Compelled by a question that commands an affirmative response (Jas 2:5), the Letter of James has an important contribution to make to Catholic social teaching on the preferential option for the poor. Within this teaching, Leo XIII’s (1878–1903) 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum declares an option for the poor, but its expression in terms of preference did not take root until the papacy of John XXIII (1958–1963) when, just prior to Vatican II, he decreed the Church to be the Church of the poor. In the 1960s and 1970s, the preferential option for the poor was embraced by Latin American liberation theology and the Latin American Episcopal Conferences (CELAM). A dialogue with the Vatican opened up and continues today in the teaching of Pope Francis (2013– ). In this respect, the Letter of James has much to offer Catholic social teaching on the preferential option for the poor.
