Catholic Social Teaching strives to foster a living faith that leads to loving action in the world today by raising up a social vision that is transformative, thereby making visible the reign of God.. It embodies core themes and responses to challenges facing human beings in a complex and changing world. These themes and responses grow, develop and change over time in order to respond to the complexities of any given age and in order to speak with relevance to the world as it exists.

The seven principles of Catholic Social Teaching and the world realities by which we are challenged are:

1. Life is sacred, and the dignity of every human person is to be respected.
   World Realities: racism, prejudice, ethnic hatred; capital punishment; materialism, unrestrained commercialism and consumerism; drug trafficking and abuse; sexism; abuse of women and children.

2. All people are equal and have the right and duty to participate fully in the life of their community.
   World Realities: individualism and lack of participation in community; class and economic divisions, stereotyping, and disenfranchisement; gender discrimination; ethnic, racial, and religious discrimination; neglect of immigrants and refugees.  

3. All people have human rights and also must be challenged to live up to human responsibilities.
   World Realities: ethnic genocide, imprisonment of political dissidents, abuse of prisoners, denial of political and social freedoms; denial of the human right to food, to health care, to education, to proper housing.

4. We are called to emulate God by showing a special preference for those who are poor and weak. World Realities: neglect of the poor, elderly, women and children; lack of affordable housing and medical care; a growing gap between impoverished and wealthy people, and between the rich nations of the Global North and the developing countries of the Global South.

5. We work to continue the construction of God's reign on earth. Work is dignified when worker' rights are protected and the economy serves the needs of all people. World Realities: displacement of people from their land, widespread unemployment and underemployment, unjust labor practices, low wages, sweatshops, child labor; unregulated business practices (Enron); global systems of economic injustice such as unjust trade policies and structures.

6. We belong to a global family and are challenged to love our neighbor as ourselves and to be in solidarity with our sisters and brothers around the globe. World Realities: nationalism and economic competition, ethnic division, persecution of minority populations, small- and large-scale conflicts, gang violence; lack of knowledge and caring about others' problems and sufferings.

7. We share one planet; we are stewards of God's earth and all of creation. World Realities: environmental destruction, pollution, global warming, loss of habitat for creatures and people, unsustainable consumption of global resources.

[From Education for Justice, Center of Concern.]