This continues the path laid out by our Founder, Cardinal Lavigerie who proclaimed in 1888-9:

I am a man, and my heart is filled with revulsion when I see others suffering injustice.
I am a man, and what I expect others to do to provide me with freedom, honour, the sacred bonds of family, that I wish to do also for the children of these peoples that they too may have honour, freedom and dignity.
...It is not sufficient to know the horrors of slavery. There must be action to eliminate it.

The Synod of Bishops in 1971 wrote:
"…The struggle for justice and participation in efforts to transform the world seem to us to be a constitutive element in the preaching of the Gospel and fully part of the Church's mission for the redemption of humanity and its liberation from every oppressive situation." (7)

The Bishops proclaim that our political and social action is necessary to prevent unjust structures from leading to the concentration of goods in the hands of a few, and the restriction of power and decision-making to a small group, public or private. (9) They declare that all have the right to development (15) and to a share in decision-making. They draw attention especially to the helpless and voiceless victims of oppression in its various forms.
They add: In his action and in his teaching, Christ made an inseparable connection between the relation between men and God on the one hand and between men themselves on the other. (34)