III.

The Church’s Social Doctrine in Our Time: Historical Notes

Summary of the Summary

By: Sem. John Christian Fabre

The Social Doctrine means a doctrinal corpus which concerns social issues and matters.
Though, the church is a religious organization it has involved itself on social matters that
has a need to be regulated by the morals of the church. Social matters raises because of
this modern social problems where humans are mistreated socially and gradually losses his
dignity as a man. Those mistreatment produces of what they called The Labour Questions.
The Popes wrote Encyclical Letters concerning the life of a person inside the society.
Encyclical Letters such as Rerum Novarum, Quadragresimo Anno, Non Abbiamo Bisogno,
Mit Brennender Sorge, Divini Redemptoris, Mater et Magistra, Pacem in Terris, Populorum
Progressio, Laborem Excercens, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis and Centesimus Annus and the
documents of the Vatican II such as Gaudium et Spes and Dignitatis Humanae brought a
great impact on the realization of each person living in the society. Each of this Encyclicals
has there own point on the persona of the person.

On the first social Encyclical is the Rerum Novarum of Pope Leo XIII. This Encyclical includes
the state of man and the rights of man that is due to his persona. It mainly talks about the
inhumane miseries of the laborers that should be corrected through the light of the
doctrinal principles which can be found in Revelation and on natural law and morality. The
solution to this social problem, as Pope Leo said, is the cooperation between all social
forces and in regard of that, the cooperation of the church will never be found lacking.

On the fortieth anniversary of Rerum Novarum, Pope Pius XI published the Encyclical
Quadragesimo Anno. This Encyclical letter reaffirms the principle of Rerum Novarum that
the salaries should be proportionaly given to the workers and to their families. This
Encyclical rejects liberalism because of the that liberalism is an unlimited competition
between economic forces, the laborers and the rich.

On the 19th of June, 1931, the Encyclical Non Abbiamo Bisogno was released by Pope Pius
XIII. This Encyclical letter was a voice against totalitarian regimes that were being imposed
in Europe and especially in the abuse of power by the totalitarian fascist regime in Italy.
On the 14th of March 1937, the Pope published the Encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge in
behalf of people that were being abused and oppressed in the hands of Germans. This
Encyclical was requested by the German Bishops after several years of suffering from
Hitler’s reign. Young people were forced to enrol as one of Hitler’s Youth Movement.

The Encyclical Divini Redemptoris is a systematic criticism of Pope Pius XI on atheistic

communism, he describes it as “intrinsically perverse”. The principal means such as renewal
of christian life, practice of evangelical charity, fulfillment of the duties of justice at both
interpersonal and in relation to common good, and the institutionalization of professional
and interprofessional groups could correct the perpetration that might appear in
communism.

Blessed Pope John XXIII published the Encyclical Mater et Magistra. This Encyclical concerns
the communion of the church to all men and women. It means church and the people is a
community and socialized in manner. For the church, it calls the truth, justice and love that
is needed to build a community among men and women and the church. This economic
growth does not only suffice the needs of man but also his dignity.

The Encyclical Pacem in Terris of Blessed Pope John XXIII is a reaction to the problem of
peace in an era marked by nuclear proliferation. It concerns the peace, human dignity and
the importance of cooperation of men and women which was indicated in the letter of
Pope Leo XIII. This Encyclical is called to tackle and solve the problems of an economic,
social, political or cultural character which are posed by the universal common good.

The Encyclical Populrom Progressio which solemnly proclaimed by Pope Paul VI considers a
development of the chapter on economic and social life in Gaudium et Spes. This implies
for each person the acquisition of culture, the respect of the dignity of others, the
acknowledgement of the highest good, the recognition God Himself. Through this, it
guarantees a worldwide peace and it will be possible a complete humanism within oneself.

Pope John Paul II published the Encyclical Laborem Excercens after the Ninetieth year of
Rerum Novarum of Pope Leo XIII. This Encyclical aims the dignity of the workers to work,
the fundamental good of the human person, the primary element of economic activity and
the key to entire social question. It is a reflection of the human person that the work should
not be in objective and material sense only, but also one must keep in mind its subjective
dimension. Pope John Paul II wrote this Encyclical with the foundation of philosophical and
theological enterprise.
In the commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of Populorum Progressio, Pope John
Paul II published the Sollicitudo Rei Socialis. This Encyclical presents the differences
between progress and development. It suggests that the true development is not only be
limited to the multiplication of good and service but must be contributed to the fullness of
the being of man.

Pope John Paul II published the Centesimus Annus together with the hundredth anniversary
of Rerum Novarum. Moreover, this Encyclical is the third publication of Pope John Paul II in
his papacy. This Encyclical emerges the continuity of of a hundred years of the Church’s
Magisterium. Pope John Paul II shows the existing experience of man to God that God in
every person and every person in God. This has draw a connection to the previous
Encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII and Pope Paul VI which was in the recognition of the term
friendship of Pope Leo XIII and Social Charity of Pope Paul VI.