The article by Professor F. Sacco and Professor MP Dalbem, published on the Alphonsian Academy Blog
This is the fourth in a series of contributions intended to complement the multi-year, interdisciplinary course in economics, For a Synodal and Entrepreneurial Moral Conscience, inaugurated on June 6, 2025 ( Quaderni Economici 1 ). The goal is to create a small glossary of key words and concepts, particularly significant for the project’s research and training activities, starting with the first introductory course, Systemic Vision and Entrepreneurial Consciousness for Integral Human Development , which began on March 14, 2026. The first entries in the glossary will concern the principles of the Social Doctrine of the Church that inspire the choice of topics explored in the training course.
Subsidiarity as a manifestation of Proximity
There is an ancient question that echoes throughout history and, even if entire generations pass, never loses its force. It is the question that God asks the murderer Cain: “Where is your brother?” [1]. If you think about it carefully, these words from the sacred text send shivers down your spine. A very simple phrase, but chilling. You can feel the anguish of the person who pronounces it. God knows that something terrible has happened at the hands of Cain, who… washes his hands of the matter: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” God continues and again pronounces a phrase in which he makes us feel all the pain of a father who is confronting his son with the most terrible of truths: “What have you done?”… he has committed fratricide. This biblical scene, charged with pathos, is a strong reminder of personal responsibility that defines the human being as the guardian of others. Christian anthropology rejects individualistic isolation. Man is, by his nature, a being in relation, co-responsible for the destiny of his fellow men.
Subsidiarity is rooted precisely in the co-responsibility by which every man is called to be the guardian of his brother. Each man must answer for the good done or omitted towards his brother in difficulty. It is emblematic that Christ identifies himself with the “little ones” and the “excluded” [2] (Mt 25:40). In doing so, he elevates every gesture of care to a liturgical act of justice. From this perspective, the Fathers of the Church, including St. John Chrysostom [3] and St. Gregory the Great, have clarified that subsidium is not a benevolent concession, but an act of restorative justice. Distributing what is necessary means giving back what is due by the universal destination of goods.
The principle of subsidiarity is found in its classical formulation in the encyclical Quadragesimo Anno (1931) of Pius XI [4]. The Magisterium establishes here an insurmountable ethical boundary according to which it is not permissible to take away from individuals or smaller communities what they can achieve with their own efforts in order to attribute it to hierarchically superior entities. In other words, the superior entity must not do what the inferior can do alone. And if an entity, a citizen, a person, is in difficulty, whoever can help must do so, yes, but not by substituting themselves, simply by filling in at the critical moment and then putting the entity or the subject in a position to get by on their own.
Subsidiarity is a principle of great pedagogical importance. Helping does not mean suppressing the dignity of the other person. True help promotes, not replaces. The teaching of Pope Francis has enriched this vision through a “double dynamism” of care. He inherited the teaching of the Compendium of the Doctrine of the Church where we find a dual vision of the principle. There is a vertical subsidiarity that suggests a movement from top to bottom where the State and institutions intervene to support and protect the most fragile members of the social body. But there is also a horizontal subsidiarity, that is, a movement from bottom to top that requires political power to “take a step back” to promote the vital energy of intermediate bodies, volunteers and associations [5]. It can be said that subsidiarity acts as an antidote to the “globalism of the strong” and to the technocratic efficiency that dissolves local identities. In the exhortation Dilexi te it clearly emerges that love for one’s neighbor must translate into the reform of unjust structures through healthy institutions [6].
Without an educational dimension, subsidiarity would slide into sterile welfare. The goal of subsidium is not the annihilation of the person, but their promotion, helping others to rise up so they can resume their independent journey toward a full life, becoming the best version of themselves. Subsidiarity is, first and foremost, a “caress of responsibility,” the act by which the community recognizes in the other flesh of its own flesh.
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[1] Cf. Gen 4:9-10, the founding biblical text of fraternal responsibility.
[2] Cf. Mt 25, 40: «Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me».
[3] John Chrysostom, Homiliae in Lazaro, II, 6, On the nature of justice towards the poor and the universal destination of goods.
[4] Pius XI, Encyclical Letter Quadragesimo Anno (15 May 1931), n. 79. Here the Pontiff defines the principle of subsidiarity and the limits of state intervention.
[5] On the articulation of vertical and horizontal subsidiarity cf. Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, nn. 185-188.
[6] Leo XIV, Apostolic Exhortation on love for the poor Dilexi te.
