Political Participation
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. (Romans 13:1)
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way. (1 Timothy 2:1-2)
Magisterial Documents
Guadium et Spes, Second Vatican Council
Defense of Life
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27)
You shall not kill. (Exodus 20:13)
I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live. (Deuteronomy 30:19)
Jesus said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)
Magisterial Documents
Defense of Marriage and the Family
A man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh. (Genesis 2:24)
Jesus answered, “Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, `For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.” (Matthew 19:4-6)
“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is a profound one, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church; however, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. (Ephesians 5:31-33)
Magisterial Documents
Defense of Religious Liberty
Jesus said, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” (Matthew 22:21)
Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:32)
Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29)
God our Savior…desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim. 2:3-4)
Magisterial Documents
Defense of the Poor and Needy
God executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. (Deuteronomy 10:18)
Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. (Psalm 82:3-4)
Open your mouth, judge righteously, maintain the rights of the poor and needy. (Proverbs 31:9)
I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me. (Matthew 25:35-36)
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. (James 1:27)
But if any one has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:17-18)
