The history of the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and movements working for the promotion of human rights has been a complex and often uneasy one. Well into the 20th century, the Church expressed deep concern and even outright condemnation of movements that actively promoted human rights that we today have come to take for granted. Often enough, however, what was being condemned was not...

Referring to the subjective dimension of work, the Compendium (no. 271) affirms that work is a fundamental expression of the human person. A purely economic or materialistic mindset, which reduces the worker to being simply a means of production, distorts the nature of work.
 

Did you ever wonder why the gospel reading for Holy Thursday is from John, the sole evangelist not to speak of the institution of the Eucharist? He includes an event missing from the other gospels-Jesus washing the feet of his disciples and the accompanying command to wash one another's feet as I have done to you.