The encyclical letter Caritas in Veritate stresses that bioethics is a crucial part of Catholic social teaching because in this field the very possibility of integral human development is radically called into question. In this context, the encyclical states that the social question is a radically anthropological question. This article takes this view and shows that the very essence of the social teaching of the popes since the nineteenth century is the principle that the human person and her fundamental rights are defined by her belonging to the human species. The denial of this principle characterizes the individualistic ontology proper to classical liberalism, and lies at the origin of the tensions between the Magisterium and the liberal position. To imbue present culture with the spirit of the gospel and achieve integral human development, it is crucial to embed the economic and political principles of liberalism in a relational ontology that assumes the human species as the very basis for defining personhood and rights.
Antoine Suarez, "The Social Question Is Radically an Anthropological Question: The Perspective of Caritas in Veritate", Journal of Markets and Morality 16, no. 1 (Spring 2013): 85-99