Bezinteresowność jako nowa zasada społeczna

Abstract

The main purpose of the paper is an attempt to define more precisely the principle of gratuitousness, proposed by the pope Benedict XVI in the encyclical “Caritas in veritate”, which he applied especially to the sphere of economy. At once, a doubt may emerge: how gratuitousness can be applied to economy? Therefore, first of all the text analyses what about this principle can be found in the encyclical itself and what are the connections of that with the current socio-economic situation. Then the article presents the foundations of gratuitousness in the principal sources for Catholic social teaching: natural law and Scriptures. Finally, the text discusses some references of the gratuitousness in the hitherto appeared teaching of the Magisterium and makes an attempt to “place” it among other principles of Catholic social teaching.