Totalitarian regimes criticised
THE Primate of Spain, Cardinal Pla, Archbishop of Toledo, has told workers in Madrid that their legitimate aspirations to improve their standard of living are not in conflict with a true Christian life.
His Eminence also strongly criticised attempts by totalitarian Governments to regulate all social and economic life, pointing out that the Papal Encyclicals condemn such efforts.
The Cardinal was speaking at a Mass for members of the labour confraternities of Catholic Action.
The advances made by Spanish labour in recent years are due mainly to the social teachings of the Church, he said, and Spanish workers also have the support of the Social Encyclicals in their efforts to win the social benefits they have not yet attained.
The Church wants not only strict justice for workers but also a better life.
"The present Pope," said Cardinal Pla, "is not satisfied with the current state of society and has therefore preached a Crusade for a Better World in which the distribution of goods will he more equitable and in which more people will share."
No one, he declared, can use charity as a veil to cover social injustice.
Charging exorbitant prices or taking advantage of scarcities to raise prices to an unjust level arc sins against justice for which the guilty person must make restitution.
This, said the Cardinal, is also true of employers who do not pay their workers a just wage.