Yes, the term “social justice” can be found in Church encyclicals.

ome­one, some­where (for I must pro­tect the inno­cent and befud­dled) recent­ly pro­claimed that, yes, it is true, we owe the Church reli­gious assent even when it does not speak infal­li­bly, but that all said, I will “eat my hat” if you can find the term “social jus­tice” in any encycli­cal.

Real­ly?

Here is Quadra­ges­i­mo Anno, by Pope Pius XI, in 1931, where it appears nine times. (§57, 58, 71, 74, 88, 101, 110, 126). Pius XI writes:

To each, there­fore, must be giv­en his own share of goods, and the dis­tri­b­u­tion of cre­at­ed goods, which, as every dis­cern­ing per­son knows, is labor­ing today under the gravest evils due to the huge dis­par­i­ty between the few exceed­ing­ly rich and the unnum­bered prop­erty­less, must be effec­tive­ly called back to and brought into con­for­mi­ty with the norms of the com­mon good, that is, social jus­tice.

Social jus­tice is “the norms of the com­mon good,” Pius XI says. It requires a just wage, he says in 71. If the fam­i­ly is in a sit­u­a­tion of “extra­or­di­nary needs,” an employ­er must pay an even high­er wage still. Social jus­tice is part of the moral “law,” says the pope in 57. The Church, he says in 126, is “striv­ing to restore soci­ety accord­ing to the mind of the Church on the firm­ly estab­lished basis of social jus­tice.” By 1931, social jus­tice has already been “firm­ly estab­lished.”

Here is Mater et Mag­is­tra, thir­ty years lat­er in 1961, writ­ten by Pope John XXIII. There, “social jus­tice” appears three times. “All forms of eco­nom­ic enterprise”—all forms—“must be gov­erned by the prin­ci­ples of social jus­tice and char­i­ty” (§39). The term is also found in §40 and 69.

But mater, si; mag­is­tra, no! Or some­thing.

Four years lat­er, in 1967, Pope Paul VI used the phrase “social jus­tice” four times in Pop­u­lo­rum Pro­gres­sio. Social jus­tice, he says, is an “oblig­a­tion” of the wealth­i­er nations (§44). Only when trade con­forms to social jus­tice is it just at all (59).

Here is Laborem Exercens (1981). Pope St. John Paul II uses the term four times. A con­cern for social jus­tice, he says, ought move us to oppose “the dis­pro­por­tion­ate dis­tri­b­u­tion of wealth and pover­ty.” It requires “sol­i­dar­i­ty” with labor. Lis­ten to what the pope says on this point:

This sol­i­dar­i­ty must be present when­ev­er it is called for by the social degrad­ing of the sub­ject of work, by exploita­tion of the work­ers, and by the grow­ing areas of pover­ty and even hunger. The Church is firm­ly com­mit­ted to this cause, for she con­sid­ers it her mis­sion, her ser­vice, a proof of her fideli­ty to Christ.

Social jus­tice is “a proof of fideli­ty to Christ.” Imag­ine that!

And unions, says St. John Paul Ii, are good because they are a “mouth­piece for the strug­gle for social jus­tice.” Unions fight for “the just rights of work­ing peo­ple.”

Ten years lat­er, in Cen­tes­imus Annus, St. John Paul II spoke of “social jus­tice” as part of the fight against Com­mu­nism. Social jus­tice, he says, will “deprive Com­mu­nism of the rev­o­lu­tion­ary poten­tial rep­re­sent­ed by mass­es of peo­ple sub­ject­ed to exploita­tion and oppres­sion [Real­ly, you’d think con­ser­v­a­tives would embrace this.]

And then there is Car­i­tas in Ver­i­tate. Here, Pope Bene­dict XVI says:

The social doc­trine of the Church has unceas­ing­ly high­light­ed the impor­tance of dis­trib­u­tive jus­tice and social jus­tice for the mar­ket econ­o­my, not only because it belongs with­in a broad­er social and polit­i­cal con­text, but also because of the wider net­work of rela­tions with­in which it oper­ates. In fact, if the mar­ket is gov­erned sole­ly by the prin­ci­ple of the equiv­a­lence in val­ue of exchanged goods, it can­not pro­duce the social cohe­sion that it requires in order to func­tion well.

Now, the Com­pendi­um of the Social Doc­trine of the Church uses the term ten times. The Cat­e­chism has a whole sec­tion on social jus­tice. And you will also find it in Gaudi­um et Spes. But this per­son asked for encycli­cals. And indeed, encycli­cals are among the most author­i­ta­tive teach­ing doc­u­ments a pope can write.

But yes, you will find the term in encycli­cals. You will find it many times in many of them. Tolle, lege, and don’t come up with clever schemes, found in pol­i­tics, to avoid what the Church teach­es. Well, but this is not infal­li­ble. I need to find it in this kind of Church doc­u­ment. The Church does­n’t real­ly mean. No, no, no.