On October 17 we wrote a curtain raiser for an event which, we thought then and think more today, is very important. We wrote about the publication of the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. As we had written, this extremely valuable book was published on October 25.

The Church's social doctrine offers criteria for judging various aspects of public and social life and provides guidelines for "conforming them to the demands of Christian morality", the book said. Drafted at the request of Pope John Paul II by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, the compendium explains Church teachings related to politics, war, the economy, the environment, work and legislation impacting family life, among other topics. Not counting the index, the English volume presented to the press was 331 pages.

It is important to note that the social teaching of the Church is not an added extra to Christian teaching. It has the same dignity and authority as the Church's moral teaching. By means of her social doctrine, the Church shows her concern for human life in society.

The compendium, designed to give Catholics a systematic understanding of Church positions on social issues, explained that the principles flow from the Ten Commandments, from natural law and human reason and from biblical truths about people, the world and the reality of sin. While based on 2,000 years of Christian moral teaching, the compendium said the Church must respond to new situations in society, including the increasing number of women working outside the home, advances in biotechnology, globalisation, the destruction of the environment and new attacks on human life and on the family.

The compendium said the Catholic Church does not bless or wholeheartedly endorse any economic system, political party or government configuration; rather it calls on Catholics and all people of good will to ensure that economic and political systems respect the rights of individuals, promote the common good and act in solidarity with the poorest and weakest citizens of their nation and of the world.

"A particular area for discernment on the part of the lay faithful concerns the choice of political instruments, that is, membership in a party or in other types of political participation. A choice must be made that is consistent with values, taking into account actual circumstances. In every case, whatever choice is made must be rooted in charity and tend toward the attainment of the common good.

"It is difficult for the concerns of the Christian faith to be adequately met in one sole political entity; to claim that one party or political coalition responds completely to the demands of faith or of Christian life would give rise to dangerous errors."

While the text cautioned against trying to claim any one political party could represent fully Catholic social and moral teaching, it called on lay Catholics "to identify steps that can be taken in concrete political situations" to put into practice respect for every human life, the promotion of justice and peace and true solidarity with the poor.

While democracy meets the moral criteria of giving every citizen a voice in government, it said many modern democracies risk not reflecting and upholding the dignity of every human person. Morality, it said, cannot be decided by a majority vote.

"If there is no ultimate truth to guide and direct political action, then ideas and convictions can easily be manipulated for reasons of power," it said.

"A well formed Christian conscience," it said, "does not permit one to vote for a political programme or individual law which contradicts the fundamental contents of faith and morals."

At the October 25 press conference, Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Justice and Peace Council, for very obvious reasons refused to answer questions about whether a Catholic ever could vote for a politician who supports legalised abortion.

Joaquin Navarro-Valls, the Vatican spokesman, said: "The Holy See has never nor does it ever want to enter directly into an electoral or political question... because it is the competence of the local hierarchy to provide enlightenment on these questions if they decide there is a desire and need."

(Next week we shall discuss other aspects of this compendium.)