What is the ‘ordo amoris’? JD Vance’s comments on Christian love spark debate (2025)

What’s ‘ordoamoris’?

Though you won’t find theterm“ordoamoris” in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Dominican Father Pius Pietrzyk, a canon lawyer and a professor, told CNA that the concept is a well-established one and is “evident both by revelation and reason.”

St. Augustine in his classic work “City ofGod” offers the term “ordoamoris,” often rendered as “rightly ordered love,” as a definition for the concept of “virtue.”

Augustine, a highly influential early bishop and theologian, expanded on the concept of the “order of love” in his work“On Christian Doctrine.”

“Now he is a man of just and holy life who forms an unprejudiced estimate of things, and keeps his affections also under strict control, so that he neither loves what he ought not to love, nor fails to love what he ought to love, nor loves that more which ought to be loved less, nor loves that equally which ought to be loved either less or more, nor loves that less or more which ought to be loved equally,” Augustinewrotein “On Christian Doctrine.”

St. Thomas Aquinas — a 13th-century doctor of the Church — in his“Summa Theologica”cited and expanded on St. Augustine’s work, writing that there must be “some order in things loved out of charity … in reference tothe first principle of that love, which is God.”

Aquinas defined this “order of charity,” or “ordocaritatis,” as a principle that dictates how we should love God, ourselves, and our neighbors in a hierarchical and interconnected manner. He cited Augustine to argue that while one should love all people equally, one ought to “chiefly” consider those who are more closely unitedby reason ofplace, time, or other circumstances.

(Story continues below)

Subscribe to our daily newsletter

In Aquinas’ analysis, he concludes that God is to be loved first and foremost, followed by oneself, then neighbors, and among neighbors, he wrote that there are those who should be loved with a more intense affection, such as family.

The hierarchy laid out by Aquinas is not meant to diminish the importance of loving all people as Christcommandedbut does acknowledge that certain relationships, practically speaking, carry more immediate obligations. For example, a married person has a higher obligation to care for his or her spouse than for others and an obligation to provide for his or herown children before providing for those in other places.

Pietrzyk said that while the entirety of the concept of “ordoamoris” isn’t “revealed” teaching straight from God, some aspects of it are — the duty of every person to honor his or her father and mother, for example, is found in the Ten Commandments.

As a matter of logic, hecontinued,the duty to “love your neighbor as yourself” relies on a prior love of self.

“Of course, all of this assumes a love of God as the basis for all other love. Revelation certainly shows us a hierarchical structure of charity in man. Sts. Augustine and Thomas use reason to help more fully understand and explain that notion,” Pietrzyk explained.

While Pietrzyk said the existence of the ordocaritatisis well established, its practical application is complex and allows for legitimate disagreement. He also pointed out that Aquinas’ approach requires taking into account certain situational difficulties and urgent needs, especially the greater need of an individual in the moment.

“[W]e ought in preference to bestow on each one such benefits as pertain to the matter in which, speaking simply, he is most closely connected with us,” Aquinaswritesin the Summa.

“And yet this may vary according to the various requirements of time, place, or matter in hand: Because in certain cases one ought, for instance, to succor a stranger, in extreme necessity, rather than one’sownfather, if he is not in such urgent need.”

The term “order of charity” appears in two places in the Catechism of the Catholic Church; firstly in No. 2197, in which the Church teaches that the Fourth Commandment — “honor your father and mother” — “shows us the order of charity.”

“God has willed that, after him, we should honor our parents to whom we owe life and who have handed on to us the knowledge of God. We are obliged to honor and respect all those whom God, for our good, has vested with his authority,” the catechism continues.

Finally, No. 2239 reads: “It is the duty of citizens to contribute along with the civil authorities to the good of society in a spirit of truth, justice, solidarity, and freedom. The love and service of one’s country follow from the duty of gratitude and belong to the order of charity. Submission to legitimate authorities and service of the common good require citizens to fulfill their roles in the life of the political community.”

Social media debate

Vance’s mention of “ordoamoris” sparked a vigorous debate on social media, with some Catholic figures criticizing the vice president’s understanding and use ofthe conceptand others, including several Catholic theologians and philosophers, expressing concurrence and appreciation.

Jesuit Father James Martin opined that Vance’s comments “[miss] the point of Jesus’ parable of the good Samaritan.”

“Jesus’ fundamental message is that everyone is yourneighbor,andthat itis not about helping just your family or those closest to you. It’s specifically about helping those who seem different, foreign,other. They are all our ‘neighbors,’” Martin wrote.

“Jesus was often critical of those who would put family first,” he added.

In a subsequentpost,Martin argued that interpretations of Aquinas’ “ordocaritatis” that suggestone ought to prioritize family before strangers misrepresent both Aquinas’ intent and the Gospel’s central message.

“Jesus’ command to love the stranger is not just a theologicalreflectionand not just an important part of our tradition, it’s divine revelation. Jesus tells us clearly that at the heavenly gates, we are going to be asked if we welcomed the ‘stranger’: that is, someone who is not part of our family, someone we don’t know. That’s how we will be judged, as he says in Matthew 25,” Martin wrote.

“[I]t’s not about the selective love of family but about a new kind of family.And within that family is the stranger, the migrant, the refugee. And I’ll bet that Aquinas and Augustine would agree.”

Michael Sirilla, a professor of philosophy at Franciscan University, said Vance had summarized the “Christian notion” of ordocaritatis“deftly.”

Catholic philosopher Edward Feser said Vance expressed “the correct view.”

“The view that one has the same duties to all human beings, rather than special duties to those closest, in no way reflects a conception of human beings as social animals,” Feserwrote,calling that view a “product of liberalism’s radical individualism.”

“The correct view (common to Confucius, Aristotle, Aquinas, and the common sense of mankind in general) is that our social nature and its consequent obligations manifest themselves first and foremost in the family, then in local communities, then in the nation as a whole, and only after that in our relationship to mankind in general.”

This article was updated on Feb. 4, 2025 to include two places in the Catechism of the Catholic Church where the term “order of charity” appears.