Two Articles on Globalization and Summary of Catholic Social Teaching

(Please, read Enrico Chiavacci's essay, Globalization and Justice, along with the Summary of Catholic Social Teaching, as a good preparation for a written final exam next week, March 6 and 7. It's important that you take down notes, focusing on the definition of terms, features, and other important historical information. -- NDM)

Globalization and Justice

New Horizons for Moral Theology

By Enrico Chiavacci

(Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church: The Plenary Papers from the First Cross-cultural Conference on Catholic Theological Ethics, edited by James Keenan, pp. 239-244)

“Globalization” is a new term with two different meanings: a new technological possibility and a de facto structural reality in the life of the human family as a whole.

A new possibility: from the 1970s onward, new technologies, silicon transmitters and electronics, have wholly eliminated space and time in the communications between human beings, whether individuals or groups, and this development is not yet finished – the widespread diffusion of the Internet is only a few years old. Besides this, the physical contact between people from remote regions is possible today at low cost and in a short time, but this began only in the 1970s with the introduction of “wide body” aircraft: in the 1950s, it took seven days to travel by ship from Europe to the United States, but today it takes seven hours in a tourist-class plane. We must add to this the massive emigration of people who flee misery and famine with every clandestine means to their destination. Finally, today’s ships have a capacity of 8,000 containers, so that the international transport of goods has very low costs per unit. This means that it costs more or less the same to purchase an item in the neighboring city or at the antipodes of the earth. The ideal of the “unity of the human family” -- and the “human family” is itself a new term in juridical documents – which was proposed by the documents of the United Nations and by the encyclical Pacem in terris is no longer purely utopian but a concrete reality.

A structural reality: today, globalization means de facto an almost complete domination and control by very small public and private groups with economic or political interests. The political interests in developed countries are controlled by powerful groups with economic interests. In the poor countries, the governments are dominated, controlled, or blackmailed by governments of the rich countries, while it is impossible for the frequent cases of corruption to be subjected to democratic controls, since the people are uneducated and have no independent means of communication, nor any possibility of joining forces with others and of organizing and mobilizing. On the technical level, the increasing concentration of immense amounts of capital is made necessary by the costs of research, development, and marketing of complex goods such as the media or transport systems. (For example, in the United States there were three producers of big civil aircraft, McDonnell Douglas, Boeing, and Lockheed, but Boeing is the only one left, since it bought up McDonnell Douglas a few years ago and Lockheed now produces only military planes.) Such a concentration is doubtless necessary. The problems is due to the concentration in private hands (e.g., of corporations or multinationals) because of financial interests that are exclusively private and aim only at the maximization of profit, irrespective of the human or environmental costs. Is this necessary, or indeed inevitable?

II

Moral theology, and social ethics in particular, must proclaim the supreme commandment of love (caritas). Thus, the virtue of justice too is --- and must be --- nothing else than the virtue f charity applied to any form of organized societal existence, such as the forms of social life in the various cultural spheres and epochs of the past and the present. This is the fundamental idea of the bonum commune, the “common good,” which is typical of the entire Catholic moral tradition.¹  In the West, where all the classical texts of Catholic moral theology have their origin, the dominant structure from the sixteenth century onward has been the sovereign national state, a structure that was exported by colonialism and imposed on a large part of the world. We may recall, for example, the absurdity of the borders imposed by the various colonial countries on Africa or the Middle East, borders sketched at a drawing board by the colonial powers without any correspondence to the social realities that existed on the ground. Throughout the twentieth century, the common good was (and still is) envisaged as the task of the governments of the individual sovereign states, and even the United Nations was born and structured as a sum of states and a pact between states.

Nevertheless, it is precisely in the two foundational texts of the United Nations, the 1945 Charter and the 1948 Universal Declaration, that we find the completely new idea of the “human family,” which is generated by the central idea that every human being ought to have the same essential rights everywhere on earth.²  The limited possibilities of communication prior to the advent of the new technologies, and the safeguarding of the traditions and rights of the individual states, have not allowed a broadening of this vision to include the human family in its unity – and this judgment applies to Catholic moral theology as well. Today, however, traditional moral theology must come to terms with two new realities.

First, academic discourse has left behind the old cultural anthropology with its central idea that Western culture was the only true culture (or at least, the most advanced culture) for the construction of the human family. In a similar way, the claims made on behalf of the theology that has been elaborated in the West must be relativized; see the splendid analysis by Benezet Bujo.³

Second, the new technological possibilities offer the potential for active involvement to make the world a spatium verae fraternitatis, (a space of true solidarity) to borrow the phrase of Gaudium et Spes.  The conciliar text speaks explicitly of the birth of a new multicultural humanism,⁴  something that was in fact announced by all the texts in the New Testament.

III

All this demands an approach to the subject of “justice” that is radically different from what we find in all texts of moral theology, including those of the magisterium, in the last four centuries – an approach that still prevails today. It is not a new approach: it is already present in the Gospel, in all the fathers of the church,⁵  and in St. Thomas. For example, the notion of private property (aliud quasi proprium possidere) in Thomas and the fathers is limited by the essential needs of the poor: if (Thomas writes: sit amen) the one who possesses does not give, the poor person who takes what is necessary is not a thief, because he is taking what is already his own.⁶  A dust in your cupboard are not yours; they belong to the poor.

The profound transformation of economic and financial life between the fourteenth and sixteenth century⁷ (our checkbook was born near Florence in the fifteenth century) and above all the doctrine of John Locke about the innate right to property⁸ generated the doctrine that everything that I have legitimately acquired is sacred and inviolable. It may sometimes be a duty of charity to give to the poor, but never a duty of justice.⁹  In the United States, “charity” means “benevolent goodwill or generosity,”¹⁰  and charity/love is generally considered as something separate from justice. This is reflected both in philosophy and in political praxis. Nor is this all. Today, personal wealth (even if the amount is modest) is regarded as a means of production of even more personal wealth, and so on, ad infinitum. For the New Testament, this is real idolatry.

Contemporary moral theology has the duty to overthrow this way of thinking.  Attention and care for every human person: these are the very essence of justice. It is a strict duty of justice incumbent on the national and international institutions, as well as on the individual members of this global community, to ensure that every human being has the basic conditions necessary for a life that is truly human: food, a place to live, health care, and schooling.

IV

Justice, however, is not only an economic theme.¹¹  We must give our neighbor not only money, but also attention, time, and more important forms of solidarity, especially the equality in dignity of every human being. This means respect for the different cultures, an equal respect and treatment of the rich and the poor, respect and support for all the disabled, etc. Xenophobia, racism, workhouses that recall Dicken’s Oliver Twist and are still exceedingly common today in the United States and in Italy –all these are symptoms of the individualism and egoism of individuals and of groups, as I have mentioned above.

The moral theologian faces deeper problems in connection with the theme of globalization and justice. Let me mention three that seem to me to be inescapable.

First, every human being is born and develops in a given societal framework with its cultural conditioning. No ne is born and develops in a vacuum. Accordingly, the attitude that one takes toward one’s neighbor is one – or indeed the – basic question for a moral life. I believe that fundamental problems of the “social” dimension do not form part of applied ethics but of fundamental ethics. The basic decision is how I include my neighbor in my project for a good life: I can consider my neighbor as a help or a hindrance to my project, or else I can consider my neighbor as an essential part (a goal) of my project. I do not believe that is is possible to arrive at this decision by a process of rational deduction:¹² it must be considered a primum ethicum. For the Christian theologian, what is involved here is the call of God, the supreme call to charity that is present in every conscience, both that of the believer and that of the atheist, even if the latter does not know the author of this call. This is the solemn affirmation of the council when it speaks of the task of moral theology: to declare the sublimity of the human vocation in Christ, namely, to bear fruit in charity of a principle that is absolute and valid for every human being and can help in the construction of an ethic for human family.

Second, it is also true that every human being is culturally conditioned by a series of data that he or she unconsciously receives from earliest infancy, and probably also by prenatal existence. These data are imprinted on the unconscious or subconscious memory (in the shadowy zones”). They include the various languages with all their nuances (a true translation is impossible: at most, we may get an excellent interpretation), as well as the various systems of social relationships (in family, politics, marriage, economics, and education). These “data” are, in fact, structures, and one could define a culture as a complex and coherent system of structures. This is why different cultures inevitably produce different models of cooperation with other persons and different concrete modes of behavior by means of which we express and live our love and our service of others. It is clear that in the very recent epoch of globalization, the continuous and massive contacts between various cultures are leading  to profound variations in every cultural systems; but the stable principle that must be maintained is respect for every culture.¹⁵

Third, we must bear in mind that each human being is an unrepeatable unicum.  Although each individual lives within his or her own cultural conditioning, each has a biography of his own, made up of encounters, things one has read, emotions, loves, and artistic experiences. In an epoch of globalization, this element is expanding. Dante and Shakespeare are well known and read in Japan, and in Iran, and they provide every reader (even if only unconsciously) with food for reflection. Similarly, Western music is combined with African or Asian music, and each one, whether performer or listener, “reads” this in the light of his or her own unique sensitivity and personal experience. This means that each human being must be welcomed and loved as e is, with his own culture and his own biography.

In consequence, the intersection between a possible ethical decision with foundations common to all persons and the diverse forms of living this decision in concrete everyday reality constitute a very serious problem for fundamental philosophical and theological moral discourse.¹⁶  Applied ethics must take up the practical applications to the various spheres of social life (bioethics, nonviolence, ecology, sexuality, etc.)

Conclusion

Contemporary globalization poses the dramatic problem of how we are to live together as one single human family, with the same reciprocal love and care for one another. This, in turn, implies a question: What conditions must be met, if we are to live together in charity and justice, beyond all cultural diversity, and what must be respected in all the diversity? Our race has lived for hundreds of thousands of years on earth, but this is a completely new problem. The phenomenon of rapid and cheap movements of persons en masse is not yet thirty years old, and it is still developing in ever more complex forms – as yet, we know little of the potential developments of nanotechnology and robots. This means that the moral theologian must be patent! But his patience will attentive and active, able to understand and to shed light on the difficult path that each human person takes toward God. May the Lord help us poor moral theologians!¹⁷

oOo

CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHINGS

Introduction

The Catholic social teachings, which has been said to be the “best kept secret” in the Catholic Church, are not well-known because many of our people “have not been sufficiently evangelized and catechized.” Even those people who know something about these teachings know hardly anything about them. These voluminous documents – i.e., Papal social encyclicals, apostolic exhortations and letters – which contain Catholic social thought do not merely consider the economics and justice of life. They also include issues and concerns involving the family, religious, social, political, technological, recreational and cultural aspects of life.   

Following is a summary of Catholic social teachings, directly quoted from the sources to preserve its real sense and meaning. This Summary is lifted from http://www.catholicsocialteaching.org.uk/principles/documents/, and also from

http://www.catholicsocialteaching.org.uk/principles/documents/. Check this out in in my e-journal posts at http://www.mypraxiswheel.blogspot.com  (March 2016).

Rerum Novarum – “Of New Things” (1891)

Pope Leo XIII

Summary: Pope Leo XIII highlights the principles necessary to bring about a just society introducing the ‘just wage theory’, these principles include protecting the rights of workers, free association being defended by the state and private property defended but limited.

Backstory: Rerum Novarum was the first of the modern wave of social encyclicals. Leo was acutely aware of the poverty of many workers and of the growth in power of socialist movements.

Fr. Pasquale Giordano’s comment:

—  This groundbreaking encyclical addresses the conditions in which many workers labor and affirms workers’ rights to just wages, rest, and fair treatment, to form unions, and to strike if necessary.

—  Pope Leo XIII upholds individuals’ right to hold private property but also notes the role of the state in facilitating
distributive justice so that workers can adequately support their families and someday own property of their own.

—  He notes the poor “have a claim to special consideration” (no. 37). Leo XIII criticizes both capitalism for its tendency toward greed, concentration of wealth, and mistreatment of workers, as
well as socialism, for what he understood as a rejection of private property and an under ‐ emphasis on the dignity of each individual person.*

Quadragesimo Anno – “On the Fortieth Year” (1931)

Pope Pius XI

Summary: Dictatorship is condemned as the dangers of fascism and communism are exposed – such as increasing child and female labour.

Backstory: This mid depression provoked new thinking as opposed to the previous preoccupation with World War I. The growth of systematic atheism had increased, the modernist crisis arose and there were huge developments in thought. Germany was economically devastated and Russia allowed many of its own people to die – justified as necessary for the good of the state.

Fr. Pasquale Giordano’s Comment:

—  This encyclical, written to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of Rerum Novarum, reaffirms the Church’s concern for workers and defends workers’ rights, including just wages, and condemns the increasing disparities between the elite and suffering workers.

—  Pope Pius XI notes the need for state intervention but also introduces the idea of “subsidiarity,” or the idea that we should help those people closest to a problem to resolve it with social support as needed.

—  He proposes reconstruction of society into new systems that would involve all groups within society working together for the good of all.

—  Pius XI upholds the right to private property and also says that goods also have a social purpose and must serve the whole human race.

He warns against excessive individualism as well as collectivism, communism, and various types of socialism that have developed.*

Mater et Magistra – “Mother and Teacher” (1961)

Pope John XXIII

Summary: It states the need for a balance between excessive intervention of the state against the need for state intervention to curb injustices and assist socialisation. It also goes on to advocate worker participation and ownership and marks the beginning of a focus on international poverty rather than its previous concentration on industrialised countries.

Backstory: Communism was still viewed as being a major threat and since World War II there was an increasing concern for poorer nations and international inequalities.

Fr. Pasquale Giordano’s Comment:

—  Pope John XXIII comments on changes in recent decades such as communication advances, increases in workers’ rights and social programs, and the decline of colonialism, or the political or economic control by stronger countries of weaker ones.

—  He notes the world’s global interdependence and expresses profound concern about the arms race and the growing inequalities between rich and poor nations, noting that gains in science and technology should not lead to economic disparity but should instead benefit the common good.

—  John XXIII also expresses concern about the plight of small farmers and rural areas, calls for greater participation of workers in industry and new forms of agricultural support, and notes that respect for culture must be emphasized in the Church’s missionary activities. Intervention by governments is needed to address global problems, he says, but should also respect the principle of subsidiarity (allowing the people closest to a problem to help resolve it with social support as needed).

—  Finally, he proposes that Christians should engage in a process of observing, judging, and acting to put the Church’s social doctrine into practice.*

Pacem in Terris – “Peace on Earth” (1963)

Pope John XXIII

Summary: First addressed to ‘all people of goodwill’ and underlines the rights and responsibilities of individuals. This document also condemns the arms race and racism and advocates resources to be shared in the common endeavour for development.

Backstory: The terrifying threat of nuclear war had become heightened with the Berlin Wall and the Cuban Missile Crisis. In addition, the civil rights movement in the US had also exposed divisions of race.

Fr. Pasquale Giordano’s Comment:

—  This was the first encyclical to be written to “all men of good will,” instead of just the world’s Catholics. In it, Pope John XXIII lifts up a moral order that should prevail between humans; persons and states; and states; and in the world community.

—  He emphasizes basic human rights and responsibilities, calls for an end to the arms race based on trust and respect for human rights, and supports the creation of a world authority to protect the universal common good.

—  He also urges the East and West to enter into dialogue, asking them to set aside “false philosophy” in the interest of addressing important social and economic questions. John XXIII notes both that the arms race impedes the development of societies and that under‐development and injustice threaten peace.

—  He ends the encyclical with a prayer to the Prince of Peace.*

Gaudium et Spes – “The Joys and Hopes” (1965)

A document of the Second Vatican Council (1962 – 1965), promulgated by Pope Paul VI

Summary: This document underlined the need of the church to be completely immersed in human affairs and for the church to share the joys and hopes of people.

Backstory: Demonstrates the idea that the church needs to ‘interpret the signs of the times’. Although this was a document by the Second Vatican Council rather than an encyclical, it was none the less significant. The Vatican II was a pastoral council which firmly showed the significance of the church in the world rather than it being of spiritual concern only, and this was a ‘constitution’ of Vatican II – voted for by a majority of the bishops and was therefore hugely important for Catholic Social Teaching.

Fr. Pasquale Giordano’s Comment:

—  The Second Vatican Council (attended by bishops from all corners of the world) focuses on responding to “the joys and the hopes, the grief and the anguish of the people of our time,” especially the poor (no. 1).

—   The Council develops a theological basis for the Church’s engagement in the world, noting how the Church must interpret the signs of the times, both positive (growing wealth, unity, and communication) and negative (hunger and disease, war, the wealth gap, divisions based on nation, class, and race, etc.) in light of the Gospel.

—  The Council emphasizes the Church’s concern for human dignity, the solidarity of the human community, the important role of human work and activity in the world, and the engagement of the Church in society and the world.

—  The second part focuses on marriage and family, cultural diversity, social and economic life, political life, peace and war, international cooperation, and the need for integral human development, which is person‐centered and includes spiritual development.*

Dignitatis Humanae – “Human Dignity” (1965)

Another Second Vatican document rather than an encyclical

Summary: Essentially a declaration of religious freedom and the call for all Christians to respect religious freedom, a freedom which must also be permitted by states. The church must be allowed to work freely, but compulsion or force must play no part in a person’s response to God.

Backstory: This was one of the most contentious of all of the Vatican documents with much of the initiative coming from the US church favouring secularism. As a result this was opposed (and still is today) by many conservatives favouring the involvement of the church in the state as was seen in Spain and Italy, and as the church had acted up until the early 20th century.

Populorum Progressio – “The Progress of Peoples” (1967)

Pope Paul VI

Summary: Pope Paul VI most famously stated that ‘development is the new name for peace’ and he goes onto express dangers of conflict if inequalities grew. The whole area of human development is examined from an integral and holistic viewpoint rather than development just being based on economic factors.

Backstory: This was the concern for the signs of the times (in practical terms) as the Second Vatican had not fleshed out its ideas for development. Paul VI had also travelled widely and now international communications were bringing issues such as global poverty into closer proximity due to newer technologies such as television.

Octogesima Adveniens – “On the Eightieth Year” (1971)

Pope Paul VI.

Summary: This is strictly an ‘apostolic letter’ rather than an encyclical. Further reference is made in this letter to ‘The Condition of Labour’, and Paul VI lists approximately fifteen key issues presenting problems. Paul VI expresses that a variety of responses should be offered as the Christian solution. He also states that Christians should be called to action to involve themselves in building a just world by analysing their own realities and devising responses in light of the Gospel.

Backstory: The South American bishops had met at Medellin three years earlier and their themes of structural injustice, the option for the poor, conscientisation and liberation permeate the thinking in this document.

Fr. Pasquale Giordano’s Comment:

—  In an apostolic letter on the eightieth anniversary of Rerum Novarum to then‐president of the Pontifical Commission on Justice and Peace Maurice Roy, the Pope Paul VI urges local churches to develop responses to the social and economic problems facing their communities.

—  He reminds Christians of their duty to participate in working for social and political reform to promote social justice.

—  Paul VI identifies new societal problems related to urbanization, the situation of workers, women and youth, discrimination, and attitudes towards immigrants from poor countries and notes that “preferential respect” should be given to the poor (no. 23).

—  Paul VI urges changes in policies on issues affecting the poor such as trade, debt, and economic policy, and warns against basing progress on economic growth alone.

—  He notes the need for political participation by the poor and the correct use of political power and affirms the role of individuals and local Christian communities in shedding the light of faith on injustice as a way of living out the Gospel*

Justitia in Mundo – “Justice in the World (1971)

Synod of Bishops.

Summary: The Synod of Bishops in 1971 acknowledged the need for structural change to address the problems of injustice in the world, structural sin that must be effectively transformed. Proclamation of the Gospel goes hand in hand with the struggle for justice: "Action on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world fully appear to us as a constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel." There is a need for "education for justice" to form a consciousness that will address the injustices in the world. The Church must first  become just before she can prophetically denounce the injustices in society. (Giordano, 35) 

Backstory: In societies enjoying a higher level of consumer spending, it must be asked whether our life style exemplifies that sparing-ness with regard to consumption which we preach to others as necessary in order that so many millions of hungry people throughout the world may be fed.

Fr. Pasquale Gieordano’s Comment:

—  The Synod of bishops who authored this document included many bishops from Asia, Africa and Latin America. 

—  Sensitive to the concerns of the developing world, it noted a “tremendous paradox” facing the world contrasting the abundance of resources with the divisions and “crisis of solidarity” facing the world (no. 7).

—  (Solidarity is recognition that we are all one human family.) 

—  The Synod calls for structural change and “liberation from every oppressive situation” facing members of the human family. 

—  It notes the failure of development, overspending on armaments, environmental damage, the domination of the economic system by wealthy nations, and the lack of access by poor countries to those things necessary to fulfill their “right” to development. 

—  Calling for solidarity with developing nations, the Synod writes that action by the Church “on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world fully appear to us as a “constitutive,” or essential, dimension of the preaching of the Gospel” (no. 6).*

Laborem Exercens – “Through Work” (1981)

Pope John Paul II rights

Summary: Work is the central issue of this document; do women and men participate in God’s creativity and share in its productivity or are they merely cogs? This poses the idea that work should increase human dignity as the economy is made for labour and work is the subject of people. New concepts of solidarity and ‘indirect employer’ emerge strongly in this encyclical.

Backstory: Both capitalism and Marxism are criticised. John Paul had lived through the worst excesses of two regimes (Russian Communism and Nazism) which saw the worker as an expendable resource in the interests of the state. He was highly aware that the exploitation of workers continued, especially in poor areas of the world.

—  Written on the ninetieth anniversary of the very first social encyclical, Rerum Novarum, Pope John Paul II presents work as a fundamental dimension of human existence
through which the person achieves fulfillment as a human being.

—  He emphasizes the dignity of labor and notes that through work, the human person can share in the activity of the Creator. John Paul II reminds readers that labor should be prioritized over capital—that the worker should be valued more than profit.

—  For this reason, we must protect the rights of workers to employment, to just wages and to organize unions, among others. The Holy Father also calls for “new movements of solidarity of the workers and with the workers” (no. 8).*

Sollicitudo Rei Socialis – “The Social Concern of the Church” (1987)

Pope John Paul II

Summary: John Paul who had now been Pope for over fifteen years writes this very thoughtful letter in which the terms ‘structures of sin’ and ‘option for the poor’ strongly emerge (from liberation theology). He goes onto condemn the gap between the rich and poor which can be partially linked to the arms trade.

Backstory: The increase in refugees is a major concern and a result of confrontation. This was written amongst the continuation of the Cold War with the Berlin Wall collapsing later in 1989. This time also saw the severe recession of the mid 1980’s and gaps between the rich and poor widening with ‘turbo capitalism’.

Fr. Pasquale Giordano’s Comment:

—  Pope John Paul II criticizes the “wars of proxy” fought as part of the Cold War by the Eastern and Western blocs in developing countries as they compete for influence, comparing the practice to colonialism (or the political or economic control by stronger countries of weaker ones.

—  This was commonly practiced until the 1960s and 70s) . He notes that besides the East‐West divisions, there are now also North‐South divisions, with the rich‐poor gap continually widening. Building on the notion of development in On the Development of Peoples, which was written twenty years prior, John Paul II emphasizes the need for authentic human development which values being over having and which emphasizes the spiritual aspects of the person.

—  He criticizes super-development and consumerism (putting excessive value on material things) as false forms of development. The Pope discusses the environment, noting the dignity of creation and humanity’s misuse of it.

—  John Paul II notes the “structures of sin” such as the desire for profit and thirst of power that help create the evil of poverty and threats to life.

He calls for solidarity (or the recognition that we are one human family) between rich and poor nations in order to attain true development and peace.*

Centesimus Annus – “The One Hundredth Year” (1991)

Pope John Paul II

Summary: To affirm democracy the excesses of capitalism must be condemned, as well as the ‘idolatry of the market’ and the ‘insanity of the arms race’. Private property is deemed acceptable but for the first time the world’s goods (including intellectual property) are stated as having a ‘universal destination’.

Backstory: The Berlin Wall had just collapsed; arms expenditure globally hovered at around $1,000 billion (one trillion) and there was also the emergence of the super -rich individuals.

Fr. Pasquale Giordano’s Comment:

—  Pope John Paul II writes to recognize the hundredth anniversary of Rerum Novarum, a landmark document about the dignity of work the rights of workers which influenced many future documents. T

—  he Pope examines the fall of communism, brought about by the struggles of workers and the inefficient economic system that failed to protect human rights, private property, and economic freedom.

—  At the same time, John Paul II points to the advantages and sometimes limitations of the market, which sometimes do not adequately respond to human needs and can prioritize profit at the expense of the dignity of the human person.

—  John Paul II also restates themes of Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical and calls for a just society based on the rights of workers, economic initiative, and participation.*

 Evangelium Vitae – “The Gospel of Life” (1995)

Pope John Paul II

Summary: Powerful underscoring of the dignity and value of life; John Paul II condemns the ‘culture of death’ where individual freedom is placed before the rights of others to life -hence the condemnation of the death penalty, abortion and euthanasia. With very moving words to women who have undergone abortion; ‘do not give in to discouragement and do not lose hope’. This presents positive images of the promotion of a ‘culture of life’ where human freedom finds its authentic meaning and a culture of the family is the ‘sanctuary of life’.

Backstory: John Paul II is clearly anxious about the development of individualism and its assertion of rights, especially in advanced societies.

Fr. Pasquale Giordano’s Comment:

—  Pope John Paul II affirms the gift of life and the need to protect it at all stages. He proclaims the good news of the value and dignity of each human life while decrying the culture of death and calling for a renewed culture of life.

—  The encyclical addresses a wide range of old and new threats to life, especially abortion, euthanasia, experimentation on human embryos, and the death penalty. John Paul II argues that we must be people of life who stand “for all life and for the life of everyone” (no. 87).

—  The culture of death, he says, is caused by an overemphasis on individual freedoms and a lack of recognition of relationship with others.

—  This mentality, reflected in materialism’s emphasis on “having” over “being,” must be replaced by one of solidarity (recognition that we are all one family) and seeing life as a responsibility (no. 23).

—  The pope notes that the family is the “sanctuary of life” (no. 59) and connects respect for life with the need for social and economic policies that support families and integral human development which promotes the dignity of the person (no. 18, 81). *

 Caritas in Veritate – “Charity in Truth” (2009)

Pope Benedict XVI

Summary: Benedict’s message is directed at a variety of concerns including global poverty, injustice and the arms race. This looks at individuals and organisations through the lens of charity and truth. The individual motivation for charity and the concern for authentic human development are frequent concerns. There are also strong environmental concerns and the concept of ‘intergenerational justice’ is made.

Backstory: This now marked forty years since Populorum Progressio – “The Progress of Peoples” (1967). The global economic and banking crisis of 2008 had a major disproportionate effect on the poor of the world, and the issue of the environment had moved up the agenda as better evidence of degradation was consolidated.

Fr. Pasquale Giordano’s Comment:

—  Pope Benedict XVI lifts up love, or charity, as the “extraordinary force” that leads people to faith‐inspired engagement in the world (no. 1). He identifies justice as the “primary way of charity” and notes the obligation of “every Christian” to “take a stand for the common good” and work for institutional change (nos. 6‐7).

—  In the face of a global economic crisis, Pope Benedict XVI writes about the need for “a new vision for the future” (no. 21) guided by love, truth, and solidarity. These values, he writes, must inform all aspects of economic life, such as finance, trade, and globalization, which must be humanized and re‐oriented to the common good. Business owners, investors, and consumers all have a role to play in guaranteeing that businesses operate to benefit the common good.

—  Benedict XVI criticizes modern society’s appeal to rights without acknowledging corresponding duties, and he emphasizes the international community’s duty toward solidarity which should be realized in many ways, such as attention to the needs of workers and immigrants and development assistance to poor countries, which should be implemented in a way that prioritizes respect for life and the authentic human development of the person.

—  The Holy Father links concern for life with the duty to care for creation, emphasizing environmental concern more
than in any past encyclical.”

Evangelii Gaudium – The Joy of the Gospel (2013)

Pope Francis

Summary: While not a papal encyclical, Evangelii Gaudium gives particular attention to the ‘social dimension of Evangelisation’. The first section, setting the context for sharing the Joy of the Gospel talks of a huge amount of social problems, characterised by Pope Francis as the ‘crisis of communal commitment’ and touches on the markets, the economy of exclusion, inner city life, spiritual worldliness and consumerism, among other things.

Backstory: Francis wrote this document upon the invitation of the fathers of the Synod of Bishops, and published it in commemoration of the end of the Year of Faith

Fr. Pasquale Giordano’s Comment:

—  One thing is very clear, in Pope Francis’ first Apostolic Exhortation, that every member of the Catholic faith is called to evangelize and is called to be a missionary disciple. He challenges the business leaders of the world by writing that “the dignity of each human person and the pursuit of the common good are concerns which ought to shape all economic policies. Pope Francis also recognizes and appreciates the world of business as a noble vocation with one caveat, “Business is a vocation, and a noble vocation, provided that those engaged in it see themselves challenged by a greater meaning in life; this will enable them truly to serve the common good by striving to increase the goods of this world and to make them more accessible to all.”

—  *The summaries of each encyclical are excerpted from the Caritas in Veritate youth resource for Catholics Confront Global Poverty, a joint initiative of USCCB and Catholic Relief

Laudato Si' – On Care for Our Common Home (2015)

Pope Francis

Summary: Laudato Si’ is a passionate call to all people of the world to take “swift and unified global action”, particularly in relation to the destruction of the environment. Pope Francis writes that while humanity has made incredible progress in science and technology, this has not been matched with moral, ethical and spiritual growth. This imbalance is causing our relationships with creation and with God to break down and our hearts to become hardened to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor. We become arrogant and neglect creation and everyone that is part of it; forgetting what God has entrusted to our care.

Backstory: Laudato Si’ is the second encyclical of Pope Francis. Since Lumen fidei was largely the work of Francis’s predecessor Benedict XVI, Laudato Si’ is generally viewed as the first that truly represents Francis’s outlook.