In his Christmas message, His Majesty the King pronounced the expression "common good" a total of seven times, issue of perfection and totality. The message emphasized "the awareness of the common good, the expression of the common good, or the demand for the common good," describing "that notion of the common good" as "that which benefits all" and "for which it belongs to all." It is timely to reflect on the meaning and importance of the ethical principle of the common good as conceived by Western thought.

The Social Doctrine of the Church defines the common good as: "The set of conditions of social life which make it possible for associations and each of their members to attain more plenary session of the Executive Council and more easily their own perfection" (Gaudium et spes). In soccer terms, one could say that the common good is what is good for the striker as a player and what is good for all the players as a team at the same time. In the words of framework Aurelius, "What is not good for the hive is not good for the bee." Similes aside, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church indicates, the common good involves three essential elements: respect for the person as such; social welfare and the development of group itself; and peace, that is, the stability and security of a just order.

Returning to the Christmas message, the King affirmed that "It is the responsibility of all institutions, of all Public Administrations, that this notion of the common good continues to be clearly reflected in any speech or any political decision." Along these lines, the King stated that "Consensus around what is essential, not only as result, but also as internship constant, must always guide the public sphere. Not to avoid the diversity of opinions, legitimate and necessary in democracy, but to prevent that diversity from deriving in the denial of the existence of a shared space." Referring to the Constitution, the King declared that "To work for the common good is precisely to preserve the great coexistence pact.... A coexistence pact is protected through dialogue; that dialogue, with height and generosity, which must always nourish the definition of the common will and the action of the State."

It is urgent to introduce a space for dialogue that develops the ethics of the common good as a moral purpose in the conduct of socio-political relations. Political responses to social issues are neither sufficient nor sustainable without an ethical criterion that underlies them, and the only ethical criterion to which every aspect of social life must refer in order to find full meaning is the principle of the common good because it derives from the dignity, unity and equality of all people.

It is about public power being formed in the good and distinguishing between the common good and the greater good or the total good. Jeremy Bentham promulgated that the greatest happiness of the greatest issue is the measure of good and evil. Unlike this utilitarian maxim, the common good leaves no one in the lurch because that someone is always a human person; that is the difference. The common good does not add up; the common good multiplies. From this premise, one understands St. Thomas Aquinas who defined law in his Summa theologica as the "ordering of reason to the common good promulgated by the one who has the care of the community."

The adoption of the principle of the common good as a philosophical horizon allows citizen and State, person and community, to give ethical direction and transcendent awareness to the political internship . In the words of the King, "the report of the road travelled, confidence in the present and hope for the future are an inescapable part, perhaps the most valuable, but also the most delicate, of our common good." It is, therefore, inescapable to renew, with Christmas joy, the "spirit of work and of commitment for what belongs to all, for the common good". The good of the person is the good of the community and the good of the community is the good of the person. That good is the common good. As the King proposed to us: "we have the interest and the responsibility to protect and strengthen it". May it be so.