JOHN PAUL II HOLY FATHER

«CENTESIMUS ANNUS»

ENCYCLICAL LETTER

ON THE HUNDRETH

ANNIVERSARY OF RERUM NOVARUM

Centesimus Annus• Pope John Paul II• Year 1991• On the hundredth anniversary of Rerum

novarum.• It examines contemporaneous political and

economic issues.

OVERVIEWCentesimus Annus begins with a

restatement and a current application of the major principles of Rerum Novarum.

Pope John Paul II then addresses the relationship of the Church’s social

teaching to major trends and events in the past one hundred years with a special emphasis on the events in Eastern Europe in 1945 and 1989.

Document Outline• Introduction• Characteristics of Rerum Novarum• Towards the “new things” of today• The year 1989• Private Property and the Universality

of Material Goods• State and Culture• Humans as the way of the Church

Major Points• Role of the Government• Dangers of Socialism• Capitalism• Private Property/Materialism• Human Dignity

Events since 1945•Many people lost the ability to

control their own destiny.• Violent extremist groups found

already support.• The atomic threat oppressed

the world.

1945

The Year 1989• In 1989: • in Eastern Europe, oppressive regimes

fell; • some Third World countries began a

transition to more just and participatory structures (#22).

• The Church’s commitment to defend and promote human rights was an important contribution to the events of 1989 (#22).

• Factors that contributed to the fall of oppressive regimes:

• violation of workers’ rights (#23); • inefficiency of the economic system

(#24); • spiritual void brought about by

atheism (#24).

• Non-violent, peaceful protest accomplished almost all of the changes in Eastern Europe (#23).

• The events of 1989 would be unthinkable without prayer and trust in God (#25).

• The events of 1989 illustrate opportunities for human freedom to cooperate with the plan of God who

acts in history (#26).• In some countries, the events of

1989 resulted from an encounter between the Church and the workers’

movement (#26).

• The events of 1989 illustrated that the Church’s social doctrine of (as well as concrete commitment to)

• International structures that can help rebuild, economically and morally, the countries that have abandoned communism are needed (#27).

• Peace and prosperity are goods that belong to the whole human race (#27).

• Aid for Eastern Europe, without a slackening of aid for the Third World, is needed (#28).

• There must be a change in priorities and values on which economic and political choices are made (#28).

• The advancement of the poor is an opportunity for the moral, cultural, and economic growth of all

humanity (#28).• Development must be seen in

fully human, and not merely economic, terms (#29).

Major Points

..\..\Two Cows explain capitalism over socialism.mp4

The Role of the Government

•Duty in our lives• International Relations• Socialism

Dangers of Socialism• Lack of Moral Values•Worth of the Human

Person•Government Control of

Economy

• Should capitalism be their only option? The Pope answered the question this way:

Capitalism

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 (# 42).

Private Property•Motivation•Materialism• Stewardship

Human Dignity•Respect due to all people• The poor and the response

of Christians•Duty of the Government

CHALLENGE

Authentic human development

It is not wrong to want to live better; what is wrong is a style of life which is

presumed to be better when it is directed towards ‘having’ rather than

‘being’, and which wants to have more, not in order to be

more but in order to spend life in enjoyment as an end in itself. (# 36)

“It is therefore necessary to create life-styles in which the quest for

truth, beauty, goodness and communion with others for the sake of common growth are the factors

which determine consumer choices, savings and investments.

In this regard, it is not a matter of the duty of charity alone, that is,

the duty to give from one’s ‘abundance’, and sometimes even

out of one’s needs, in order to provide what is essential for the

life of a poor person. (# 36)

Solidarity[I]t will be necessary to abandon a mentality in which the poor – as individuals and as peoples –

are considered a burden, as irksome intruders trying to

consume what others have produced. The poor ask for the right to share in enjoying material goods

and to make good use of their capacity for work, thus creating a world that is more just and

prosperous for all. (# 28)

The advancement of the poor constitutes a great

opportunity for the moral, cultural and even

economic growth of all humanity (# 28).

SALAMAT !