1. JOHN PAUL II
HOLY FATHER
«CENTESIMUS
ANNUS»
ENCYCLICAL
LETTER
ON THE
HUNDRETH
ANNIVERSARY OF
RERUM NOVARUM
2. Centesimus Annus
• Pope John Paul II
• Year 1991
• On the hundredth anniversary of Rerum
novarum.
• It examines contemporaneous political and
economic issues.
3. OVERVIEW
Centesimus 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.
4. 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
5. Major Points
• Role of the Government
• Dangers of Socialism
• Capitalism
• Private Property/Materialism
• Human Dignity
6. 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.
8. 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).
9. • 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).
10. • 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).
11. • 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).
12. • The events of 1989
illustrated that the Church’s
social doctrine of (as well
as concrete commitment
to)
13. • International structures that
can help rebuild, economically
and morally, the countries that
have abandoned communism
are needed (#27).
14. • 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).
15. • 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).
18. The Role of the Government
• Duty in our lives
• International Relations
• Socialism
19. Dangers of Socialism
• Lack of Moral Values
• Worth of the Human
Person
• Government Control of
Economy
20.
21. • Should capitalism be their
only option? The Pope
answered the question this
way:
Capitalism
22. 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 ...
23. 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).
27. 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)
28. “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.
29. 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)
30. 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)
31. The advancement of the poor
constitutes a great
opportunity for the moral,
cultural and even
economic growth of all
humanity (# 28).
