1.

Rerum Novarum (Of New Things), 1891

o Leo XIII
 Context
o Industrial revolution leads to exploiting workers
 Message
o First comprehensive document of social justice
o Defends workers right based on natural law
o Rights: just wage, workers association, private property
o Examines the condition of salaried workers, which was particularly distressing for
industrial laborers who languished in inhumane misery
 Theme
o Property issues and inequalities among People
o Wage and protection of workers
o Solidarity and worker’s union

2. Quadragesimo Anno (The Fortieth Year), 1931

o Pius XI
 Context
o Great Depression underway; dictatorships growing in Europe
 Message
o States need to reform greedy capitalist systems to which they have become slaves.
o Communism dangerous because condones violence and abolishes private
property.
o Labor and capital need each other.
o Workers need just wage to acquire private property.
o International economic cooperation urged.
o Principle of “subsidiarity” introduced.
 Theme
o On Economic Dictators
o On Totalitarian Governments
o Principle of Subsidiarity

3. Mater et Magistra, (Mother and Teacher), 1961

o John XXIII
 Context
o Christianity and Social Progress
o Science and technology advance in developed nations, while millions live in
poverty in Third World.
o Growing animosity between the East and West blocs dubbed as the Cold War of
powerful States that adopted the competing ideologies of socialism and
capitalism.
 o Rivalry Between US and USSR
o Armed Race
o Space Race
o Military Technology (Internet)

 Message
o Disparity between rich and poor nations must be addressed.
o Arms race contributes to poverty.
o Economic imbalances cause threat to peace.
o Rich nations must help poor ones while respecting culture.
o Nations are interdependent and need to cooperate.
o Catholics should know social teaching and be active.
 Theme
o Focus on the Agricultural Sector
o Principle of Socialization
o Family Farms and Cooperative
o Responsibility of Wealthy Nations

4. Pacem in Terris, (Peace on Earth) 1963

o John XXIII
 Context
o at the height of the Cold War.

 Message
o Peace ensured through social rights and responsibilities-- between people;
between citizens and public authorities; between states; among nations.
o World needs to recognize rights of women.
o Arms race goes against justice, reason and human dignity.
o United Nations needs to be strengthened

 Theme
o Peace:
 A. Order between individuals (PT, §§8ff)
 B. Order between individuals and government authorities (PT, §§46ff);
 C. Order between States (PT, §§80ff).
o Rights Talk in the Catholic Social Tradition
o Disarmament and Mutual Trust
5. Populorum Progressio, (On the Development of Peoples), 1967
o Paul VI
 Context
 o emphasis on the talk about development, and it is even referred to by some circles
as the ‘Catholic social teaching’s magna carta on development.’

 Message

 Theme

o Attention to Poor Nations

o Call for Authentic and Integral Human Development
o Call for Global Solidarity
o Development, the New Name for Peace

6. Laborem Exercens, (On Human Work) 1981

o John Paull II
 Context
o “most comprehensive treatment of human work in the corpus of Catholic social
teaching.”

 Message
o Work is part of man’s vocation and dignity, participation in God’s creative work.
Has spiritual dimension.
o Decent wages, rights and benefits of worker must be assured.
o Work must serve the family, with special consideration for working mothers.
o Steps must be taken to assure that disabled can participate in dignity of work.

 Theme
o Objective and Subjective Components of Work
o A Warning against Economism
o The Role of Indirect Employers
o Family Wage as Just Wage
o Support for Workers’ Unions
o Spirituality of Work

7. Solicitudo Rei Socialis, (On Social Concern), 1987

o John Paull II
 Context
 o commemorate Paul VI’s Populorum Progressio and to affirm the continuing
relevance of the social doctrine of the Church

 Message
o Critiques economic gap between northern and southern hemispheres and global
debt. Should be one united world.
o East-West tensions and competition block world cooperation and solidarity.
o Critiques consumerism and waste, as well as international trade practices that hurt
developing nations.

 Theme
o Superdevelopment and Underdevelopment
o Reiteration of the Option for the Poor
o On Terrorism and Demographic Problem
o Structures of Sin that Impedes the Realization of the Common Good

8. Centesimus Annus, (The Hundredth Year) 1991

o John Paull II
 Context
o appreciation and support for the continuing growth of the Catholic social teaching
o Collapse of communism in Eastern Europe.
 Message
o Critiques fundamental error of communism – atheistic view of humanity.
o Gives qualified support to free market as most efficient system for utilizing
resources and responding to needs. Free market also recognizes freedom of
human person.
o Warns against consumerism, as well as making capitalist system an all-
encompassing ideology.
 Theme
o The New Things of Today
o Subsidiarity and Solidarity

9. Caritas in Veritate, (Charity in Truth) 2009

o Benedict XVI
 Context
o Worldwide economic crisis centered on weakness in financial institutions and the
collapse of the housing market.
 Message
 o True human development requires charity lived out in truth, including respect for
the common good, religious freedom, and the sanctity of human life. Only an
economy of communion, a business ethic centered in persons and not in profit,
will be a sufficient response to the present economic and financial crisis.
 Theme
o The Phenomenon of Globalization
o Promoting the Logic of Gift and the Principle of Gratuitousness

10. Laudato Si, (“Mi Signore”,Praise be to you, my Lord), 2014

o Francis I
 Context
o A warning against our neglect of our environment

 Message
o LS is the second encyclical of Pope Francis. LS is primarily intended to denounce
the harms that contemporary society does to the environment. LS argues that
humanity’s propensity for short term, but easy, gains become the reason for the
neglect and abuses that it does to the environment.
o LS warns us about the danger of our attitude towards the environment. We are
reminded that we are caretakers of this world, and our abuse to the environment is
ultimately our neglect of humanity and of ourselves.