Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church

In response to the first great social question, Pope Leo XIII promulgated the first social Encyclical, Rerum Novarum^{143Cf. Leo XIII, Encyclical Letter Rerum Novarum: Acta Leonis XIII, 11 (1892), 97-144.}. This Encyclical examines the condition of salaried workers, which was particularly distressing for industrial labourers who languished in inhumane misery. The labour question is dealt with according to its true dimensions. It is explored in all its social and political expressions so that a proper evaluation may be made in the light of the doctrinal principles founded on Revelation and on natural law and morality. Rerum Novarum lists errors that give rise to social ills, excludes socialism as a remedy and expounds with precision and in contemporary terms “the Catholic doctrine on work, the right to property, the principle of collaboration instead of class struggle as the fundamental means for social change, the rights of the weak, the dignity of the poor and the obligations of the rich, the perfecting of justice through charity, on the right to form professional associations”^{144Congregation for Catholic Education, Guidelines for the Study and Teaching of the Church's Social Doctrine in the Formation of Priests, 20, Vatican Polyglot Press, Rome 1988, p. 24.}. Rerum Novarum became the document inspiring Christian activity in the social sphere and the point of reference for this activity^{145Cf. Pius XI, Encyclical Letter Quadragesimo Anno, 39 AAS 23 (1931), 189; Pius XII, Radio Message for the fiftieth anniversary of Rerum Novarum: AAS 33 (1941), 198.}. The Encyclical's central theme is the just ordering of society, in view of which there is the obligation to identify criteria of judgment that will help to evaluate existing socio-political systems and to suggest lines of action for their appropriate transformation.

Rerum Novarum dealt with the labour question using a methodology that would become “a lasting paradigm” ^{146John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 5: AAS 83 (1991), 799.} for successive developments in the Church's social doctrine. The principles affirmed by Pope Leo XIII would be taken up again and studied more deeply in successive social encyclicals. The whole of the Church's social doctrine can be seen as an updating, a deeper analysis and an expansion of the original nucleus of principles presented in Rerum Novarum. With this courageous and farsighted text, Pope Leo XIII “gave the Church ‘citizenship status' as it were, amid the changing realities of public life” ^{147John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 5: AAS 83 (1991), 799.} and made an “incisive statement” ^{148John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 56: AAS 83 (1991), 862.} which became “a permanent element of the Church's social teaching”^{149John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 60: AAS 83 (1991), 865.}. He affirmed that serious social problems “could be solved only by cooperation between all forces” ^{150John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 60: AAS 83 (1991), 865.} and added that, “in regard to the Church, her cooperation will never be found lacking”^{151Leo XIII, Encyclical Letter Rerum Novarum: Acta Leonis XIII, 11 (1892), 143; cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 56: AAS 83 (1991), 862.}.

At the beginning of the 1930s, following the grave economic crisis of 1929, Pope Pius XI published the Encyclical Quadragesimo Anno^{152Cf. Pius XI, Encyclical Letter Quadragesimo Anno: AAS 23 (1931), 177-228.}, commemorating the fortieth anniversary of Rerum Novarum. The Pope reread the past in the light of the economic and social situation in which the expansion of the influence of financial groups, both nationally and internationally, was added to the effects of industrialization. It was the post-war period, during which totalitarian regimes were being imposed in Europe even as the class struggle was becoming more bitter. The Encyclical warns about the failure to respect the freedom to form associations and stresses the principles of solidarity and cooperation in order to overcome social contradictions. The relationships between capital and labour must be characterized by cooperation^{153Cf. Pius XI, Encyclical Letter Quadragesimo Anno: AAS 23 (1931), 186-189.}. Quadragesimo Anno confirms the principle that salaries should be proportional not only to the needs of the worker but also to those of the worker's family. The State, in its relations with the private sector, should apply the principle of subsidiarity, a principle that will become a permanent element of the Church's social doctrine. The Encyclical rejects liberalism, understood as unlimited competition between economic forces, and reconfirms the value of private property, recalling its social function. In a society in need of being rebuilt from its economic foundations, a society which itself becomes completely “the question” to deal with, “Pius XI felt the duty and the responsibility to promote a greater awareness, a more precise interpretation and an urgent application of the moral law governing human relations ... with the intent of overcoming the conflict between classes and arriving at a new social order based on justice and charity”^{154Congregation for Catholic Education, Guidelines for the Study and Teaching of the Church's Social Doctrine in the Formation of Priests, 21, Vatican Polyglot Press, Rome 1988, p. 24.}.

Pope Pius XI did not fail to raise his voice against the totalitarian regimes that were being imposed in Europe during his pontificate. Already on 29 June 1931 he had protested against the abuse of power by the totalitarian fascist regime in Italy with the Encyclical Non Abbiamo Bisogno^{155Cf. Pius XI, Encyclical Letter Non Abbiamo Bisogno: AAS 23 (1931), 285-312.}. He published the Encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge, on the situation of the Catholic Church under the German Reich, on 14 March 1937^{156The official German text can be found in AAS 29 (1937), 145-167.}. The text of Mit Brennender Sorge was read from the pulpit of every Catholic Church in Germany, after having been distributed in the greatest of secrecy. The Encyclical came out after years of abuse and violence, and it had been expressly requested from Pope Pius XI by the German Bishops after the Reich had implemented ever more coercive and repressive measures in 1936, particularly with regard to young people, who were required to enrol as members of the Hitler Youth Movement. The Pope spoke directly to priests, religious and lay faithful, giving them encouragement and calling them to resistance until such time that a true peace between Church and State would be restored. In 1938, with the spreading of anti-Semitism, Pope Pius XI affirmed: “Spiritually we are all Semites”^{157Pius XI, Address to Belgian Radio Journalists (6 September 1938), in John Paul II, Address to international leaders of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith (22 March 1984): L'Osservatore Romano, English edition, 26 March 1984, pp. 8, 11.}. With the Encyclical Letter Divini Redemptoris^{158The official Latin text can be found in AAS 29 (1937), 65-106.}, on atheistic communism and Christian social doctrine, Pope Pius XI offered a systematic criticism of communism, describing it as “intrinsically perverse”^{159Cf. Pius XI, Encyclical Letter Divini Redemptoris: AAS 29 (1937), 130.}, and indicated that the principal means for correcting the evils perpetrated by it could be found in the renewal of Christian life, the practice of evangelical charity, the fulfilment of the duties of justice at both the interpersonal and social levels in relation to the common good, and the institutionalization of professional and interprofessional groups.

In the Christmas Radio Messages of Pope Pius XII^{160Cf. Pius XII, Christmas Radio Messages: on peace and the international order, 1939, AAS 32 (1940), 5-13; 1940, AAS 33 (1941), 5-14; 1941, AAS 34 (1942), 10-21; 1945, AAS 38 (1946), 15-25; 1946, AAS 39 (1947), 7-17; 1948, AAS 41 (1949), 8-16; 1950, AAS 43 (1951), 49-59; 1951, AAS 44 (1952), 5-15; 1954, AAS 47 (1955), 15-28; 1955, AAS 48 (1956), 26-41; on the order within nations, 1942, AAS 35 (1943), 9-24; on democracy, 1944, AAS 37 (1945), 10-23; on the function of Christian civilization, 1 September 1944, AAS 36 (1944), 249-258; on making a return to God in generosity and brotherhood, 1947, AAS 40 (1948), 8-16; on the year of the great return and of great forgiveness, 1949, AAS 42 (1950), 121-133; on the depersonalization of man, 1952, AAS 45 (1953), 33-46; on the role of progress in technology and peace among peoples, 1953, AAS 46 (1954), 5-16.}, together with other important interventions in social matters, Magisterial reflection on a new social order guided by morality and law, and focusing on justice and peace, become deeper. His pontificate covered the terrible years of the Second World War and the difficult years of reconstruction. He published no social encyclicals but in many different contexts he constantly showed his concern for the international order, which had been badly shaken. “During the war and the post-war period, for many people of all continents and for millions of believers and nonbelievers, the social teaching of Pope Pius XII represented the voice of universal conscience. ... With his moral authority and prestige, Pope Pius XII brought the light of Christian wisdom to countless men of every category and social level”^{161Congregation for Catholic Education, Guidelines for the Study and Teaching of the Church's Social Doctrine in the Formation of Priests, 22, Vatican Polyglot Press, Rome 1988, p. 25.}. One of the characteristics of Pope Pius XII's interventions is the importance he gave to the relationship between morality and law. He insisted on the notion of natural law as the soul of the system to be established on both the national and the international levels. Another important aspect of Pope Pius XII's teaching was his attention to the professional and business classes, called to work together in a special way for the attainment of the common good. “Due to his sensitivity and intelligence in grasping the ‘signs of the times', Pope Pius XII can be considered the immediate precursor of Vatican Council II and of the social teaching of the Popes who followed him”^{162Congregation for Catholic Education, Guidelines for the Study and Teaching of the Church's Social Doctrine in the Formation of Priests, 22, Vatican Polyglot Press, Rome 1988, p. 25.}.

The 1960s bring promising prospects: recovery after the devastation of the war, the beginning of decolonization, and the first timid signs of a thaw in the relations between the American and Soviet blocs. This is the context within which Blessed Pope John XXIII reads deeply into the “signs of the times”^{163Cf. John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris: AAS 55 (1963), 267-269, 278-279, 291, 295-296.}. The social question is becoming universal and involves all countries: together with the labour question and the Industrial Revolution, there come to the fore problems of agriculture, of developing regions, of increasing populations, and those concerning the need for global economic cooperation. Inequalities that in the past were experienced within nations are now becoming international and make the dramatic situation of the Third World ever more evident. Blessed Pope John XXIII, in his Encyclical Mater et Magistra^{164Cf. John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Mater et Magistra: AAS 53 (1961), 401-464.}, “aims at up-dating the already known documents, and at taking a further step forward in the process of involving the whole Christian community”^{165Congregation for Catholic Education, Guidelines for the Study and Teaching of the Church's Social Doctrine in the Formation of Priests, 23, Vatican Polyglot Press, Rome 1988, p. 26.}. The key words in the Encyclical are community and socialization^{166Cf. John XXIII Encyclical Letter Mater et Magistra: AAS 53 (1961), 415-418.}: the Church is called in truth, justice and love to cooperate in building with all men and women an authentic communion. In this way economic growth will not be limited to satisfying men's needs, but it will also promote their dignity.

With the Encyclical Pacem in Terris^{167Cf. John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris: AAS 55 (1963), 257-304.}, Blessed Pope John XXIII brings to the forefront the problem of peace in an era marked by nuclear proliferation. Moreover, Pacem in Terris contains one of the first in-depth reflections on rights on the part of the Church; it is the Encyclical of peace and human dignity. It continues and completes the discussion presented in Mater et Magistra, and, continuing in the direction indicated by Pope Leo XIII, it emphasizes the importance of the cooperation of all men and women. It is the first time that a Church document is addressed also to “all men of good will”^{168John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris, Title: AAS 55 (1963), 257.}, who are called to a great task: “to establish with truth, justice, love and freedom new methods of relationships in human society”^{169John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris: AAS 55 (1963), 301.}. Pacem in Terris dwells on the public authority of the world community, called to “tackle and solve problems of an economic, social, political or cultural character which are posed by the universal common good”^{170Cf. John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris: AAS 55 (1963), 294.}. On the tenth anniversary of Pacem in Terris, Cardinal Maurice Roy, the President of the Pontifical Commission for Justice and Peace, sent Pope Paul VI a letter together with a document with a series of reflections on the different possibilities afforded by the teaching contained in Pope John XXIII's Encyclical for shedding light on the new problems connected with the promotion of peace^{171Cf. Cardinal Maurice Roy, Letter to Paul VI and Document on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of Pacem in Terris, L'Osservatore Romano, English edition, 19 April 1973, pp. 1-8.}.

The Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes ^{172Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes: AAS 58 (1966), 1025-1120.} of the Second Vatican Council is a significant response of the Church to the expectations of the contemporary world. In this Constitution, “in harmony with the ecclesiological renewal, a new concept of how to be a community of believers and people of God are reflected. It aroused new interest regarding the doctrine contained in the preceding documents on the witness and life of Christians, as authentic ways of making the presence of God in the world visible”^{173Congregation for Catholic Education, Guidelines for the Study and Teaching of the Church's Social Doctrine in the Formation of Priests, 24, Vatican Polyglot Press, Rome 1988, p. 28.}. Gaudium et Spes presents the face of a Church that “cherishes a feeling of deep solidarity with the human race and its history”^{174Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 1: AAS 58 (1966), 1026.}, that travels the same journey as all mankind and shares the same earthly lot with the world, but which at the same time “is to be a leaven and, as it were, the soul of human society in its renewal by Christ and transformation into the family of God”^{175Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 40: AAS 58 (1966), 1058.}. Gaudium et Spes presents in a systematic manner the themes of culture, of economic and social life, of marriage and the family, of the political community, of peace and the community of peoples, in the light of a Christian anthropological outlook and of the Church's mission. Everything is considered from the starting point of the person and with a view to the person, “the only creature that God willed for its own sake”^{176Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 24: AAS 58 (1966), 1045.}. Society, its structures and development must be oriented towards “the progress of the human person”^{177Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 25: AAS 58 (1966), 1045.}. For the first time, the Magisterium of the Church, at its highest level, speaks at great length about the different temporal aspects of Christian life: “It must be recognized that the attention given by the Constitution to social, psychological, political, economic, moral and religious changes has increasingly stimulated ... the Church's pastoral concern for men's problems and dialogue with the world”^{178Congregation for Catholic Education, Guidelines for the Study and Teaching of the Church's Social Doctrine in the Formation of Priests, 24, Vatican Polyglot Press, Rome 1988, p. 29.}.

Another very important document of the Second Vatican Council in the corpus of the Church's social doctrine is the Declaration Dignitatis Humanae^{179Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Declaration Dignitatis Humanae: AAS 58 (1966), 929-946.}, in which the right to religious freedom is clearly proclaimed. The document presents the theme in two chapters. The first, of a general character, affirms that religious freedom is based on the dignity of the human person and that it must be sanctioned as a civil right in the legal order of society. The second chapter deals with the theme in the light of Revelation and clarifies its pastoral implications, pointing out that it is a right that concerns not only people as individuals but also the different communities of people.

“Development is the new name for peace”^{180Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio, 76-80: AAS 59 (1967), 294-296.}, Pope Paul VI solemnly proclaims in his Encyclical Populorum Progressio^{181Cf. Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio: AAS 59 (1967), 257-299.}, which may be considered a development of the chapter on economic and social life in Gaudium et Spes, even while it introduces some significant new elements. In particular, it presents the outlines of an integral development of man and of a development in solidarity with all humanity: “These two topics are to be considered the axes around which the Encyclical is structured. In wishing to convince its receivers of the urgent need for action in solidarity, the Pope presents development as ‘the transition from less humane conditions to those which are more humane' and indicates its characteristics”^{182Congregation for Catholic Education, Guidelines for the Study and Teaching of the Church's Social Doctrine in the Formation of Priests, 25, Vatican Polyglot Press, Rome 1988, p. 29.}. This transition is not limited to merely economic or technological dimensions, but implies for each person the acquisition of culture, the respect of the dignity of others, the acknowledgment of “the highest good, the recognition of God Himself, the author and end of these blessings”^{183Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio, 21: AAS 59 (1967), 267.}. Development that benefits everyone responds to the demands of justice on a global scale that guarantees worldwide peace and makes it possible to achieve a “complete humanism” ^{184Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio, 42: AAS 59 (1967), 278.} guided by spiritual values.

In this regard, in 1967, Pope Paul VI establishes the Pontifical Commission “Iustitia et Pax”, thus fulfilling the wishes of the Council Fathers who considered it “most opportune that an organism of the Universal Church be set up in order that both the justice and love of Christ toward the poor might be developed everywhere. The role of such an organism would be to stimulate the Catholic community to promote progress in needy regions and international social justice”^{185Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 90: AAS 58 (1966), 1112.}. By initiative of Pope Paul VI, beginning in 1968, the Church celebrates the first day of the year as the World Day of Peace. This same Pontiff started the tradition of writing annual Messages that deal with the theme chosen for each World Day of Peace. These Messages expand and enrich the corpus of the Church's social doctrine.

At the beginning of the 1970s, in a climate of turbulence and strong ideological controversy, Pope Paul VI returns to the social teaching of Pope Leo XIII and updates it, on the occasion of the eightieth anniversary of Rerum Novarum, with his Apostolic Letter Octogesima Adveniens^{186Cf. Paul VI, Apostolic Letter Octogesima Adveniens: AAS 63 (1971), 401-441.}. The Pope reflects on post-industrial society with all of its complex problems, noting the inadequacy of ideologies in responding to these challenges: urbanization, the condition of young people, the condition of women, unemployment, discrimination, emigration, population growth, the influence of the means of social communications, the ecological problem.

Ninety years after Rerum Novarum, Pope John Paul II devoted the Encyclical Laborem Exercens ^{187Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Laborem Exercens: AAS 73 (1981), 577-647.} to work, the fundamental good of the human person, the primary element of economic activity and the key to the entire social question. Laborem Exercens outlines a spirituality and ethic of work in the context of a profound theological and philosophical reflection. Work must not be understood only in the objective and material sense, but one must keep in mind its subjective dimension, insofar as it is always an expression of the person. Besides being a decisive paradigm for social life, work has all the dignity of being a context in which the person's natural and supernatural vocation must find fulfilment.

With the Encyclical Sollicitudo Rei Socialis^{188Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis: AAS 80 (1988), 513-586.}, Pope John Paul II commemorates the twentieth anniversary of Populorum Progressio and deals once more with the theme of development along two fundamental lines: “on one hand, the dramatic situation of the modern world, under the aspect of the failed development of the Third World, and on the other, the meaning of, conditions and requirements for a development worthy of man”^{189Congregation for Catholic Education, Guidelines for the Study and Teaching of the Church's Social Doctrine in the Formation of Priests, 26, Vatican Polyglot Press, Rome 1988, p. 32.}. The Encyclical presents differences between progress and development, and insists that “true development cannot be limited to the multiplication of goods and service — to what one possesses — but must contribute to the fullness of the ‘being' of man. In this way the moral nature of real development is meant to be shown clearly”^{190Congregation for Catholic Education, Guidelines for the Study and Teaching of the Church's Social Doctrine in the Formation of Priests, 26, Vatican Polyglot Press, Rome 1988, p. 32.}. Pope John Paul II, alluding to the motto of the pontificate of Pope Pius XII, “opus iustitiae pax” (peace is the fruit of justice), comments: “Today, one could say, with the same exactness and the same power of biblical inspiration (cf. Is 32:17; Jas 3:18), opus solidaritatis pax (peace is the fruit of solidarity)”^{191John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 39: AAS 80 (1988), 568.}.

On the hundredth anniversary of Rerum Novarum, Pope John Paul II promulgates his third social encyclical, Centesimus Annus^{192Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus: AAS 83 (1991), 793-867.}, whence emerges the doctrinal continuity of a hundred years of the Church's social Magisterium. Taking up anew one of the fundamental principles of the Christian view of social and political organization, which had been the central theme of the previous Encyclical, the Pope writes: “What we nowadays call the principle of solidarity ... is frequently stated by Pope Leo XIII, who uses the term ‘friendship' ... Pope Pius XI refers to it with the equally meaningful term ‘social charity'. Pope Paul VI, expanding the concept to cover the many modern aspects of the social question, speaks of a ‘civilization of love”'^{193John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 10: AAS 83 (1991), 805.}. Pope John Paul II demonstrates how the Church's social teaching moves along the axis of reciprocity between God and man: recognizing God in every person and every person in God is the condition of authentic human development. The articulate and in-depth analysis of the “new things”, and particularly of the great breakthrough of 1989 with the collapse of the Soviet system, shows appreciation for democracy and the free economy, in the context of an indispensable solidarity.