Centesimus Annus
Encyclical Letter of His Holiness John Paul II in the centenary of the “Rerum novarum”
With the Encyclical Centesimus annus of 1 August 1991, John Paul II intended to remember, one hundred years after its publication, the Encyclical of Leone XIII Rerum novarum, and at the same time highlight the importance, fruitfulness and perennial relevance of the first official intervention of the social magisterium of the Church.
The Pope first of all expresses thanks to Leo XIII for his “immortal document” (n. 1), with which the Church once again became aware that social teaching is an integral part of its evangelizing mission, thus regaining also the right of citizenship in the reality of public life from which she had been partly banned and from which she had also distanced herself (n. 3).
The main themes of Rerum novarum
The first chapter (nn 4 – 11), entitled Characteristic traits of the Rerum novarum, praises the Leonine encyclical and recalls its importance: «Leo XIII, faced with the social conflict which pitted man against man almost like wolves , did not doubt that he had to intervene” (n. 5). His intention was to re-establish peace between capitalists and proletarians, a peace however that could not be achieved without justice (n. 5).
The key to understanding Leo XIII’s text is the dignity of the worker, considered as a person, with his fundamental rights, including the right to private property (n. 6), the right of association, that is, to found and manage trade unions (n. 7), the right to rest and a fair salary (n. 8), the right to the free fulfillment of religious duties (n. 9).
Rerum novarum is the first Encyclical that affirmed the principle of solidarity, that is, the particular attention that the State must have towards the poorest classes (n. 10); but also, without explicitly formulating it, the principle of subsidiarity, according to which the State, in its dutiful intervention, must respect the priority competences of individuals, families and intermediate groups (n. 11).
Today’s new things
In the second chapter (nn 12 – 21), entitled Towards the new things of today, the Encyclical invites us to consider the current “new things”, in particular the collapse of real socialism. The Pontiff points out the foresight of Leo XIII in foreseeing the negative consequences of the order of society proposed by socialism. The reversal of the position of the poor and the rich was, in fact, to the detriment of those very people whom they wanted to help: The remedy thus proved to be worse than the evil (n. 12).
A century later, having witnessed the failure of real socialism, John Paul II explains the reasons for this failure, indicating them in the incorrect anthropological vision and in atheism. By reducing man to a series of social relations, the concept of the person as an autonomous subject of responsibility disappears; by denying the existence of God, the human person with all his rights is deprived of his profound and solid foundation (n. 13).
John Paul II also rejects the liberal-bourgeois vision of the State which leaves the economic sector totally at the mercy of private interests and recalls that while respecting the legitimate autonomy of economic activity, it is up to the State to determine the legal framework within which carry out economic relations (n. 15). Referring then to the action of the trade unions, he recognizes their merit in having been not only a bargaining instrument for the resolution of labor disputes, but also “places of expression of the workers’ personality and of growth of conscience and participation” (n. 16).
The Pope then observes how communist totalitarianism, after the Second World War, imposed itself and spread over more than half of Europe and vast regions of the world, and how to stem that “threatening tide”, three ways were attempted: 1) the market economy inspired by social justice, which deprives communism of the revolutionary potential, constituted by exploited and oppressed multitudes; 2) the national security systems which, despite their obvious limitations, served to stem and make Marxist infiltration impossible; 3) the welfare or consumer society which, although it manages to defeat Marxism, nevertheless excludes religious and spiritual values from society, just like communism (n. 19).
The Encyclical also recalls that, in the same period, numerous countries obtained independence, but observes that, despite the sovereignty obtained, decisive sectors of the economy remained in the hands of large foreign companies, and laments how in those countries the conflicts between tribal groups and that it seems to many that Marxism can offer a shortcut to acquiring full autonomy (n. 20).
To clear away the fog of all these “new things” and these new problems, the Pope indicates with satisfaction two important facts: the awareness of human rights which has found recognition in various international documents and the constitution of the United Nations Organization (n. 21).
The events of the year 1989
The third chapter (nn 22-29) is entitled The Year 1989. John Paul II believes that the Church’s commitment to the defense and promotion of human rights has certainly contributed to the collapse of the communist regimes in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, which had its peak precisely in the year 1989 (n. 22), but the specific and decisive factors of this collapse are identified precisely within the very limits of communism: the violation of labor rights (n. 23 ), the inefficiency of the economic system and the spiritual void caused by atheism (n.24).ù
The universal destination of goods and private property
The fourth chapter (nn 30 – 43), the largest and most detailed, has as its theme private property and the universal destination of goods. God gave the earth to all mankind, so that it could support all its members, without excluding or privileging anyone. But the earth does not bear its fruits without a particular response from man which consists in the work with which he makes a part of the earth his own: “This is – the Pope observes – the origin of individual property” (n. 31 ).
The Encyclical also illustrates a new form of property, the importance of which is no less than that of land: the ownership of knowledge, technology and learning. The wealth of industrialized nations is based today on this type of property, much more than on that of natural resources. Thus a truth always affirmed by Christianity re-emerges: «Man’s main resource, together with the earth, is man himself» and that is «his capacity for knowledge which comes to light through scientific knowledge» (n. 32).
Against the background of this observation, the Pope glimpses the emergence of a new proletariat made up of those who do not have the possibility of acquiring knowledge of new technologies, thus risking being marginalized (n. 33).
As regards the free market, the Encyclical recognizes it as the most effective tool for using resources and responding to needs (n. 34), however it states: «Profit must not be the only indicator of the conditions of a company : it is in fact possible that the economic accounts are in order and at the same time that the men, who constitute the most precious assets of the company, are humiliated and their dignity offended” (n. 35).
Centesimus annus dedicates an entire section (nn. 37 – 40) to ecology and the consequences of the irrational destruction of the natural environment (n. 37), but it also speaks of human ecology, stating that it is much more serious than the dilapidation of natural environment is the destruction of the human environment and, with an almost prophetic vision, speaks of the destruction of the family, founded on marriage, which instead must be valued in all its aspects and considered as “the sanctuary of life” (n. 39 ).
The democratic state
The fifth chapter (nn. 44 – 52) addresses the problem of democracy and the values that must nourish it. John Paul II states that totalitarianism is unacceptable for a Christian, because it denies the transcendent dignity of the human person and tends to absorb society, the family, religious communities and people themselves (n. 45).
For there to be true democracy, however, all fundamental human values and rights must be respected and the common good truly pursued: “A democracy without values easily transforms into open or covert totalitarianism” (n. 46). Among the rights that a democratic regime must recognize and safeguard, the Pope also recalls “the right to life, of which the right to be born under the mother’s heart after being generated is an integral part” (n. 47).
At the end of the chapter, we recall the contribution that the Church offers to the true culture of peace (nn. 50 – 51). In a period marked by the Persian Gulf War, John Paul II, with heartfelt words, launches his appeal for peace: «Never again war. No, never again war, which destroys the lives of innocents, which teaches people to kill and which leaves behind a trail of resentment and hatred, making it more difficult to find the right solution to the very problems that caused it” (n. 52).
Man: way of the Church
The sixth chapter (nn 53-62) has the title: Man is the way of the Church.
John Paul II states that all the doctrinal richness of the Church has as its horizon man in his concrete reality and in his dignity as a creature of God (n. 53). It follows that there is a profound connection between the Social Doctrine and Christian anthropology (n. 54): if there is a theological anthropology, that is, a vision of man in the light of God, there must also be a social behavior of man man consistent with this dimension; consequently, the Social Doctrine of the Church, which offers its orientation, belongs to theology and especially to moral theology (п. 55).
The social message of the Gospel, however, must not be considered as a theory, but as a foundation and motivation for action: “it becomes credible when it is translated into the testimony of works” (n. 57), in particular with the promotion of justice, in way of helping entire populations, currently excluded, to enter the circle of human economic development. And this will be possible not only by drawing on the superfluous that our world produces in abundance, but above all by changing lifestyles and production models to adapt to a vision of the common good that refers to the entire human family (n. 58).
In the conclusion, Centesimus Annus recalls once again that the defense of the human person has always been the inspiring motive of the Social Doctrine of the Church and continues to be so even in the face of new challenges and “new things that present themselves in every age” (n . 61).
John Paul II finally turns his attention to Christ, Lord of time and history, who has made man’s life his own and guides him even when he does not realize it. The Lord repeats to men of all times: “Behold, I make all things new” (n. 62).
Source
- “L’anima del Mondo. Dialoghi sull’insegnamento sociale della Chiesa” of Mauro Viani
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