880- Which is the first of all the natural rights of humans?
“The right to stay alive. That is why no one has the right to assault a fellow human being’s life or to do anything that may compromise his or her corporeal existence.”
881- Does the right to stay alive give them the right to accumulate what is needed to live on and to retire when they can no longer work?
“Yes, but they must do this as a family – like the bee – through honest labor, and not by accumulating assets as selfish individuals. Certain animals set an example of such foresight.”
882- Do humans have the right to defend what they have accumulated through their labor?
“Hasn’t God said, ‘Do not steal?’ and Jesus, ‘Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s?’”
Assets that humans accumulate through honest labor are legitimate property and they have the right to defend it because ownership that is the fruit of labor comprises a natural right that is as sacred as the right to work and to stay alive.
883- Is the desire to possess natural?
“Yes, but when humans desire to possess only for themselves and for their own personal satisfaction it is selfishness.”
– Nevertheless, isn’t the desire to possess legitimate since the one who has enough to live on is not a burden to others?
“There are insatiable individuals who accumulate possessions without benefit to anyone else, or merely to satisfy their passions. Do you believe that this is approved by God? Those who accumulate assets through their labor with the intention of helping their neighbor practice the law of love and of charity, and their labor is blessed by God.”
884- What is the characteristic of legitimate ownership?
“There is only one legitimate ownership: owning something that has been acquired without harm to others.” (See no. 808)
The law of love and justice forbids us to do to others what we would not want them to do to us, and by this same principle it condemns every means of acquiring property that is contrary to it.
885- Is the right of ownership unlimited?
“Of course, everything that is legitimately acquired represents proper ownership; but as we have said, human legislation is imperfect and it frequently sanctions conventional rights that natural justice does not approve of. That is why humans reform their laws as they make progress and as they better comprehend justice. What appears perfect in one century appears barbaric in the next.” (See no. 795)
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