CSDC 574

The distinction that must be made on the one hand between the demands of faith and socio-political options, and on the other hand between the choices made by individual Christians and the Christian community as such, means that membership in a party or in a political alliance should be considered a personal decision, legitimate at least within the limits of those parties and positions that are not incompatible with Christian faith and values¹²⁰² Cf. Paul VI, Apostolic Letter Octogesima Adveniens, 50: AAS 63AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 63 (1971) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1971), 439-440.. However, the choice of a party, a political alliance, the persons to whom public life is to be entrusted, while involving the conscience of each person, can never be an exclusively individual choice. “It is up to the Christian community to analyze with objectivity the situation which is proper to their own country, to shed on it the light of the Gospel's inalterable words and to draw principles of reflection, norms of judgment and directives for action from the social teaching of the Church”¹²⁰³ Paul VI, Apostolic Letter Octogesima Adveniens, 4: AAS 63AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 63 (1971) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1971), 403-404.. In any case, “no one is permitted to identify the authority of the Church exclusively with his own opinion”¹²⁰⁴ Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 43: AAS 58AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 58 (1966) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1966), 1063.; believers should rather “try to guide each other by sincere dialogue in a spirit of mutual charity and with anxious interest above all in the common good”¹²⁰⁵ Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 43: AAS 58AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 58 (1966) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1966), 1063..