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    Published: 2025-07-23
    Vol. 34 No. 3 (2024)

    The Issue of Collective Responsibility in the Teaching of the Catholic Church

    Krzysztof Kietliński

    Abstract

    In the Old Testament we find numerous manifestations of collective responsibility, which was the basis for the just functioning of Israel. It set the framework for the socio-cultural conditions of that time and defined the principles of Old Testament morality consistent with God’s pedagogy. Only the prophet Ezekiel opposed the saying “The fathers ate the green grapes, but the children’s teeth were set on edge” (18:2), emphasizing individual responsibility in the words: “each one of you, O house of Israel, will be judged according to his conduct” (18:30). Ezekiel not only made a name for himself as a propagator of collective responsibility, but also pointed out the interdependence of collective and individual responsibility. The individualization of responsibility that began in the Old Testament was also the subject of evaluation in the teaching of the Catholic Church. It was emphasized that collective responsibility should be understood not as the inheritance of guilt and curse for the sins of ancestors, but as the inheritance of obligations within the framework of solidarity.

    Keywords:

    collective responsibility, individual responsibility, the issue of responsibility, teachings of the Church

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