Quotes

“Christian Socialists” are frauds
“Christian socialism, are contradictory terms; no one can be at the same time a good Catholic and a true socialist.”
– Pius XI, Encyclical Quadragesimo Anno, May 15, 1931

Socialism like other sins corrupt what is good in man
“…communism, socialism, nihilism, hideous deformities of the civil society of men and almost its ruin.”
– Leo XIII, Encyclical Diuturnum, June 29, 1881

Socialists oppose the Will of the One True God
“…We speak of that sect of men who, under various and almost barbarous names, are called socialists, communists, or nihilists, and who, spread over all the world, and bound together by the closest ties in a wicked confederacy, no longer seek the shelter of secret meetings, but, openly and boldly marching forth in the light of day, strive to bring to a head what they have long been planning – the overthrow of all civil society whatsoever. Surely, these are they who, as the sacred Scriptures testify, ‘Defile the flesh, despise dominion and blaspheme majesty.’ (Jude 8).”
– Leo XIII Encyclical Quod Apostolici Muneris, December 28, 1878

Socialism is a false utopia, another fraud.
“The dream of re-shaping society will bring socialism but stranger still, alarming and saddening at the same time, are the audacity and frivolity of men who call themselves Catholics and dream of re-shaping society under such conditions, and of establishing on earth, over and beyond the pale of the Catholic Church, ‘the reign of love and justice’ … What are they going to produce? … A mere verbal and chimerical construction in which we shall see, glowing in a jumble, and in seductive confusion, the words Liberty, Justice, Fraternity, Love, Equality, and human exultation, all resting upon an ill-understood human dignity. It will be a tumultuous agitation, sterile for the end proposed, but which will benefit the less Utopian exploiters of the people.
– St. Pius X, Apostolic Letter Notre Charge Apostolique, August 25, 1910

Socialism is opposed to Christian truth
“… For Socialism, which could then be termed almost a single system and which maintained definite teachings reduced into one body of doctrine, has since then split chiefly into two sections, often opposing each other and even bitterly hostile, without either one however abandoning a position fundamentally contrary to Christian truth that was characteristic of Socialism.” -Pius XI, Encyclical Quadragesimo Anno, May 15, 1931

Socialism delivers the opposite to its stated intention.

“The State which would provide everything, absorbing everything into itself, would ultimately become a mere bureaucracy incapable of guaranteeing the very thing which the suffering person − every person − needs: namely, loving personal concern. We do not need a State which regulates and controls everything, but a State which, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, generously acknowledges and supports initiatives arising from the different social forces and combines spontaneity with closeness to those in need.”
-Benedict XVI, Encyclical Deus Caritas Est, December 25, 2005



The fundamental error of socialism is anthropological in nature.

“Socialism considers the individual person simply as an element, a molecule within the social organism, so that the good of the individual is completely subordinated to the functioning of the socio-economic mechanism. Socialism likewise maintains that the good of the individual can be realized without reference to his free choice, to the unique and exclusive responsibility which he exercises in the face of good or evil. Man is thus reduced to a series of social relationships, and the concept of the person as the autonomous subject of moral decision disappears, the very subject whose decisions build the social order. From this mistaken conception of the person there arise both a distortion of law, which defines the sphere of the exercise of freedom, and an opposition to private property.” – John Paul II, Encyclical Centesimus Annus, May 1, 1991