The universal destination of goods is a concept in Catholic theology, by which the Catholic Church professes that the goods of creation are destined for mankind as a whole, but also recognizes the individual right to private property.
Teaching The Catechism of the Catholic Church says:
In 1967, Pope Paul VI wrote in the encyclical Populorum progressio:
The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church states: Pope Francis included commentaries on this concept in his 2015 encyclical letter, Laudato si', where he refers to "the common destination of goods",Pope Francis, Laudato si', Chapter 2, section 6, accessed 13 August 2023 and in his 2020 encyclical, Fratelli tutti.Pope Francis, Fratelli tutti, paragraphs 119-120, published 3 October 2020, accessed 30 December 2023
Notable uses of the term
Thomas Banchoff of Georgetown University in the USA noted in an article in The Tablet in September 2023 that, since the 1891 publication of Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum, "Catholic Social Teaching has been organised around core principles including human dignity, the common good, subsidiarity and the universal destination of goods".
See also
Catholic social teaching Fratelli tutti § Private property Lockean proviso
References