“In attitudine di responsabilità”: la ricerca di un equilibrio tra diritti della persona e doveri di solidarietà nell’enciclica Pacem in terris

Taking as its point of departure the encyclical Pacem in terris written by Pope John XXIII, the article critiques the way in which the principle of solidarity is generally treated. It then focuses on four assumptions of modern public law: individualism, the separation of state and society, the dissociation between rights and duties, and the concept of ‘negative solidarity’. The last part of the paper is devoted to the ramifications of the idea of solidarity, variously defined, and the implications it may have for the future direction of the European Union.