This article discusses the role of the proliferating Catholic social movements in thedevelopment and interpretation of Catholic social thought. Engaged as they arewith the world of the poor, the author argues that the Church can only become atransformative presence when it accepts other voices in dialogue with the RomanMagisterium: the voices of local episcopal conferences, the social movements andthe grassroots communities in the spirit of Gaudium et Spes’ injunction “toscrutinize the signs of the times in the light of the Gospel” (GS, 4).