Catholic teaching defends the right to private property — and surrounds it with duties. Against both collectivism, which would abolish private ownership, and an individualism that treats property as absolute, the Church holds two truths together.

First, people have a genuine right to own, which serves freedom, family, and responsibility; Leo XIII defended this against socialism. Second, the goods of the earth are given by God for all — the “universal destination of goods” — so ownership carries a social mortgage. What one possesses is held not only for oneself but, in justice and charity, for the good of others.

From this flow the Church’s preference for widely distributed ownership, for stewardship rather than mere accumulation, and for care of the poor as a matter of justice and not only generosity. See Rerum Novarum, Centesimus Annus, and the Catechism (nos. 2401–2406).