The article examines the roots and evolution of the principle of subsidiarity, tracing it back to Saint Thomas and his doctrine on the Christian foundation of the city and emphasizing the need for a religiously inspired order based on human dignity and solidarity among peoples. This synthetic formulation, rediscovered during the revival of Thomism in the first half of the nineteenth century, further developed in the fervor of the debate that opened after 1870 on the relations between State and Church, also highlighted in Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Rerum Novarum. Over the centuries, the principle of subsidiarity has consistently shaped the emergence and development of various initiatives to meet the needs of the community, ranging from lay associativism to the creation of social works. This revealed foundation shows how the principle of subsidiarity derives from active subjects in the social sphere, transforming into an organizational principle centered around the concept of the person. In fact, it is the individual who possesses the intellectual and moral capacity to discern the common good.
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