Centesimus Annus Research Articles

Neoconservatives’ Reading of Catholic Social Teaching The political debate over the encyclical Centesimus Annus

Pope John Paul II’s 1991 publication of the encyclical Centesimus Annus sparked a lively debate that lasted for years. Neoconservative Catholics promptly showed great enthusiasm for the encyclical, which they saw as the Church finally embracing economic liberalism. On the other hand, progressive Catholics rejected the neoconservative analysis and put an entirely different interpretation on the encyclical. This article examines some of the main neocon interpretations of John Paul II’s social thinking, primarily focusing on the encyclical Centesimus Annus. We consider the analyses of Michael Novak and Richard Neuhaus, who show partisan bias in their interpretation of Centesimus Annus. John Paul II’s encyclical soon became a battlefield on which the conflict between neoconservative and progressive Catholics was played out, and a landmark in the debate on Catholic social teaching and its various interpretations.

The Timeliness of the Message of the Encyclical Centesimus Annus: An Analysis from the Perspective of the 30th Anniversary of Its Publication

The article points to the topicality of the encyclical Centesimus Annus, the third social encyclical of John Paul II, from the perspective of the 30th anniversary of its publication. The author brought to the fore the prophetic character of the encyclical as an important message for the countries of Central and Eastern Europe during the transformation period after the fall of communism, emphasizing its timelessness and topicality. Centesimus Annus became the voice of the Church, which, through the very nature of its social teaching and its prophetic and critical specificity, has the right to make judgments in social matters.

The Idea of the Common Good in the Light of Encyclicals Laborem exercens and Centesimus annus

John Paul II placed man at the centre of his reflection in the encyclicals Laborem exercens and Centesimus annus and it was in man, his intelligence and competences, his capacity for creative initiative and entrepreneurship, that the pope saw the mainspring of social wealth and good. The deliberations in both the papal documents are founded on the idea it is not material capital but science, technology, and skills, referred to as new types of property, that are the greatest asset of industrial countries at present. In John Paul II’s belief, a correctly interpreted relationship between economy, anthropology, and ethics is the key to overcoming social problems, with various forms of alienation being the gravest. A vision of man as a creative subject whose ability of personal participation is the basic common good of every society plays a special role in giving the right shape to organized social life. The pope argued a personalistic understanding of common good both relieves tensions between private property and the right to the universal destination of goods as defined by the Catholic social philosophy and paves the way for economic success of nations and states.

The Catholic Neoconservative Misreading of John Paul II's Centesimus Annus Revisited

ABSTRACTIn the twilight of the twentieth and beginning of the twenty-first century, Catholic theologians and journalists who identified as members of the neoconservative political movement crafted a narrative of John Paul II's encyclical Centesimus Annus as a representing a sea-change in Catholic social teaching. In this neoconservative reading, the Catholic Church embraced a specifically American style of late twentieth century laissez-faire capitalism. However, an examination of Centesimus Annus reveals that the text is consonant with the teaching of twentieth century popes. What is more, recent publications enable us to get a clearer view of how neoconservatives were able to craft their narrative of the encyclical.

Church’s Response to the Earth’s Healing in the Face of Ecological Crisis

The Roman Catholic Church, thru the Supreme Pontiff, prides herself in her prophetic vocation. Just like the prophets of old, the Church speaks whenever there are social issues that threatens the people of God. Currently, all people are facing the ecological crisis as characterized by unprecedented natural weather patterns (climate change), loss of species of both flora and fauna, desertification and the like. As a crisis, it needs an immediate response. This response is the main focus of this research. Hence, this research aimed to fulfill the following objectives: to describe the current ecological crisis; to identify the Church’s traditional and scriptural basis in responding to the challenges of the ecological crisis; to examine the different Church’s encyclical and teachings as responses to ecological crisis; and to propose recommendations to alleviate the present ecological crisis. The social action cycle of Mater et Magistra was used as framework in identifying the origins of the crisis (context), followed by identifying diachronically the response of the Church drawing from the scripture, tradition (conscience), and examining synchronically the response of the Church’s encyclical with special emphasis on Laudato Si, concluding with concrete recommendations (consciousness) to help alleviate the present ecological crisis. Thus, the result showed that the current ecological crisis is characterized by ‘excessive anthropocentrism’ which is a clear misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the human and nature relationships. Moreover, a clear interpretation of the Biblical truth must be preserved. Lastly, the Catholic Social Teachings, specifically the Laudato Si, indicated that there is a need for a “Dialogue”, among various sciences, to respond effectively to the ecological crisis. References Bowen, G. A. (2009). Document analysis as a qualitative research method. Qualitative Research Journal, 9, 27-40.Christiansen, D and Grazer, W, (Eds.). (1996). And God saw that it was good: Catholic Theology and the environment. USA: United States Catholic Conference.Hornsby-Smith, M. P. (2006). An introduction to catholic social thought. New York: Cambridge University Press.Jenkins, Willis. (2008). Ecologies of grace: Environmental ethics and Christian Theology. London: Oxford University Press.Josol, A. M., CSsR. (1991). “What is happening to our beautiful land,” in Responses to the Signs of the Times: Selected Documents: Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines. Quezon City: Claretian, pp. 306-320.Leavy, Patricia. (2017). Research Design. New York: The Guilford Press.McDonagh, S. (1987). To care for the earth: A call for a new theology, London: Geoffrey Chapman. O’Murchu, D. (2004). Quantum theology: Spiritual implications of the new physics (Revised Ed.). NY: The Crossroads PublishingCompany.Pope Benedict XVI. (2010). If you want to cultivate peace, protect creation. Message of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI for the Celebration of the World Day of Peace. http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedictxvi/en/messages/peace/documents/hf_benxvi_mes_20091208_xliii-world-day-peace.html Pope Francis. (2015a). Laudato si (On care for our common home). Libreria Editrice Vaticana.Pope Francis. (2015b). Pope Francis I speech to the Filipino audience in the year 2015. University of Sto. Tomas-Manila.Pope John XXIII. (1961). Mater et Magistra (Christianity and Social Progress). Libreria Editrice Vaticana.Pope John Paul II. (1987a). Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (The concern of the church for social order). Libreria Editrice Vaticana.Pope John Paul II. (1990b). Peace with God the creator, peace with all of creation. Message of His Holiness Pope John Paul II for the celebration of the World Day of Peace. http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paulii/en/messages/peace/documents/hf_jp-ii_mes_19891208_x xiii-world-day-for-peace.html.Pope John Paul II. (1979c). Redemptoris Hominis. Libreria Editrice Vaticana.Pope John Paul II. (1991d). Centesimus Annus. Libreria Editrice Vaticana.Pope Leo XIII. (1891). Rerum Novarum (Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor). Libreria Editrice Vaticana.Pope Paul VI. (1971). Octogesima Adveniens (The eightieth anniversary). Libreria Editrice Vaticana.Rozzi, R., et al. (2013). Linking ecology and ethics for a changing world: Values, philosophy, and action, Springer, 1, Switzerland.Rozzi, R., et al. (2015). Earth stewardship: Linking ecology and ethics in theory and practice, Springer, 2, Switzerland.White, Lynn. (1967). The historical roots of our ecological crisis. Science 155: 1203-1207. http://www.cmu.ca/faculty/gmatties/lynnwhiterootsofcrisis.pdfWilliams, C. (2010). Ecology and socialism: Solutions to capitalist ecological crisis. Chicago: Haymarket Books.

Mother Teresa's Mysticism: A Christo-Ecclesio-Humano-Centric Mysticism by Robert M. Garrity

Reviewed by: Mother Teresa's Mysticism: A Christo-Ecclesio-Humano-Centric Mysticism by Robert M. Garrity Matthew L. Lamb Mother Teresa's Mysticism: A Christo-Ecclesio-Humano-Centric Mysticism by Robert M. Garrity (Hobe Sound, FL: Lectio, 2017), 208 pp. Fr. Robert Garrity has written a fine introduction to St. Mother Teresa's life of mysticism in her service of the poor. In the first part of the book, he introduces the reader to the theological contexts of [End Page 284] Catholic mysticism that influenced Mother Teresa's mysticism. In the second part, he introduces the reader to the contributions Mother Teresa has made to the development of Catholic mysticism in our times. Part I has eight chapters. In the first chapter, Fr. Garrity clarifies that mysticism is a genuinely experiential knowledge of God and his divine presence. For Mother Teresa, it was both a speculative and an experiential knowledge of God and his presence in the poor. Chapter 2 introduces the reader to mysticism understood as experiencing God's presence. It is, as John of the Cross states, an "unknowing" that is known, a docta ignorantia by which God purifies the mind and heart of the mystic. Chapters 3 and 4 further explore this in John of the Cross and his "dark night" and the mysticism of "suffering and darkness." Mother Teresa sees this in Jesus's cry of "I thirst" from the Cross. For her, this is a thirst for love, a thirst for souls to love that Jesus redeems humanity in his suffering on the Cross. Because of Mother Teresa's letters on the darkness and suffering of her own soul, Fr. Garrity devotes chapter 5 to a detailed introduction to St. John of the Cross and his insights into the dark night of the senses, imagination, and intellect as purifying the mystic's knowing and loving as she enters a mystical theology springing from God's indwelling. Chapter 6 sketches the Christological and ecclesiological dimensions of Mother Teresa's mysticism in her service of Christ and his Church among the poorest of the poor. Her mysticism is Christocentric in its love and service of the poor, thereby offering a new emphasis to the ongoing traditions of Catholic mystical theology. Chapters 7 and 8 conclude part I with a preliminary assessment of what is distinctive in Mother Teresa's mysticism as a deep appreciation of Christ as present in the poor. It is a mystical union with Christ in the poor that does not, as Fr. Garrity shows, in any way diminish the importance, emphasized in St. John Paul II's Centesimus Annus, of seeking economic, scientific, and other means of improving the lives of the poor. Catholic mystical theology is not opposed to reason and science. Part II provides eight chapters outlining the contributions Mother Teresa has made to Catholic mysticism and theology. Fundamental to these contributions is her insistence on the divine and human natures in the Person of Jesus Christ, who founded the Catholic Church with her governance, sacraments, and mission to the world. Chapter 9 shows how Mother Teresa's mystical theology both draws on the long traditions from the Catholic mystics and provides a new emphasis on the significance of these traditions in fostering service to the poor and destitute. Mother Teresa was insistent on fidelity to the Catholic Church and her hierarchy in order to reveal to the secular world that service to the [End Page 285] poor is indeed at the heart of Catholic faith and fidelity. Chapter 10 is an important clarification of Mother's experiential Christology. Fr. Garrity shows various aspects of Mother's mysticism: its intimate union with Christ on the Cross, its Marian devotion in receiving Jesus in the Eucharist, and how Mary in her earthly life excelled in faith, hope, and charity. He also warns readers that Mother now and then engaged in a "spiritual hyperbole" that resulted in misguided statements, such as that Jesus "became sin" and so was rejected by the Father (101–2). Chapter 11 acquaints the reader with the universal soteriology of Christ's "thirst" for souls. Drawing on St. Irenaeus and St. Bernard, Mother Teresa seeks to...

Regulating Finance: Poachers Turned Gamekeepers

Regulating Finance: Poachers Turned Gamekeepers Patrick Riordan SJ Vatican watchers have been surprised recently by a new publication addressing issues of justice in financial affairs. What is surprising is not that the Vatican might express views on such a topic: that has been an essential element in the tradition of Catholic Social Teaching (CST). The novelty is that two different departments of the Vatican administration collaborate in a joint publication. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) and the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development have together issued the document with the long but modest title Considerations for an Ethical Discernment Regarding Some Aspects of the Present EconomicFinancial System.1 Why the CDF would engage in such reflection is curious. Normally, this congregation is concerned with ensuring the orthodoxy of doctrine proposed to the faithful for their belief. The other dicastery replaces the former Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (among other bodies), which has traditionally addressed such concerns as ethics in the economy. Why the CDF would now also concern itself with the ethics of finance provokes some questions. Is it to lend weight to the authority of CST on such matters? Is it to reinforce Pope Francis’s agenda of reforming the Vatican’s own banking and commercial practices? Or is it perhaps to underline the urgency of responding to the instability of global financial markets as we approach the tenth anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers? The document’s reflection on the volatility of finance markets bemoans the lack of regulation, with resulting financial crises affecting the real economy (§§6, 14, 21). The unscrupulous behaviour of bankers has been revealed in a number of scandals which reached public attention, and sometimes prosecution and/or fines levied on the banks, as for instance the 2011 discovered manipulation of the LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate), and the marketing of expensive and unnecessary products such as PPI (Payment Protection Insurance) to trusting bank customers. The statement Patrick Riordan Studies • volume 107 • number 428 442 names such examples of abuse reflecting the inadequate regulation of the sector, remarking on the LIBOR manipulation: ‘The fact that this could have happened with impunity for many years shows how fragile and exposed to fraud is a financial system insufficiently controlled by regulations, and lacking proportionate sanctions for the violations which its stakeholders often encounter’ (§27). The repeated demand for more regulation echoes a shrewd comment by Pope John Paul II in his encyclical Centesimus Annus, in which he commemorated Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum on its centenary in 1991. The context was the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Defenders of liberal markets were celebrating their triumph over their opponents, the advocates of planned or managed economies, as typified by socialism. Pope John Paul expressly raised the question: ‘Can it perhaps be said that, after the failure of Communism, capitalism is the victorious social system, and that capitalism should be the goal of the countries now making efforts to rebuild their economy and society? Is this the model which ought to be proposed to the countries of the Third World which are searching for the path to true economic and civil progress? The answer is obviously complex. If by “capitalism” is meant an economic system which recognises the fundamental and positive role of business, the market, private property and the resulting responsibility for the means of production, as well as free human creativity in the economic sector, then the answer is certainly in the affirmative … But if by “capitalism” is meant a system in which freedom in the economic sector is not circumscribed within a strong juridical framework which places it at the service of human freedom in its totality, and which sees it as a particular aspect of that freedom, the core of which is ethical and religious, then the reply is certainly negative.’2 The Pope’s answer is positive, specifying as a condition that economic freedom must be ‘circumscribed by a strong juridical framework’. What is that strong juridical framework? Is it sufficient that property rights be protected (commonly agreed to be a precondition for the market economy) and that contracts be enforceable? The temptation is to assume that...

Koniunkcja demokracji i gospodarki? Perspektywa Centesimus annus

W artykule dokonana jest analiza relacji demokracji i gospodarki w perspektywie encykliki Jana Pawła II Centesimus annus. Powszechnie przyjmowana w latach ’90 XX w. teza o zależności kapitalizmu od demokracji jest obecnie kwestionowana. Z jednej strony nowe fenomeny polityczne jakimi są rosnące w siłę ruchy populistyczne czy alterglobalistyczne z drugiej zaś nowe zjawiska gospodarcze jak working poor, pojawienie się prekariatu oraz finansjalizacja gospodarki zmuszają do postawienia pytania o przyszłość państwa demokratycznego. Jego dotychczasowa formuła wydaje się już na wyczerpaniu, natomiast wciąż nie jest klarowne, w którym kierunku mogłaby nastąpić jej metamorfoza.

Ideowe zmagania Stefana Kisielewskiego z polskim komunizmem

Stefan Kisielewski’s intellectual struggle with Polish communism: Stefan Kisielewski (1911–1991) a Polish novelist, composer, music critic, essayist, feature writer and a politician, was an exceptional personage in post‑World War II Poland. In his features, published in Tygodnik Powszechny since 1945, in a light, ironic and allusive way to prevent censorship, he described the Polish reality that his readers were acquainted with, in a way that revealed the real causes of the phenomena he observed. The truth was simple: the communist reality was the result of politico‑economic system that was imposed based on a Marxist theory of economy. Kisielewski’s criticism of communism was not just a matter of a keen observation and sensible conclusions; it was based on his studies of Marxism that he began before World War II. In turn, in Wilhelm Röpke’s Die Gesellschaftskrisis der Gegenwart (1942), he found an accurate characterisation of the socialist economy and an explanation for its non‑functioning. The second important reason for his criticism of communism was Kisielewski’s Catholicism, which operated as a counter‑balance to Marxism, combined with the idea of a liberal‑democratic regime. In his later years, Kisielewski criticised the social teachings of the Catholic Church, and suggested a new idea that they were based on “the theology of profit” (a prefiguration of the encyclical Centesimus Annus) as an ideological justification of the attitudes necessary for the functioning of the market economy in Poland. He even suggested the implementation of a dictatorship to avoid long parliamentary democratic procedures, and in this way to establish a quick and effective market economy on the ruins of socialism.

I. The Nonviolence–Just War Nexus

Gerald Schlabach wrote that a key test of progress for Catholicism in its dialogue with the historic peace churches on nonviolence and the use of force would be that the church's teaching on nonviolence would become “church wide and parish deep.” While modern Catholic social teaching has recognized nonviolence since the time of the Second Vatican Council, and Pope Saint John Paul II gave nonviolence strong, formal endorsement in his 1991 encyclical Centesimus Annus, the church's teaching on nonviolence is hardly known in the pews. If they are familiar at all with Catholic teaching on peace and war, most Catholics would know the just-war tradition, especially through the US bishops’ 1983 pastoral letter, The Challenge of Peace. But the newer and still relatively slight teaching on nonviolence is hardly known at all. Only by rare exception do Catholic preachers address issues of peace and war.

On Method, Nature and Grace in Caritas in Veritate

On Method, Nature and Grace in Caritas in Veritate Vincent L. Strand S.J. POPE BENEDICT XVI’s 2009 encyclical Caritas in Veritate [hereafter, CV; cited by § no. in parentheses below] elicited an enormous immediate response by religious and secular commentators. Vatican Radio reported that, two weeks after the encyclical’s release, 1,800 articles had been written about it.1 While the document received some critique from the Catholic left—such as from the liberation theologian Leonardo Boff, who exclaimed, “How good a dose of Marxism would be for the Pope!”—in general, the encyclical drew heavier fire from neoconservative and libertarian supporters of free market capitalism.2 [End Page 835] For example, according to George Weigel, CV “resembles a duck-billed platypus” with incisive passages written by the Pope himself mixed together with passages reflecting current Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace default positions that Weigel finds unimpressive. He suggests that the reader of CV note the former passages with a gold marker and the latter with a red marker, distinguishing those valuable passages to be kept and pondered from those to be disregarded.3 In a similar spirit, Michael Novak praises elements of the encyclical, in particular its “beautiful” discussion of caritas, but nonetheless insists that, “if we hold each sentence of Caritas in veritate up to analysis in the light of empirical truth about events in the field of political economy since 1967, we will find that it is not nearly so full in its veritas as in its caritas.”4 Thomas Woods, author of The Church and the Market: A Catholic Defense of the Free Economy, offers a boisterous libertarian critique of the encyclical, saying that, at worst, CV is “bewilderingly naïve, and its policy recommendations, while attracting no one to the Church, are certain to repel.”5 [End Page 836] These responses are noteworthy, given that the previous social encyclical, Centesimus Annus, was lauded by Weigel, Novak, and other Catholic neoconservatives.6 Upon first consideration, we might attribute the critique that CV elicited from these authors solely to the document’s specific economic and political policy recommendations: for example, its calls for redistribution of wealth and a world political authority (§§ 37 and 67). I would like to propose, however, that the [End Page 837] disagreement is more fundamental: it is not about the value of one economic theory or another, but instead about the role of economics as an autonomous science and about the degree to which Christianity should shape our economic and political thinking. The first part of this article will set a backdrop against which to consider these questions. It will offer a cursory exposition of the debate between Catholic neoconservatives (the so-called “Whig Thomists” long associated with the journal First Things7) and those thinkers associated with the journal Communio (sometimes referred to as “Augustinian Thomists”8). Second, I will argue that CV places Benedict’s thought in the latter camp. As I will show, this is due less to the content of Benedict’s theology than to its structure. I will suggest that CV contains a methodological newness that distinguishes it from earlier, more Thomistic social encyclicals: in CV, economic positions are obtained through revelation and a theological anthropology developed from Christological and Trinitarian reflection. Third, I will suggest that this methodology is an expression of Henri de Lubac’s position on nature and grace. The essay will conclude by naming several issues that merit further consideration. Christianity and Capitalism: A Debate A prolifically sustained argument in recent decades about the Church’s relationship to society has occurred between Catholic neoconservatives and the Communio school.9 It is not my intent here to offer a full exposition [End Page 838] of this debate. Instead, I would like to focus on their argument concerning the relationship of the Church to economics. Neoconservatives generally see the possibility of a smooth merger between democratic capitalism and Catholicism.10 At times, particularly in the work of Novak, this entails the strong claim that capitalism can be a source of spirituality.11 For his part, Weigel has proposed this merger by underscoring the virtue of creativity, which he finds present both in democratic...

The Contribution of the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church in the Construction of a New Concept of “Sustainability”

Abstract In the Bible we find, in the “book of Genesis”, two accounts of creation, which refer to two experiences, two different cultural and theological traditions. The Synoptic reading of the tracks offers the possibility of a deep reflection on what are the concepts “of creation such as universe and of creation such as making” and the role of the man in the creation with its functions of guardian and manager. It also provides the opportunity to assess the character and the meaning of human action, which is always characterized by ethical reference. It turns out the idea that man's relation to the world is a constitutive element of human identity, the result of a relationship that began as a deep relationship between Creator and creature. This ratio, deeply troubled allowed in “modern era to record a growing ability to transformative intervention of man. The aspect of the conquest and exploitation of resources became predominant and invasive, and came to threaten today ‘s hospitable environment; the environment as a “resource” risks threatening the environment as “home“. This showed that the balance between man and the environment reached a critical point” (John Paul II, 1997). This fracture is followed by a dynamic and anthropocentric vision, which can help strengthen the concept and practice of sustainability, which must constantly seek to achieve and accomplish the common good, which “set of social conditions which allow both individual members to the community, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily” (Gaudium et Spes, 26, 1966). Then, the social doctrine is looking to pursue three objectives: to found the motivation, to direct through the social living standards and to guide the consciences in to the creation of new life styles (Centesimus Annus, 53, 1991). This is to “denounce” and to “announce”: to denounce to defend the balance between man and the world and to announce a global vision of man and of humanity (Populorum Progressio, 13, 1967). Starting point and hermeneutical method is the training that is not so much passive assimilation of facts and cultural traditions, but to accustom the mind to become active, competent and responsible critical of the complexity of the world (Nussbaum M., 2013, p. 35).

Book Review: John Paul II on the Vulnerable

Book Review: John Paul II on the Vulnerable

Comunità internazionale’ e ‘famiglia umana’ nel pensiero e nell’azione di Giovanni Paolo II

The “international community and the “global affairs” in the teaching and activity of John Paul II
 During the course of John Paul II’s pontificate the Holy See gained considerable significance in the international system. Its diplomatic function was also renovated. The states that played the most important role in world politics and the main international institutions realized the existence of this change soon after the archbishop of Kraków was chosen as the head of the Holy See. Such a change, initiated and continued within a system which assumed more and more clear outlines, consisted above all in the considerable strengthening of universalism in which the Church tried to interpret its original catholic vocation in the face of the rhythms, the extent and the unexpected consequences of the process of globalization. At first glance, two fundamental phenomena: the increased global role of the pontificate (associated also with media broadcasting) and the change of the international (or global) situation seem separate. However, they seem to be so only, if not exclusively, due to analytical reasons. For historiographic reasons, a holistic treatment of the increasing role and the activity of the Holy See in the world arena in a wide array of contemporary international events would satisfy the requirements of in -depth and specialist research (e.g. the processes of changes and their transformations, the more or less stable balance of power and the lack of balance, efforts directed toward the rebuilding of the balance of power). And conversely – the following insights or research would prove partial and incomplete in the same way: research and insights which would consider the ever increasing “universalistic” presence of the Catholic Church, but which would perceive this phenomenon only through the perspective of the stages of the internal history of the church community, omitting and or dismissing as sideshows and remote phenomena certain forces of the global system, in which geopolitical and economic alliances started to appear with amazing rapidity in the last decades of the second millennium. Two phenomena, considering the order of events and the historical context, became indissolubly linked. As a result of this one cannot acquire in -depth knowledge about the reality of any of these two phenomena individually if one fails to understand the nature of the second phenomenon. The mutual overlap of the strictly ecclesiastical and political dimensions forms the basis (also the methodological basis) of this analysis, in which three basic statements are essentially considered. Firstly, the activity of John Paul II, even though when it seemed to respond to urgent circumstances in the majority of cases, or to the necessities caused by various events, was in reality directed and confirmed by a strictly defined and precise vision. This vision had both an ecclesiastical and political nature, and it was realized in an authentic manner. Secondly, the source and the power of the vision that was presented by John Paul II lay in the principles of constitutive traditions and the thinking of the Church, especially its social doctrine. This vision also defines the perspectives of the international community which go considerably beyond contemporaneity and the problems associated with it. Thirdly, the vision of the Polish Pope, if it were to be carried on and completely fulfilled, required the involvement and active participation of all of the members of the community of the faithful, according to what John Paul II himself said about the social doctrine. In the final chapter of the encyclical entitled Centesimus annus, the Pope emphasizes that the social message of the Gospel should not be perceived as a theory, but above all as the foundation and motive of action.Due to the fact that some recurrent concepts or main ideas constitute the basic elements of this vision of Pope John Paul II, they should be considered in their entirety as a sort of a constellation. The indissoluble links between the thought, the teaching of John Paul II and his personal engagement and activity proved decisive in the bringing about of this great turning point in the history of the world and the Church – a turning point which continues to amaze us. Such an impression is caused above all due to its extraordinary, almost inexplicable features, at least according to the known parameters of the logic of decision and human conduct.

The relation between economics and theology in Caritas in Veritate

Caritas in Veritate is the latest in the series of papal 'social encyclicals' beginning with Rerum Novarum (1891). Like its immediate predecessor Centesimus Annus (1991), it presents a body of economic doctrine favourable to the market economy that is superimposed on an underlying body of older doctrine that is deeply hostile to it. This article investigates the possibility that this incoherence results from a corresponding incoherence in the theological framework of the recent encyclicals. The doctrine of the encyclicals is then contrasted with an eighteenth-century, Anglo-Scotch tradition of thought that showed the compatibility with Catholic moral theology of a privately owned, competitive economy driven by self-love. This tradition is the intellectual origin of modern economics, yet it has not been available to the Church of Rome because of an historical accident. The article concludes by speculating upon the reasons for this.

Social Accounting, Ethics and Solidarity

Nowadays social accounting is becoming ever more widespread, and as a result its principles and guidelines are coming under closer scrutiny. Social accounting and business ethics are closely interconnected. First of all this is because the ethical aspects of business and also social accounting both pose a series of specific ethical questions, such as transparency, neutrality and coherence in relation to all those involved in a business activity, secondly, because the objects of social accounting are often data and information ‘with a high ethical content’ such as, for example, standard business praxis or the attitude and behaviour of a company towards its employees and consumers. Social accountants often use stakeholders as a reference point. Indeed, the ‘stakeholder approach’ is commonly used, albeit acritically and without distinguishing between different approaches such as strategic, descriptive and ethical. For example, when senior management holds itself responsible to ‘influential stakeholders’ such as US consumers or large, established European trade unions, we must ask ourselves the following question: what criteria can we use to distinguish between the authentic application of ethical principles and the adoption of sophisticated business strategies? The debate on ‘managing stakeholders’ also needs to clarify terminology: who really are stakeholders and what procedures should companies adopt to guarantee transparency in their dealings with them? An interesting debating point could be to relate the stakeholder approach with ‘solidarity.’ This concept centres on the primary importance of the human personality and can serve as a link with and between individual stakeholders and the wider aspects of the motivations for social accounting. It is in this context that the paper examines relations between the Social Doctrines of the Catholic Church (focusing on Social Encyclicals, in particular, ‘Centesimus Annus’) and business ethics and social accounting.

Twenty Years of Interpreting Centesimus Annus On The Economy

Pope John Paul II’s social encyclical Centesimus Annus (CA )w as published in 1991, and one of its key tasks was to propose a Christian vision of the economy in the aftermath of the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the end of Cold War conflicts in the Third World. In the intervening twenty years, much has changed in the global economy. The process of globalization, already well underway in 1991, has accelerated. Financial crises erupted in Mexico, East Asia, and Russia, hampering efforts at economic development and threatening to spread throughout the global economy. China and India have brought the largest number of people out of poverty in human history through marketfriendly reforms. Beginning in 2007, a global financial crisis began that shook the world economy to its core. Just as countries began to recover in 2010, crisis arose again over the ability of European nations such as Greece, Ireland, and Portugal to repay their debts, and in 2011 the ability of the United States itself to repay its debts came into question; this ongoing crisis has threatened the monetary union of Europe and the continued viability of government entitlements in many countries. Despite these significant changes in the global economy, CA continues to be a relevant guide for Christian discipleship in economic life through its distinctive insights on the role of the state in the economy, the relevance of ethics for economic life, and the necessity of theology for a complete understanding of economic life. This article presents the main insights of CA by discussing the ways in which the encyclical has been interpreted over the past twenty years. 1 Broadly speaking, there have been three interpretations of the encyclical. Perhaps the most eager interpreters of the encyclical have been the neoconservatives, who see the encyclical as a qualified endorsement of the free market economy. The second interpretation of the encyclical is that of the progressives, which claims that the encyclical

Rozważania Jana Pawła II o istocie nauki społecznej Kościoła

The source basis of the article is composed of pope John Paul’s II encyclicals – Laborem exercens (1981), Solicitudo rei socialis (1987), Centesimus annus (1991), Fides et ratio (1998), the Apostle’s Letter Tertio Millennio adveniente (1994) as well as the interview with priest cardinal Karol Wojtyla given to Vittorio Possenti on 21st of June 1978 in Mediolan. I shall separate the following issues:1) relations of concepts: social teaching of the Church, social doctrine of the Church and catholic social teaching; 2) relation theory – practice from the point of view of social doctrine of the Church; 3) social doctrine of the Church versus ideology; 4) in what sense may we talk about the historism of social doctrine of the Church?; 5) periodisation of the development of social doctrine of the Church.

Las Semanas Sociales de la Iglesia Peruana a la luz de Caritas in Veritare: el caso de la primera semana social de 1959

Pope Benedict XVI, in his encyclical letter Caritas in Veritate, makes it very clear that “The Christian vocation to development helps to promote the advancement of all men and of the whole man”(CIV.18), an approach that - as the Pope says –is also supported by Pope Paul VI in his encyclical letter Populorum Progressio, and Pope John Paul II’s Centesimus Annus. The author, as member representing UNIFE before Peru’s Episcopal Commission for Social Action (CEAS), participates in the research performed by the catholic universities of our country on the influence and intervention of the church in Peruvian society in recent decades.This article relates the progress of research on the study of the Social Weeks in Peru with the approaches proposed in the Caritas in veritate.

Comentario Pedagógico Pastoral sobre la Caritas in Veritate de Benedicto XVI

Caritas in Veritate (2009) is the first encyclical letter of Pope Benedict XVI, dedicated specifically to the Social Doctrine of the Church, after having written two others, from the beginning of his pope, Deus Caritas Est (2006) and Spes Salvi(2007). To prepare this article, it was necessary to revise the text Jesus of Nazareth (2007), the first volume published by the Theologian Pope, so to capture the unity and coherence of his thought. Because, in the second part of Deu scaritas est, before listing the social encyclical letters from Rerum Novarum to Centesimus Annus and from this to the publication of Compendium of the Church’s Social Doctrine, the Pope speaks of charity as the responsibility of the church, he dedicates a special section to justice and politics, and makes important remarks about the relations hip between justice and charity, issues that should be considered in teaching and pastoral care.