to some degree, everyone is responsible for everyone else, then each person also has the duty to commit himself to the economic development of all.⁶⁹⁷ Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 32: AAS 80AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 80 (1988) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1988), 556-557. This is a duty in solidarity and in justice, but it is also the best way to bring economic progress to all of humanity. When practised morally, economic activity is therefore service mutually rendered by the production of goods and services that are useful for the growth of each person, and it becomes an opportunity for every individual to embody solidarity and live the vocation of “communion with others for which God created him”.⁶⁹⁸ John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 41: AAS 83AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 83 (1991) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1991), 844. The effort to create and carry out social and economic projects that are capable of encouraging a more equitable society and a more human world represents a difficult challenge, but also a stimulating duty for all who work in the economic sector and are involved with the economic sciences.⁶⁹⁹ Cf. John Paul II, Message for the 2000 World Day of Peace, 15-16: AAS 92AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 92 (2000) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (2000), 366-367.