The Solidarity 
 
The ethical demands of solidarity require that everyone participate in the management of all activities of economic, political and cultural life, surpassing the purely individualistic conception 
 
 
Solidarity is a human virtue, which in some way is the root of all social virtues. In the supernatural plane "in the light of faith [...] It tends to overcome itself, to redress the specifically Christian dimensions of total gratuity, forgiveness and reconciliation "(SRS, N. 39-40: AAS 80 (1980) 566-569). 
 
The ethical demands of solidarity require that all-men, groups, local communities, associations and organizations, nations and continents-participate in the management of all activities of economic, political and cultural life, surpassing the purely individualistic conception (cf. GS, N. 30-32; LC, N. 75: AAS 79 (1987) 586; John Paul II, speech Je Désire at the 68 session of the International Labour Conference (15-VI-1982): AAS 74 (1982) 992 SS.). 
 
There is a first philosophical sense of the principle of solidarity. Solidarity is a characteristic of sociability that inclines man to feel attached to his fellows and to cooperation with them. Man is in solidarity to the extent that it is social by nature. Human behaviors may in any way affect the rest of men or history. We are in solidarity with good and evil. Man must behave according to this reality, having in mind, because he does not live only for himself but also others, inevitably 
 
The principle of solidarity makes it possible to overcome in the ethical level the individualistic principle, which denies the sociability of man, and the collectivist, who denies the condition of person. This is not an intermediate stance, but the simultaneous affirmation of the social and personal condition of man. 
 
From the theological point of view, the mysterious unity of mankind due to an intrinsic solidarity explains the "heading" of Adam and the transmission of original sin. The same principle is that which makes the "heading" of Christ possible by assuming human nature and the possibility of his vicarious satisfaction. Another theological fact of greater depth is that referred to the "Communion of the Saints". 
 
Nature 
 
It is one of the principles in force in the different fields of social life. 
 
"According to the principle of solidarity, every person as a member of society is indissolubly linked to the fate of it and, by virtue of the Gospel, to the destiny of Salvation of all men." "This way [...] It is demonstrated as one of the basic principles of the christian conception of social and political organization "(CA, N. 10).
 
Contains several elements: 
 
-Justice towards the most disadvantaged part in contracts and structures, 
 
-Christian charity to the needs of any species. 
 
Solidarity is not the same as charity, but it can include it. It is more realistic than market theory, which assumes that the parties are equal recruitment; simplification denied in all spheres of life, family, school, etc. If men are left at the mercy of supply and demand even assuming the levels of large numbers, a great majority of people are exposed to the abuse of the most powerful. 
 
At the end of the nineteenth century there was a fair social reaction against the system of injustice and damage that weighed on workers. "The call to solidarity and common action, launched to the men of the work [...] it had an important value from the standpoint of social ethics. It was the reaction against the degradation of man as a subject of the work, and against the unprecedented and concomitant exploitation in the field of the earnings, the conditions of work and of providence towards the person of the worker "(LE, N. 8).
 
It is a mistake to consider work as a kind of "merchandise," which the worker sells to the employer, possessor of the capital and the means of production (cf. LE, N. 8). "Workers and bussinessmen must regulate their mutual relations by drawing on the principles of human solidarity and christian brotherhood" (MM, N. 23). 
Solidarity, a new christian virtue, "is the firm and persevering determination to strive for the Common Good, that is, for the good of each and everyone, so that we are all truly responsible for all. This determination is based on the firm conviction that what hinders full development is that desire for profit and that thirst for power that has already been discussed "(SRS, N. 38).
 
Principle of solidarity and its foundation in the human fraternity 
 
God has wanted the human being not to be a loose verse (Saint Josemaria Escrivá, it is Christ who passes, N. 111, but lives and develops in close relationship with others, as a member of society, which is inextricably linked: man is not destined only to to live with others, but also to live for others (John Paul II, speech, 6 XII 1980, N. 5). 
 
God, who takes care of everyone with paternal solicitude, has wanted men to be a single-family and to treat each other in a spirit of brothers. The fulfillment of this duty requires constant personal effort: "The firm and persevering determination to strive for the Common Good; that is to say, for the sake of every one, that we may all be truly responsible for all [...] ". 
 
To be in solidarity with others, especially with the neediest, constitutes a strict duty. "By the principle of solidarity, man must contribute with his fellows to the Common Good of society at all levels. Thus the social doctrine of the church is opposed to all forms of social or political individualism "(LC, N. 73). 
 
"Since the beginning of the history of salvation, God has chosen men not only as individuals but also as members of a certain community." "Solidarity must always be increased until that day when it reaches its consummation and in which men, saved by grace, as the beloved family of God and Christ the Brother, will give God Perfect Glory" (GS, N. 32). 
 
"The exercise of solidarity within each society is valid only when its members recognize each other as individuals. [...]. Solidarity helps us to see the "other"-person, people or nation-, not as an instrument to exploit at little cost their ability to work and physical resistance, leaving it when it no longer serves, but as a "like" us, a "help" to do it participant, like us, of the banquet of life to which all men are equally invited by God "(SRS, N. 39) 
 
If one has understood well the relationship person-society and its mutual essential requirement, the ethical posture which of it results and which is demanded by this relation, is the solidarity. 
 
"When interdependence, perceived as a determining system of relations in today's world, in its economic, cultural, political and religious aspects, is assumed as a moral category, its corresponding response, as a moral and social attitude, and as a" virtue " It's solidarity. This is therefore not a superficial feeling because of the ills of so many people, near or far away. On the contrary, it is the firm and persevering determination to strive for the Common Good; that is to say, for the sake of each and everyone, that we may all be truly responsible for all "(SRS, N. 38). 
 
"In the spirit of solidarity and through the instruments of dialogue we learn to: 
 
-respect for every human being; 
-respect the authentic values and cultures of others; 
-respect the self-determination of others; 
-look beyond ourselves to understand and support the good of others; 
-contribute our resources to social solidarity in favor of development and growth derived from equity and justice; 
-to build structures that ensure social solidarity and dialogue as traits of the world in which we live "(Message of World Peace Day, 1986, N. 5. In the Pontifical Commission "Justice and Peace", Social Schedule, C. IV, N. 127.
 
Exercising solidarity 
 
The exercise of solidarity is not a chimera or utopia. It cannot be kept in words, it has to be realized in practice. It is measured by service works (San Josemaria Escrivá, Conversations, N. 75). 
 
Those who enjoy wealth are administrators and have to feel the responsibility of making them pay for the benefit of others, especially indigent people. To the rich in this world order them not to be arrogant and not to put their hope in perishable wealth, but in God who provides us with abundance; may they do good, that they may be enriched in good works, that they may be generous in giving and doing to other participants of their property, that treasure for the future some solid funds with which to earn eternal life (Tim. VI, 17 19). Each one has to look for the concrete way to implement this mandate, according to his circumstances, but without seeking to reassure his conscience by giving a small part of the superfluous. 
 
A very serious current problem is unemployment. Moral problems and not just technical, because often unemployment comes from a false contrast between human and capital work. The solution to this problem is to be sought in the "solidarity with the work", that is to say, accepting the principle of the primacy of the person in the work on the exigencies of the production or the purely economic laws (John Paul II, Speech to the Organization International Labour, Geneva, 15 VI 1982, N. 11). This principle has immediate ethical consequences. For example, the exclusive desire for profit is not admissible, at any price (cfr. SRS, N. 37). The priority of work on capital imposes on employers the duty of justice to take into account the good of the workers rather than the increase in their earnings. There is a moral obligation not to keep capitals unproductive and, in investing them, to propose first and foremost the Common Good. This requires that the creation or consolidation of new jobs (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, InStr) should be pursued primarily. Libertatis Conscientia, 22 III 1986, N. 87).
 
To be concerned about the needs of others, to collaborate in the resolution of the problems that society has posed, is to live solidarity. It is often the mistake of thinking that it is enough to "fulfill the family and religious duties and just want to hear about civic duties. This is not selfishness: it is simply lack of training, because no one has ever told them clearly that the virtue of piety part of the cardinal virtue of justice and the sense of Christian solidarity is also concretized in this being present, in this knowledge and contribute to solving the problems that interest the whole community "(San Josemaria Escrivá, Letter, 9 1 1932, N. 46). 
 
It is not limited to the duty of solidarity to come to the material needs of others. It is also to contribute to knowledge, to discover, the truth. "One more manifestation of solidarity among men is to make common knowledge, to participate to others the truths, which we have come to find, to thus constitute that common patrimony which is called civilization, culture" (San Josemaria Escrivá, Letter 24 X 1965, N. 17). 
 
Work, family coexistence and human relationships are an occasion to exercise this fraternity. "Seek, always and in everything, to think well of others; seek, always and in everything, to speak well of others; seek, always and in everything, to do good to others (John Paul II, Homily, 4 IV 1987, N. 6). When these common actions are fulfilled in a Christian sense, we are promoting the Common Good and we are truly sympathetic to others.
 
Principle of solidarity and international relations 
 
The duty of solidarity that governs people is also valid in the lives of peoples: "developed nations have an urgent duty to help the developing nations" (GS, N. 26). "It is necessary to implement this teaching to reconcile. While it is logical that each people is the first beneficiary of the gifts bestowed by providence and the fruits of their work, no people can, for this reason, seek to reserve for the exclusive use of their wealth. Each people must produce more and better, to provide their constituents a truly human standard of living; and contribute, at the same time, to the solidarity development of humanity. Faced with the growing indigence of developing countries, it should be considered normal for a developed country to devote part of its production to the satisfaction of the needs of these countries, as well as to the training of educators, engineers, technicians and scientists, who put science and professional competence at the service of these peoples "(PP, N. 48). 
 
They certainly have greater responsibilities in this area than the rulers of developed countries. But we must all bear in mind that an effective way of living solidarity with all men consists of fulfilling the very work of their professional duties, to carry out in a spirit of service. Indeed, the professional tasks also the work of the household is a profession of first order are testimony of the dignity of the human creature; personality development opportunity; bond of union with others; source of resources; means of contributing to the improvement of the society in which we live, and of fomenting the progress of the whole humanity (Saint Josemaria Escrivá, forging, N. 702).
 
Applied, not already too isolated individuals, but the different social strata (at the economic level), "the exercise of solidarity within each society is valid only when its members recognize each other as individuals. Those who count the most, having a greater share of Common Goods and services, must feel responsible for the weakest, willing to share with them what they possess. For their part, in the same line of solidarity, they should not adopt a purely passive or destructive attitude of the social fabric and, although claiming their rightful rights, they must do what they are entitled to, for the good of all. For their part, intermediate groups must not selfishly insist on their particular interests but should respect the interests of others "(SRS, N. 39). 
 
The social issue has acquired a global dimension and this reality possesses a moral assessment, "those responsible for public management, the citizens of rich countries, individually considered, especially if they are Christians, have a moral obligation- according to the corresponding degree of responsibility-to take into consideration, in the personal and government decisions, this relation of universality "(SRS, N. 9). The ENC. Sollicitudo Rei Sociales translates this moral obligation as a "duty of solidarity". 
 
This obligation, in the field of whole countries, that is, as social units, is inspired in the following way, "a nation that cease, more or less consciously, to the temptation to close itself, forgetting the responsibility that confers a certain superiority in the concert of nations, would seriously lack a precise ethical duty "(SRS, N. 23). 
 
"Heirs of past generations and benefiting from the work of our contemporaries, we are obliged to all and we can not be disinterested from those who will come to increase even more the circle of the human family. Universal solidarity, which is a fact and a benefit for all, is also a duty "(PP, N. 17).
 
"An elementary principle of healthy political organization that does not depend on a certain conception of the state, nor of a particular political theory, [...], is that the individuals, the more helpless they are in a society, the more they need the support and the care of the other, in particular, the intervention of the public authority "(CA, N. 10). 
 
Solidarity and charity 
 
Solidarity is nurtured by the Christian virtue of charity. Love delivered and selfless to others, for God's sake, is the source that vitalizes all true brotherhood among men. Christian solidarity is a virtue that gives men the ease to understand and help each other in the construction of a society informed by the Christian spirit. 
For charity, the natural bonds that unite men in society are reinforced by stronger ties and greater and higher interdependence. "Charity animates and sustains an active solidarity, attentive to all the needs of the human being" (John Paul II, Exhort. post. Christifideles laici, 30 XII 1988, N. 41).