Read the Catechism in a Year image
Read the Catechism in a Year
The Seventh Commandment: You shall not steal.
What is meant by the principle "labor before capital"?
The Church has always taught "the principle of the priority of labor over capital" (Pope John Paul II, LE). Man owns money or capital as a thing. Labor, in contrast, is inseparable from the person who performs it. That is why the basic needs of laborers have priority over the interests of capital.
The owners of capital and investors have legitimate interests, too, which must be protected. It is a serious injustice, however, when entrepreneurs and investors try to increase their own profits at the expense of the basic rights of their laborers and employees. (YOUCAT question 445)
Dig Deeper: CCC section (2435-2436) and other references here.