Popes and Catholic Social Teaching

SWBAT:

• See the role of the pope as prophet• Understand how the popes have

responded to the pastoral needs of the day• See how they share in the role of prophet

(as per their baptism)

Baptism

• Every Christian is baptized as • Priest• Prophet• King

Catholic SOCIAL Teaching

• When you hear SOCIAL teaching or SOCIAL justice, think SOCIETY

Pope Leo XIII and 1891

• Industrial Revolution

• A few billionaires, millions on the brink of starvation

• Slums – dirty, disease spreading rapidly

• Sweatshops – pay is criminally low, dangerous, no protection, etc.

Ideas

• In response to the working conditions and wages, UNIONS are forming.

• Throughout Europe, US, etc., Marxism (an atheistic version of COMMUNISM) is spreading

Rerum Novarum

• Pope presents “just wage theory”• (You can’t run a sweatshop and claim to

be a good Catholic)• Workers have the right to unionize• Private property defended, but not an

absolute

1931

• Stalin is ruling Russia (USSR) at this point, Mussolini is ruling Italy, and Hitler will soon rule Germany (lost the 1930 election, won in 1932)

• AND THEY’RE INCREDIBLY POPULAR!!!

Quadragesimo Anno “On the Fortieth Year”

• Pope condemns dictatorships, as fascism and communism are spreading

1961Middle of the Cold War

• Cold War – Communist governments control EVERYTHING • Every business, media, etc. owned by state

Mater et Magistra“Mother and Teacher”

• We need a balance between EXCESSIVE intervention of the state and INSUFFICIENT intervention (needed to curb injustices)

1963

• Middle of Cold War, nuclear arms race• Cuban missile crisis saw the world on the

brink of nuclear war • (Many advisors on BOTH SIDES wanted

Kennedy and Khrushchev to be willing to nuke)

• Civil rights movement also growing in US

Pacem in Terris“Peace on Earth”

• Nuclear arms race condemned• Racism condemned• Resources shared for common good

1965

• Two decades after the end of the Holocaust

• In the US, JFK almost lost election because of his Catholicism

Dignitatis Humanae“Human Dignity”

• At the urging of US church leaders, this Vatican II document called for religious freedom in every country

1965

• Church has a history of priests/monks/nuns separating themselves from the world

Gaudium et Spes“The Joys and Hopes”

• The Church must be completely immersed in human affairs – share their “joys and hopes”

• As Pope Francis will later say, “A shepherd should smell like his sheep”

1967

• People were travelling much more• Issues like global poverty coming to the

forefront

Populorum Progressio“The Progress of People”

• “Development is the new name for peace”• Inequality will cause conflict

1971

• Bishops in South America had met three years earlier, discussing the vast injustices of the country, Church’s role

Octogesima Adveniens“On the Eightieth Year”

• Pope Paul VI echoes the themes of the South American bishops, on structural injustice, the option for the poor, liberation, and conscientisation (overcoming oppressive ideas)

• This leads to the controversial liberation theology

1981

• Still the middle of the Cold War, Pope John Paul II lived through Nazism and Communism

• USA and USSR the two global powers @ this time

Laborem Exercens“Through Work”

• Capitalism and Marxism both criticized• Both can treat workers as expendable

• Work should increase human dignity• Solidarity an important theme• Indirect employers - if a factory owner buys

resources, and insists on the lowest price, that almost ensures exploited workers.

1987

• Severe recession in mid-80’s, widening gap between rich and poor

Sollicitudo Rei Socialis“The Social Concern of the Church”

• Major themes: “Structures of sin”, “option for the poor”

• Condemns the gap between rich and poor• Links this, in part, to the arms trade

1991

• A century since “Rerum Novarum”• The Berlin Wall has collapsed; the USSR will

formally dissolve Christmas of this year (1991)• Globally, people are spending a trillion on the

military

Centesimus Annus“The One Hundredth Year”

• Excesses of capitalism condemned, including the “idolatry of the market” and the “insanity of the arms race”

• World’s goods have a “universal destination”

1995

• Abortion increasing in much of the world – legalized in many countries in 60’s and 70’s

• Numbers exceed 50 million/year• Euthanasia starting to grow as well

Evangelium Vitae“The Gospel of Life”

• Condemns abortion, death penalty, and euthanasia

• “Culture of life” vs. “culture of death”• Individualism has meant individual freedom

tramples the rights of others, even the right to life

2009

• Global financial crisis of 2008• Poor disproportionately affected

• Growing environmental concerns

Caritas in Veritate“Charity in Truth”

• Global poverty, injustice, arms race major themes

• Strong environmental concerns – “intergenerational justice”

2013

• Greed and poverty unchanged

Evangelii Gaudium“The Joy of the Gospel”

• Talks about markets, spiritual worldliness, consumerism, the “crisis of communal commitment”.