“Erga Migrantes Caritas Christi”: On the Church’s Social Doctrine and Immigration, by Eduardo Echeverria 

The Church’s social doctrine is therefore of a theological nature, specifically theological-moral, “since it is a doctrine aimed at guiding people’s behavior.” “This teaching … is to be found at the crossroads where Christian life and conscience come into contact with the real world. [It] is seen in the efforts of individuals, families, people involved in cultural and social life, as well as politicians and statesmen to give it a concrete form and application in history.” In fact, this social doctrine reflects three levels of theological-moral teaching: the foundational level of motivations; the directive level of norms for life in society; the deliberative level of consciences, called to mediate objective and general norms in concrete and particular social situations. These three levels implicitly define also the proper method and specific epistemological structure of the social doctrine of the Church.¹

 This essay is a reflection on “Erga migrantes caritas Christi.”² The epigraph to my reflections on the Church’s social doctrine and immigration helpfully structures this doctrine into distinct levels of theological-moral teaching. …

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