Politics and the common good in the Catholic Church’s social doctrine

Catholic social doctrine closely links the concepts of politics and the common good when it claims that political virtue is best expressed through justice and that this consists precisely of the quest for such good, with human rights dictating its contents. Such a perspective allows us to understand the growing disillusionment among citizens who detect activities that make use of public institutions for private gain, thereby causing politics to become denaturalized or corrupt. Such disillusionment, in turn, weakens democratic support and predisposes citizens to accept populisms, demagogies, and other forms of sentimental politics that ultimately neglect the shared space of moral rationality created by human rights.