[philman_36]

A simple question for you...

Is "social justice" a religious precept of the Catholic Church?

[BlackElk]

A simple answer: yes, social justice is a precept of the Catholic Church. The term is also quite common in political philosophy and not at all limited to Karl Marx.

For longer form and better informed answers than I can give, I would suggest to you the following:

Social Justice Review, November-December 2009, Political and Catholic Perspectives on Freedom of Speech and of Religion, Cynthia Toolin, Ph.D, Professor at Holy Apostles Seminary, Cromwell, Connecticut. Social Justice Review is now more than a century old, published in St. Louis, MO, by the Central Catholic Verein, an old German-American Catholic organization.

There are also a variety of papal encyclicals easily accessed online.

Start with Pope Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum of 1891.

Then Pius XI's Quadragesimo Anno (1931);

John XXIII's Mater et Magistra (1961);

John XXIII's Pacem in Terris (1963);

Paul VI's Populorum Progressio (1967);

Paul VI's Octogesima Adveniens (1971);

John Paul II's Laborem Exercens (1981);

John Paul II's Solicitudo Rei Socialis (1987);

John Paul II's Centissimo Anno (1991);

Benedict XVI's Deus Caritas Est (2005);

Benedict XVI's Caritas in Veritate (2009.

All those encyclicals are available to be read in English online at educationforjustice.org/catholic-social-teaching/encyclicals-and-documents.