§2. They are also obliged to promote social justice and, mindful of the precept of the Lord, to assist the poor from their own resources.
From the Catholic Code of Canon Law https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__PU.HTM
Also this is dope from Matthew:
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Basically when everyone gets to heaven and they sit down for a meal with jesus at the head of the table, the people on the left(wink wink) that actually did things for the poor did them for Jesus and get eternal life, the people on the right who didn't all go to eternal punishment.
Hey, if I may add to this, when you're talking with a Catholic who says that the Church prohibits Socialism, you can inform them that what the Church defines as Socialism isn't really the full scope of Socialism. In many of the statements different councils and Popes have made, they assume Socialism to mean state-owned means of production. So a Catholic could totally be a Syndicalist or a DemSoc, you don't even need to stop at SocDem. I'm personally a practicing Catholic and I'd describe myself as a lot farther to the left than just SocDem.
Oh for sure, I didn't mean to suggest that I agreed that socialism and Catholicism are mutually exclusive. All my earliest socialism seeds were planted by my relatives in the clergy.
I'm in Puerto Rico and some people I've met in youth groups here think that Social Democracy is as far as you can go, sadly. I have only really started to read up on theory and actual concrete arguments to radicalize people since quarantine started, so I haven't been in the ideological battleground of a youth group in a while, but there are definitely a lot of people who think they are mutually exclusive.
I've seen that attitude too, which sucks. But Catholic comrades are based, they're ready to kiss lepers for the revolution.