Popes and the Catholic Social Teachings

Reading the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church one may well ask a curious question: how has the Church arrived at such a systematic body of social teaching? What we have today as Catholic Social Teachings is the Church’s response to social issues over history. We could describe it as the Church’s rucksack in her social witness.

Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum (1891) is generally accepted as the first social encyclical. It addresses issues related to the Industrial Revolution of which its principal matter is the conflict between capital and labour.

Pope Leo examines the condition of salaried workers and disproves socialism as solution. He affirms the right to property and posits the spirit of collaboration between classes as vehicle of change, instead of class struggle.

The poor have rights and the rich have the obligation to render them justice through charity. The encyclical is concerned about “ordering society in a just manner” (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church 89) and serves as the basic form of the Church’s social teaching.

Pius XI’s Quadragesimo Anno (1929) marked the impending 40th anniversary of Rerum Novarum. It addresses economic and social situation of the post-World War I years, especially the rise of totalitarian regimes in Europe (and Hitler hadn’t even seized power yet) and class struggle.

It calls for freedom of association, the need for salary to be proportional not only to the needs of the workers but also of their families. It also tackles the relationship between the state and private sector expressed in the principle of subsidiarity.

Non Abbiano Bisogno (1931), also by Pius XI, speaks against totalitarian regimes like the fascist regime in Italy, whereas Mit brennender Sorge (1937), addressed to Germany under the swastika, confronts the repressive measures employed by the Hitler regime. The encyclical called all Catholics to resistance.

In Mater et Magistra (1961), Pope John XXIII gives a holistic view of economic growth, which is not just about satisfying people’s needs but also promoting their dignity.

His later encyclical, Pacem in Terris of 1963, focused on peace during this epoch marked by the proliferation of nuclear weapons. One memorable mark of this encyclical is that the social doctrine is given a universal appeal by addressing it also to “all men of good will”.

Gaudium et Spes, the Pastoral Constitution of the Second Vatican Council, views Christian life as a way of making visible the presence of God in the world. The Church journeys with humankind in its joys and struggles on earth, thus, serving sas “leaven and…the soul of human society in its renewal by Christ and transformation into the family of God” (40).

In Populorum Progressio (1967), Pope Paul VI affirms that “development is the new name for peace”. The central ideas of the encyclical are the integral development of the human person and development in solidarity with all humanity. Paul VI defines development as “the transition from less humane conditions to those which are more humane” (98).

However, this should not to be limited to economic and technological development; it includes also each person’s acquisition of culture, respect for others and the recognition of God the creator of the universe.

The same year, Paul VI established the Pontifical Commission for Justice and Peace, as a way of motivating Catholics in promoting development and social justice.

In his apostolic letter, Octogesima Adveniens (1971), the 80th anniversary of Rerum Novarum, Paul VI warns against the inadequacy of any ideology to respond sufficiently to the problems of post-industrial society, such as urbanisation, condition of youth and women, unemployment, discrimination, emigration and ecology.

On the 90th anniversary of Rerum Novarum, John Paul II in his Laborem Exercens (1981) addresses the spirituality and the ethic of work.

“Work must not be understood only in the objective and material sense, but one must keep in mind its subjective dimension, in so far as it is always an expression of the person” (CSDC 101). Through work human beings fulfil their supernatural vocation.

In 1988’s Sollicitude Rei Socialis—20 years of Populorum Progressio—John Paul II deals with development: “the failed development of the Third World and the meaning, conditions and requirements for a development worthy of man”. He marks the difference between progress and development since “true development cannot be limited to the multiplication of goods and services…but must contribute to the fullness of the being of man” (CSDC 102).

At the 100th anniversary of Rerum Novarum, in his Centesimus annus (1991), John Paul II calls for the need of “recognising God in any person and every person in God as the condition for true development” (CSDC 103).

Here we have a best example of the progression of the social teaching: John Paul II speaks about principle of solidarity: what Leo often called friendship, Pius XI called social charity, and Paul VI called a civilisation of love.

These are some of the documents that have marked the development of the Catholic social teaching. Our challenge is to enrich this social teaching by responding to our today’s social questions in a prophetic way.