Pope Francis’s two encyclicals—Laudato si’ and Fratelli tutti—belong to the tradition of Catholic social teaching that began in 1891 with Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum novarum. There have been continuities and discontinuities within the tradition of Catholic social teaching, but there has been a tendency to downplay the discontinuities. Francis’s two encyclicals show both discontinuities and continuities with the earlier documents. The final section criticizes these two encyclicals as being too overly optimistic in their approach to (...) solving the problems facing the environment and the social, political, and economic orders. (shrink)

It is notable how some papal social encyclicals have interchangeably used the terms ' common good ' and 'human rights.' This article analyzes the papal common good teaching and its contemporary shift to include human rights. I also explore the differential nuances between the common good and the human rights. Human rights as advocated by civil societies are understood as arising from a conception of the nature of the human person. The common good has been expressed in practical (...) ways through human rights, especially the right to work and receive a just wage. The papal social encyclicals are viewed here as relevant to our contemporary world where extreme capitalism and unrestrained consumerism have led to the accumulation of wealth and power in the hands of a few people. (shrink)

This article draws upon 100 years of writings which are referred to as the Catholic Social Tradition (CST). Using this tradition as a guide, the nature of work is explored along with the principles and virtues which vitalize the deepest dimension of work — how it affects the dignity of the human person. It develops five operational ethical principles which can be applied to questions of workplace ethics. Organizational policies and programs that seem consistent with CST are also discussed.

This essay elucidates the theological and philosophical backgrounds of the ethics of solidarity in the thoughts of Pope John Paul II and expounds the basic hermeneutical conditions for its reappraisal in social ethics and contemporary debates. While it does not principally concern itself with defining solidarity , the question of its meaning is not completely ignored.This paper contributes to a better historico-critical understanding of the thoughts of John Paul II and an evaluation of his input to the development of (...) Catholic social thought.This essay argues that the insights of John Paul’s ethics of solidarity are as relevant as they are insufficient in constituting an ethical framework in contemporary debates on international poverty, social welfare, social change and the effects of economic globalization.The author views the writings of Paul Ricoeur as enriching the perspectives of John Paul II. (shrink)

A significant voice in encouraging the theoretical development and practical implementation of humanistic management is Pope Benedict XVI. In his Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, published in 2009, he proposed a new humanistic synthesis to realign the economy with its social purpose. The aim of this book is to interpret, comment, and develop aspects of this Encyclical Letter which are significant for economic and business activity and contribute to humanistic management. The authors, specialists in their different fields, provide an (...) interdisciplinary dialogue between their repsective areas and the Encyclical. The first, theoretical, part of the book focuses on the relationship between ethics and economics to advance toward a holistic view of business and managerial activity. The second part is oriented more toward the practical and managerial aspects, and discusses how the Encyclical can contribute to more humanistic ways of management. (shrink)

In the development of Roman Catholic social thought from the teachings of the scholastics to the modern social encyclicals, changes in normative economics reflect the transformation of an economic terrain from its feudal roots to the modern industrial economy. The preeminence accorded by the modern market to the allocative over the distributive function of price broke the convenient convergence of commutative and distributive justice in scholastic just price theory. Furthermore, the loss of custom, law, and usage in (...) defining the boundaries of economic behavior led to a depersonalization of economic relationships that had previously provided effective informal means of protecting individual well-being. Hence, recent economic ethics has had to look for nonprice, nonmarket mechanisms for distributive justice. This is reflected, for example, in the shift in attitude from the medieval antipathy toward unions to the contemporary defense of organized labor on moral grounds. (shrink)

Resumen Fiel a la reflexión del Concilio Vaticano II y escuchando las voces de los pueblos más pobres, Pablo VI publicó la encíclica Populorum progressio, como un valiente “manifiesto” sobre el humanismo del progreso integral. La observación de los signos de los tiempos y la fidelidad al mensaje evangélico hacen que esta encíclica pueda ser leída como una amplia catequesis sobre la caridad social y, mejor aún, como una voz profética para nuestro tiempo.Faithful to the message of the II (...) Vatican Council and listening to the voices of the poorest people, Paul VI published the encyclical Populorum Progressio as a courageous “manifesto” on the humanism of integral progress. Observing the signs of the times and fidelity to the Gospel message make this encyclical read as a broad catechesis on social charity and, even better, as a prophetic voice for our time. (shrink)

This was one of SCSS President Stephen M. Krason’s “Neither Left nor Right, but Catholic” columns that appear monthly in Crisis and The Wanderer. In it, he summarizes his conclusions about the conformity of current American conservatism with Catholic social teaching—as put forth in the papal social encyclicals—on the subject of economics and social welfare policy from his 2017 book, Catholicism and American Political Ideologies. His analysis is based on the 2012 Republican party platform, which was (...) held to be a particularly conservative document—and thus a good measure of current conservative thinking on public policy questions. He concludes that American conservative thinking about economics and social welfare policy conforms reasonably well—certainly not perfectly—with Catholic social teaching. (shrink)

We uncover fundamental dimensions of the process through which organizations embed the practice of fraternity through embarking on an organizational journey in the direction of the common good. Building on the latest encyclical of Pope Francis, _Fratelli Tutti_, about fraternal and social friendship, we offer insight into the understanding of what it means to become a fraternal organization and reflect on the key ethical and paradoxical challenges for organizations aiming at collectively contributing to the common good. We add to (...) previous work by characterizing this journey as a process involving unique ethical challenges that emerge from the paradoxes associated with this process and how this might change the nature of the relationships between organizations and others within the organizational landscape. (shrink)

Religion does influence personal choices and behavior, even today. In a multireligious society, religions and religious groups influence social life and public policy considerably. Hitherto, Catholic social teaching, thought, and practice were essentially, if not exclusively, based on the Christian vision of socioeconomic and political realities, without paying much attention to the existence and role of the world’s great religions and religious traditions in this endeavor. To revitalize Catholic social teaching in today’s world, the Church must enter (...) into critical dialogue with non-Christian religions and harness their contribution to sociopolitical transformation. The teachings of Pope Francis, especially in recent social encyclicals, emphasize the importance of such conversations and identify possible paths to pursue. (shrink)

Using relevant encyclicals issued over the last 100 years, the author extracts those principles that constitute the underpinnings of Catholic Social Teaching about the employment relationship and contemplates implications of their incorporation into human resource policy. Respect for worker dignity, for his or her family's economic security, and for the common good of society clearly emerge as the primary guidelines for responsible human resource management. Dovetailing these three Church mandates with the economic objectives of the firm could, in (...) essence, alter the firm's nature because profit motivations would be constrained by consideration for worker and societal welfare. Integration of Church teaching with current corporate goals should therefore impact greatly on a variety of human resource policies. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Social Justice and Subsidiarity: Luigi Taparelli and the Origins of Modern Catholic Social Thought by Thomas C. BehrPatrick Auer JonesSocial Justice and Subsidiarity: Luigi Taparelli and the Origins of Modern Catholic Social Thought by Thomas C. Behr (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2019), ix + 259 pp.The status of Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum as the origin point of what has come to be (...) called Catholic Social Teaching (CST), or Catholic social doctrine, has been reinforced on the magisterial level by the commemorations of the encyclical by Pius XI, Paul VI, and John Paul II. It should be noted, then, that the tradition of CST is comparatively recent. Indeed, it is nearly coextensive with the twentieth-century. Nevertheless, this short tradition already calls for a ressourcement. As Russell Hittinger has pointed out, reflections on CST often move swiftly to the particulars of social issues without an adequate grasp even of its basic concepts: subsidiarity, solidarity, the common good, and the dignity of the person. Further, historical [End Page 1101] developments have had dramatic impact upon the ways in which these principles have been received and developed in the course of this young tradition.In his book Social Justice and Subsidiarity: Luigi Taparelli and the Origins of Modern Catholic Social Thought, Thomas C. Behr provides a major contribution to just such a ressourcement. He does this by presenting an introduction to the thought of the Jesuit scholar whose revival of Thomistic thought in a modern register formed the basis for Leonine social teaching. As Behr explains, Taparelli has remained a somewhat hidden figure in accounts of the genesis and development of CST. He goes unmentioned in the major social encyclicals of Leo and Pius, despite the fact that Leo himself was Taparelli's student. Because of his rhetorically and philosophically potent critique of Enlightenment thought and its effect on mid-nineteenth-century Europe, available to a popular audience through his frequent contributions to the Jesuit periodical La Civiltà Cattolica, Taparelli's name carried baggage for a Church that sought to move beyond the posture of reaction to liberal political orders.However, as Behr shows in the introduction, Taparelli hardly rejected the methods and insights of modern political thought tout court. Behr describes Taparelli's system as a "realist social science." This terminology speaks to the promise which Taparelli found in the sociological analysis of Montesquieu in particular. Though Taparelli judged that Montesquieu held a questionable preference for a republican political form, he greatly admired Montesquieu's ability to, as Behr puts it, "bring political theory into relationship with social theory and historical contingency" (8). Though Taparelli was not familiar with the work of Alexis De Tocqueville, Behr also notes the resonances between Taparelli's work and Tocqueville's political sociology and defense of "intermediary institutions." Yet Taparelli makes up for what the sociological approaches of Montesquieu and Tocqueville lack in the way of natural, teleological principles of politics. Behr alerts the reader from the very beginning of his work that, in approaching Taparelli, he will not find a simple recapitulation of Thomas, but rather a creative approach to political thought which aims to set what is worthy in the modern empirical methodologies on firmer foundations through the recovery of Thomistic-Aristotelian principles.In chapter 1, "Taparelli and the Age of Ideology," Behr situates Taparelli within the political conflicts of the early nineteenth century. Behr sets the scene for Taparelli's renovated Scholasticism by explaining the opposition between Catholic traditionalism (represented especially by Joseph De Maistre and Donoso Cortés) and Catholic liberalism (represented especially by Henri Dominique Lacordaire and his more radical associate Felicité de Lammenais). While the Catholic liberals aimed to convince both [End Page 1102] the ecclesiastical hierarchy and the anticlerical, postrevolutionary governments of Europe that Christianity upheld liberal and republican ideals, the traditionalists argued that Europe's moral and political derangement was the result of a rejection of the norms of tradition—especially of papal and monarchical authority. Remarkably, Taparelli entered neither of these camps. In the opening chapter, Behr stimulates the contemporary reader's interest by showing how Taparelli responded to a crisis of ideologies—progressive and... (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Catholic Social Teaching and the Allocation of Scarce ResourcesJohn Langan S.J. (bio)I shall approach the issue of justice in the allocation of scarce resources from the viewpoint of Catholic social teaching, as developed over the last century. This teaching is found primarily in the social encyclicals issued by popes from Leo XIII (1878–1903) to John Paul II (1978- ), but also in the pastoral letters (...) of the various bishops’ conferences, especially in the United States and in Latin America. These documents, which enjoy a high standing in Catholic teaching but which are not taken as binding in all their particulars, form part of a tradition of moral and social theorizing that a contemporary American would regard as “communitarian.” On social questions, this tradition also has shown itself to be historicist in that it is capable of modifying itself in significant ways in response to changing political and economic situations. It normally approaches issues from a universalist perspective, though it has shifted from a preoccupation with the concerns of the industrial societies of Europe to an advocacy of much of the reform agenda of the Third World.Rooted in classical and biblical sources and modified in the course of the last [End Page 401] century to include a principled acceptance of religious freedom, of human rights, and of democratic political institutions, the Catholic social tradition proposes a number of ideas that can serve as the basis for significant criticism of currently dominant liberal modes of organizing and interpreting advanced industrial societies. These ideas do not form a countertheory to liberalism so much as they indicate ways in which a religious organization that includes both hierarchical and egalitarian elements in its structure and that has both moral commitments and practical responsibilities with regard to health care can draw on its intellectual resources to develop alternative strategies for the reform of health care.I shall survey six ideas that figure prominently in Catholic social teaching and that are relevant to the allocation of scare resources in American health care. Space constraints require that I present them in a very condensed fashion, without tracing the complex development they have undergone in the internal Catholic debate or subjecting them to much criticism.First, Catholic social teaching, especially the great encyclical of John XXIII, Pacem In Terris (PT 1963), affirms the full range of human rights recognized in such modern documents as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1949). In addition to the civil and political rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights added to the original U.S. Constitution (1791), the Universal Declaration includes rights “to life, to bodily integrity, and to the means which are suitable for the proper development of life; these are primarily food, clothing, shelter, rest, medical care, and finally the necessary social services” (PT 11). Catholic social teaching has not committed itself to one particular way of institutionalizing these rights, but it effectively endorses the comprehensive West European welfare states that the Christian Democratic political parties helped to construct in the period after 1945.Second, Catholic social teaching has accorded a central organizing role to the notion of the common good, the realization of which “is the whole reason for the existence of civil authorities” (PT 54). The common good, however, is not to be understood as identical with the interest or the power of the state; rather, it “embraces the sum total of those conditions of social living whereby men are enabled to achieve their own integral perfection more fully and more easily” (PT 58; quoting Mater et Magistra). John XXIII is particularly anxious to affirm that the common good cannot be construed so as to exclude some groups or to violate the rights of individuals and that it must include both physical and spiritual goods (PT 55–61). The notion of the common good has both an inherent attractiveness and a vagueness that cries out for specification and clarification. But in the contemporary situation it serves to remind us that “individual citizens and intermediate groups are obliged to make their specific contributions to the common welfare” (PT 53).Third, while an insistence on the primacy of the common good and on the [End Page 402... (shrink)

This article explores the teaching of Fratelli tutti as an integrating document of the papacy of Francis. Exploring the title as greeting and imperative, the authors make a case for exploring FT as both a development of the themes of earlier social encyclicals and as an attempt to explore an integral humanism for a new age facing economic, environmental, migratory, and social-conflictual challenges. The article lays out a summary of these main themes of Francis’s social teaching. (...) Nonetheless, the authors conclude, the integral planetary humanism that Francis calls for, and is so needed, is itself a radically incomplete project. A common home is not possible without a recognition of a common kinship, yet without deep reflection on women’s experience, the inclusion of women as full subjects and agents of CST, and greater attention to race, the document cannot fully embody the spirit and logic of its own message of gift, inclusion, and co-belonging. (shrink)

This study offers a proposal about which competencies should be fostered in organizations to promote a culture in favor of sustainability in line with Pope Francis' encyclical letter Laudato Si. As a result, seven main competencies are proposed, with their interpretation in the light of the encyclical letter, and some suggestions on how to implement them in organizations are presented. The competencies are systemic vision, critical thinking, capacity for dialog, inclusion, proper use of goods, creativity, and spirituality. In addition, the (...) study offers a discussion of the relevance of these competencies in today's business context. This study offers a novelty with respect to other theoretical proposals on competencies for sustainability since it includes competencies that require an authentic concern for other people and for a vision of the human being open to transcendence, thus breaking with instrumentalism and technocratic paradigm that underlies other proposals. In this way, it also offers a new key to interpreting the integral ecology proposed by Pope Francis, which goes beyond other approaches to sustainability in that it includes not only the person–nature relationship but also the person–person and person–transcendence or person–God relationships. The conclusions of this theoretical research can be especially useful for those who intend to promote a culture of sustainability inspired by the Catholic Social Teaching, also making use of the knowledge and good practices of competency-based management. (shrink)

The most remarkable characteristic of Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical Caritas in Veritate is its theologically robust mode of discourse: a pervasive and unapologetically Trinitarian and Christological, substantive argument, based in a robust theological anthropology of person and society as gift, and a peculiarly Platonic and Augustinian rhetorical mode of discourse. Caritas reveals the implicit, hidden, and faulty theological and philosophical commitments of secular reason—which, when used as a medium for the Gospel, can too easily taint the true doctrine the Church (...) attempts to convey with it—proclaiming instead a radically orthodox diagnosis of and prescription for a disenchanted, love-and-truth starved—yet Enlightenment-weary—postmodern world. (shrink)

Resumen El mundo globalizado actualmente ofrece innumerables beneficios para la humanidad, debido al desarrollo tecnológico, la comunicación, el intercambio entre economías, culturas y credos, la reducción de distancias, entre otros factores. Pero no existe un acceso real de todas las personas a los recursos de este mundo, ni un reconocimiento del valor de la otredad. Tensiones, conflictos y guerras marcan la actual era de globalización, excluyendo a gran parte de la humanidad del derecho de vivir en libertad, igualdad y dignidad. (...) Este artículo analiza cómo la encíclica Fratelli tutti propone la hospitalidad, la ciudadanía y la fraternidad como fundamentales para superar ambigüedades y contradicciones en un mundo globalizado. A partir del método de análisis cualitativo, exploramos los conceptos de hospitalidad, ciudadanía y fraternidad en la encíclica social, en conversación con otra literatura. La conclusión es que sólo en el horizonte de la fraternidad se superan aquellas ambigüedades y contradicciones para lo cual urge la práctica de la hospitalidad y la ciudadanía, proveiendo a todas las personas del derecho a habitar este mundo. Hospitalidad y ciudadanía, entonces, son esenciales para la globalización de la solidaridad y para la construcción de un mundo de fratelli tutti. Abstract The current globalized world enables countless benefits for humanity, through technological development, communication, exchange between economies, cultures and creeds, the reduction of distances, among other factors. But there is no real access by all people to the resources of this world, or recognition of the value of otherness. Tensions, conflicts and wars mark the current era of globalization, excluding a large portion of humanity from the right to live with freedom, equality and dignity. This article analyzes how the encyclical Fratelli tutti proposes hospitality, citizenship and fraternity as fundamental to overcoming ambiguities and contradictions in a globalized world. The method is a qualitative analysis of the concepts of hospitality, citizenship and fraternity in Fratelli tutti, in relation to similar studies. The conclusion is that it is only on the horizon of fraternity that the existing contradictions in today's humanity can be overcome. For this, the practice of hospitality and citizenship is urgent, giving all people the right to inhabit this world. Thus, hospitality and citizenship are essential for the globalization of solidarity and the construction of a world of fratelli tutti. (shrink)

Recent discussion on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) mainly focuses on two aspects of CSR: from a technical perspective, CSR aims to improve ethical standards in the organizational decision-making process, and should guarantee that management practices are in accordance with commonly accepted standards of behavior. From a political perspective, CSR describes corporate engagement with ecological and social issues that extend beyond the firm's economic activities. The latter perspective in particular leaves unclear whether such corporate contributions to solve environmental and (...) societal problems should be seen as voluntary additional services or whether corporations bear specific duties in this field.Based on the tenet of subsidiarity derived from Catholic thought, this article emphasizes that the common interpretation of CSR should be extended by a third perspective that addresses corporations as intermediate actors bearing specific subsidiary co-responsibilities in society. (shrink)

The article analyzes Pope Benedict XVI’s social encyclical Caritas in Veritate and its original contribution to Catholic social doctrine. The author begins by examining Benedict’s claim that Populorum Progressio deserves to be considered the Rerum Novarum of the present age, and asserts that the substance of this claim is not Paul VI’s specific evaluation of the social question but rather his elevation of “integral human development” as the overarching principle of Catholic social doctrine. The article goes (...) on to explicate Benedict’s understanding of “charity in truth” as the most suitable virtue for engaging in Catholic social ethics, underscoring five ways in which charity and truth complement one another. The essay concludes with a study of the requirements of integral human development as presented in Caritas in Veritate, with special emphasis given to the three most original components of this development as proposed by Benedict: respect for human life, religious liberty and environmental responsibility. (shrink)

An important moment in the history of the Orthodox Church is despite the withdrawal of local churches like the Bulgarian, Russian, Georgian and Alexandrian ones and the fear of Serbian Church to take part in it, the Pan-Orthodox Council of Crete remains an important meeting that influenced the history of Orthodoxy and shifted its conception to the world. The relevance of some of the topics discussed there explains why it can be found inside the important theological journals from the entire (...) world chronicles of the event and articles dedicated to some of the topics investigated. Noticing this fact, we have tried to see the way the social thinking of the Orthodox Church is reflected in the documents released by the participants and its encyclical letter. Because of the fact that, until today, only the Russian Orthodox Church has a document that defines in an articulate way its social thinking and this one was published in 2002, when many challenges were not present in society, the ideas presented there are not only important for their relevance and actuality, but also for the fact that they became the official document that articulates the landmarks of social thinking of the Eastern Orthodox Church, seen as a federation of local churches that are in Eucharistic and doctrinaire communion. Therefore, we have tried to see how the bishops presented to the Pan-Orthodox meeting, the way they understood and approached these topics and what represented the motivations of their conclusions. (shrink)

The proclamation of the encyclical Rerum Novarum by Leo XIII on 15 May 1891 gave rise to what is today called the social teaching of the Church, or more precisely of the Catholic Church, since Orthodox churches did not take up the subject and Protestant churches became occupied with social issues only in the last decades of the twentieth century. Experts agree that the proclamation of this encyclical is linked with the beginning of the social teaching of (...) the Church. There was no previous official social teaching, if we take social teaching to be a series of formal statements made by the Magisterium of the Church. At the end of the nineteenth century the Church witnessed radical political, economic and social changes, finding itself under various influences of the prevailing ideologies. The so-called „second industrial revolution" in economic life took place in 1870-1914. Rerum Novarum is commonly considered the beginning of the social teaching of the Church in its modern approach/ Until then the faithful were only warned of errors. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:The Moral Dynamics of Economic Life: An Extension and Critique of Caritas in Veritate ed. by Daniel K. Finn, and: Rethinking Poverty: Income, Assets, and the Catholic Social Justice Tradition by James P. BaileyBrian HamiltonReview of The Moral Dynamics of Economic Life: An Extension and Critique of Caritas in Veritate EDITED BY DANIEL K. FINN New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. 166 pp. $85.35Review of Rethinking Poverty: (...) Income, Assets, and the Catholic Social Justice Tradition JAMES P. BAILEY Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2010. 176 pp. $30.00The academic study of Catholic social teaching has flowered in recent years. The moral vision elaborated over a century of official Catholic documents on social and political issues has proven attractive to a wide variety of scholars, providing a point of reference for interdisciplinary conversation. By bringing that vision into conversation with their respective disciplines, such scholars have gone a long way toward addressing one of the most common complaints about Catholic social teaching: that its proposals are too general and abstract. Two recent books, both working at the intersection of theology and economics, are a case in point.The Moral Dynamics of Economic Life, edited by Daniel Finn, synthesizes a conversation held in Rome in 2010 under the aegis of the Institute of Advanced Catholic Studies and the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Theologians, philosophers, public policy experts, lawyers, businesspeople, and Church leaders gathered to discuss the significance of Benedict XVI’s social encyclical, Caritas in veritate, for the US context. Rather than simply reprinting the papers they discussed, the participants’ contributions were split up and reorganized along thematic lines. There are eleven chapters—on topics like reciprocity, development, and polarization in US political discourse—each composed of a series of two- to four-page essays from different scholars. It is a creative and surprisingly effective structure. No single argument is developed at any length, of course. But the essays, punchy and provocative, accomplish far more than one would think possible in so short a space. Taken together, they define the contours of a much richer conversation than a series of independent papers could have done. [End Page 205]James Bailey’s Rethinking Poverty provides a more sustained argument. Working within the moral framework provided by Catholic social teaching, Bailey argues that US public policy regarding poverty needs to focus less on income relief and more on asset ownership and development. He lays out his basic case for the “asset paradigm” in chapter 1. In the current system, asset-building assistance is provided almost exclusively to the nonpoor rather than to the poor since it is mediated primarily through the federal income tax—which the poor do not pay. Income assistance to the poor, though crucial in the short term, does nothing to address the root causes of endemic poverty in the United States. In fact, the regressive structure of asset-building assistance has itself played an important role in perpetuating and exacerbating the wealth gap in this country. In the next two chapters, Bailey lays out two complementary moral frameworks that support a policy shift toward an asset paradigm: Catholic social teaching and the “capabilities approach” developed by Martha Nussbaum and Amartya Sen. In the fourth chapter, Bailey surveys the history of racialized asset discrimination in US policy, demonstrating that the denial of asset-based assistance has been instrumental in creating enduring wealth disparities between white and black communities. In the fifth chapter, Bailey concludes by suggesting that an older, neglected American policy tradition did privilege an assets-based approach to poverty relief, and that tradition continues to be a viable option.Both books succeed, in my judgment, in rendering the principles and priorities of Catholic social teaching more concrete. Bailey’s main goal, obviously, is to recommend a specific policy orientation, and Moral Dynamics is full of practical suggestions: we should encourage conversations between theology and business schools at Catholic universities (89, 135); we should give more attention to empirical measures of well-being and development beyond narrowly economic ones like the gross domestic product (92–98); we should work to redefine the standard of “reasonableness” in the common... (shrink)

The political concern of the Church towards an authentic political development of man and society has always been expressed by the Church. One of the means of doing this is the teaching Magisterium of the Roman Pontiffs begun with the Encyclical Rerum novarurn of Leo XIII. John Paul II had called for reforms of political institutions in the world in his Sollicitudo rei socialis. The political situation in Africa is one of great concern, characterised by dictatorial military regimes. Even the (...) democratically elected Governments turned out to be corrupt and are be-devilled with bad governance. This work focuses on the pronouncements indicated in the Pastoral Communiques of the Bishops under the aegis of SECAM in imitation of the Roman Pontiffs to advance the Social Teaching of the Church in the era of globalisation. In agreement with the tradition of the Roman Pontiffs and the Social Teaching of the Church, the thesis draws attention to ways of ameliorating the deteriorating political situation in Africa. The Bishops condemned corrupt regimes and offered solutions for a better political future for Africa. This book finally indicates much of the way forward for Africa. (shrink)

This essay reviews the documents of the pontifical magisterium of the Church from the encyclical Mater et magistra (1961) to the exhortation Evangelii gaudium (2013), in order to show the Church’s historical commitment to the defense of the environment. It then argues that Laudato si’ elevates the theological status of the environmental crisis to that of a new social issue, much as Leo XIII did for the industrial crisis with his encyclical letter Rerum novarum (1891).

Transparency in business and society is one of the challenges raised in the encyclical Caritas in Veritate by Benedict XVI. This paper focuses on the issue by extending the literature on business ethics, corporate social responsibility, and corporate transparency in two dimensions. First, it reviews the understanding and framing of the transparency issue in Caritas in Veritate and in a selection of relevant Catholic Social Teaching (CST) publications. Second, this paper provides normative indications for corporate transparency decisions which (...) reflect four permanent principles of CST, that is, the common good, solidarity, subsidiarity, and respect for the human being. Inasmuch as human beings are worthy of love for their own sakes, the dimension of gift should always be present in relationships among them. This paper also provides insights for further studies on corporate transparency and the impact of religion on business ethics and corporate social responsibility. (shrink)

Michael Hornsby-Smith offers an overview of Catholic social thought particularly in recent decades. While drawing on official teaching such as papal encyclicals and the pastoral letters of bishops' conferences, he takes seriously the need for dialogue with secular thought. The 2006 book is organized in four stages. Part I outlines the variety of domestic and international injustices and seeks to offer a social analysis of the causes of these injustices. Part II offers a theological reflection on the (...) characteristics of the kingdom of God which Christians are urged to seek. Part III reviews Catholic social thought in six main areas: human rights, the family and bioethical issues, economic life, social exclusion, authentic development, and war and peace. Part IV completes the cycle with a consideration of appropriate social action responses to the injustices which the author has identified and analysed. (shrink)

Benedict XVI's first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, treated the different characteristics of human love and their expression. The first section discusses eros and the second shows how agape provides the essential framework for Catholic charitable organisations. I will be arguing that by omitting any reflection on the role of philia, he missed a significant opportunity to retrieve an important part of the Tradition and expand our usual understanding of the elements of social ethics. Part I briefly gives the background (...) of Benedict's non-use of philia in his encyclical and indicates the basis for the view that philia has no place in Christian social ethics. The favoured approach is that of agape. Part II presents Thomas Aquinas' view of friendship and how it might counter the shortcomings identified by the authors in Part I. Part III applies his view of friendship to the key principles in Catholic social teaching of solidarity and preferential option for the poor. Part IV concludes with some general summary remarks. (shrink)

In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis advances the concept of integral ecology to connect the environmental crisis with a range of social crises afflicting our societies. This concept is grounded in a theological commitment, but directed towards its political effects. Those two trajectories are represented by the encyclical’s articulation of a spiritual awakening described as an ecological conversion and its repeated calls to dialogue. Francis is not unaware of the risk that a naïve engagement in dialogue could stifle serious mitigation (...) of the crises we face. Yet, even with many dire warnings about outcomes, much of the contemporary discourse around the climate and biodiversity crisis runs the risk of underestimating the nature of the problem. Apocalyptic theology, specifically in the work of William Stringfellow, is proposed as a valuable interlocutor at this point. Stringfellow’s account of the Christian life as a battle with the forces of Death allows Christians to name that which we are converted from in an ecological conversion, strengthening the grounds upon which dialogue is engaged. (shrink)

Duncan, Bruce Tracing the sources for the economic thinking embedded in the writings of Pope Francis is not straightforward, especially in his major documents, the apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium of 2013 and the full encyclical Laudato Si': On Care for Our Common Home of 24 May 2015. Many hands were involved in drafting Francis's documents, and there were extensive consultations with experts in critical areas, going back decades. This article gives only passing reference to the critical matters of climate change (...) and sustainability, and instead concentrates on the economic aspects in the writings of Pope Francis. (shrink)

In his most recent encyclical, Caritas in veritate, Pope Benedict XVI states that there is a profound connection between life issues and social justice. For example, when solidarity is undermined by abortion, it is also undermined in the relationship between the rich and poor countries of this world and between one generation and the next—with, in addition, disastrous consequences for the environment. In the encyclical, Benedict XVI states this connection but does not develop it to any great extent. In (...) this essay, the author expounds the connection, staying as close as possible to what the Holy Father himself says both in Caritas in veritate and elsewhere. National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 12.3 (Autumn 2012): 449–460. (shrink)

The encyclical proclaims the centrality of human development, which includes acting with gratuitousness and solidarity in pursuing the common good. This paper considers first whether such relationships of gratuitousness and solidarity can be analysed through the prism of traditional theories of social psychology, which are highly influential in current management research, and concludes that certain aspects of those theories may offer useful tools for analysis at the practical level. This is contrasted with the analysis of such relationships through Aristotelian (...) virtue ethics (in particular as interpreted by MacIntyre 1985 , 1998 , 1999 ), which is emerging as a strong force in the field of business ethics, and which has strong conceptual similarities with the ideas put forward by Benedict XVI. Aristotelian virtue ethics offers a better fit with the aims of the encyclical at the theoretical level but it presents a number of challenges at the practical level, which the paper suggests may be addressed through the integration in its analysis of human action of models derived from social psychology. (shrink)

Pope Benedict XVI’s social encyclical Caritas in Veritate offers insight into the relationship between theology and economics, between moral principles and economic policy. This article highlights potential obstacles to the reception of the emeritus pope’s arguments, identifies the encyclical’s principal lesson in one key sentence, and argues that there are compelling reasons for scholars and policymakers to consider and even appropriate Benedict’s substantial teaching on the enduring social question.

This paper tackles the current challenges to private sector unionism in the United States in light of Catholic social teaching (CST). The focus of the study is unionism in the private sector where the fall-off in membership is observed. CST is contained in a wide variety of official documents of the Catholic Church, in particular papal encyclicals, which present ethical norms for economic life in response to the changing realities of the modern world. The study begins with an (...) analysis of the concrete situation: the causes of decline in union membership. It is followed by an ethical reflection on CST’s perspectives and exploration of practices, strategies, and policies that can help reverse the ongoing trend of union decline and revitalize the labor movement in the country. The paper argues that unions are good in themselves as an expression of the workers’ right to associate and instrumentally good as they invoke such values as the dignity of work, solidarity, subsidiarity, common good, and economic equality. While it has been proven that workers and society as a whole gain material benefits from effective unionization, focus on intangible benefits and moral principles offered by CST may give labor organizing a new impetus and inspiration. (shrink)

The human being has always held a central place in reflections on faith and, from the beginning, has been the main centre of concern within the pastoral activity of the Church. This fundamental reality emerges from Benedict XVI’s social encyclical, Caritas in veritate, in the context of a grave economic crisis at the global level, marked at the same time by the fact that it is a true and proper “crisis” of humanity, both cultural and moral. In this work, (...) after outlining the historical context within which Benedict XVI’s social encyclical is situated and after presenting its structure and the main matters which it examines, the author offers a synthesis of the theological anthropology which constitutes its ‘red line’, structuring the en-cyclical around the major theological themes of this discipline: the creation of the human being by God and the constitution of our being and of our faculties; the reality of sin and of our recreation in sanctifying grace, and concluding with our final end or destiny, eternal life. (shrink)

Este artículo intenta ―desde la perspectiva de la moral social― poner en evidencia el giro antropológico de la Encíclica Caritas in veritate que, coherentemente con las contemporáneas filosofías de la alteridad y del don, reconoce la fragilidad como nota distintiva de lo humano y clave metodológica de la moral social. Asimismo, señala la necesidad de completar esta reflexión con una adecuada teoría de las emociones en la esfera pública. This article tries ―from the perspective of social― moral (...) highlight the anthropological turn of the Encyclical Caritas in veritate that, consistent with the contemporary philosophies of otherness and of the gift, recognizes the fragility of the human hallmark and key methodological of social morality. It also notes the need to complete this reflection with an adequate theory of emotions in the public sphere. (shrink)

The Encyclical-Letter Caritas in Ventate by Pope Benedict XVI suggests to advance towards a new conceptualization of the tenuous relationship between economics and ethics, proposing a "new humanistic synthesis" Where social encyclicals have traditionally justified policy proposals by natural law and theological reasoning alone, Caritas in Ventate gives great relevance to economic arguments. The encyclical defines the framework for a new business ethics which appreciates allocative and distributive efficiency, and thus both markets and institutions as improving the human (...) condition, but locates their source and reason outside the economic sphere. It places a clear accent on the ontological connectedness of the economic and ethical dimensions of human action. It is the proper ordering of means towards the end of integral human development that allows mankind to leave a vicious circle of consumerism and enter a virtuous circle that applies the creativity fostered by markets. This vision implies a new model of business management that integrates considerations of vocation, purpose, and values at a theological level. (shrink)

Le 40e anniversaire de la publication de l’encyclique du pape Paul VI « Sur le développement des peuples » (26 mars 1967) invite à revenir sur ce thème. Comment est-on passé d’une conception du développement économique à celle de développement durable ? De quelle façon l’encyclique s’inscrit-elle dans ce passage ? La prise en compte de la dimension sociale du développement, à partir des réunions du Forum social mondial, depuis 2001, permet de mettre en perspective les problématiques liées aujourd’hui (...) au développement, avec l’articulation entre identité particulière et conscience universelle. (shrink)

The recent social encyclical Fratelli tutti provides the Chinese Catholic Church with renewed hope in a time of sweeping impasses. This article is inspired by Pope Francis’s passionate summons for the centrality of love, a culture of encounter, and a new social and political order. It presents an utterance of a laywoman rising from the Chinese Church, aspiring to dialogue with the encyclical. By weaving Francis’s vision together with the wisdom of Carmelite saints and my personal knowledge of (...) the Chinese Church, I call upon the Chinese Church to deepen its roots in the soil of love and to journey through the dark night. I urge the Chinese Church to re-encounter atheism and to become a beacon of peace in Chinese society. I conclude the article with an appeal for authentic solidarity from the world Church and all concerned parties of the Chinese Church. (shrink)

Rerum Novarum is a unique case of an encyclical, for we know in great detail how it was drafted and written. If we connect this knowledge to the fact that Matteo Liberatore - the main thinker who collaborated to its writing - wrote a treatise on the Principles of Political Economy, we can analyse how economic thought and moral theology are intertwined in the work of Liberatore. Similarly, the study of the economic thought of Liberatore can help us understand two (...) important questions of Rerum Novarum, namely, private property and the question of a just wage. (shrink)

This was one of SCSS President, Stephen M. Krason’s “Neither Left nor Right, but Catholic” columns that appear monthly at his blog site and in Crisismagazine.com and The Wanderer. This column speaks about what might be called a new expression of literalism and fundamentalism, especially among liberal Catholics and some in Church leadership, to take certain Scriptural passages and Church teachings and apply them to current situations and public questions without regard to the context of the situations or full attention (...) to nuances or even to the facts present—to in a certain sense absolutize the contingent. Sometimes this is done to promote certain policy agendas and without even considering the full statement of the Church’s teaching, as it is expressed in the social encyclicals and other documents. (shrink)

The problem of the development of a human person and the whole mankind has a significant place in the post Vaticanum Secundum social teaching of the Catholic church. This year’s anniversary of two social encyclicals: Paul VI’s Populorum progressio (1967) and John Paul II’s Sollicitudo rei socialis (1987) indicates the need of undertaking theological and anthropological reflection upon the process of development. The Catholic social teaching placing a human person in the center of all social, (...) political and economic processes evaluates the quality of development from the perspective of respecting human dignity and rights. Although the development issues have originated from social teaching of local churches of Africa and Latin America, thanks to the social encyclicals it took on a global dimension. The social teaching of the Catholic church by indicating the need of the integral development of a human person and the whole mankind, points out the problems of material, spiritual poverty and violation of human rights. Therefore, the teaching about development is an integral element of the preferential option for the poor in the ministry of the Catholic church. (shrink)

"Pre-modern philosophy" means the line of reflection that started with Plato andvAristotle, passed through Augustine and Boethius, and reached its acme in Aquinas, Scotus, and Suarez. The whole line was harshly judged by Descartes, then mocked by the empiricsts of the 18th Century. Why, then, did Pope Leo XII make a determined effort to revive it? And, more importantly, why was the revival a stunning success by the middle of the 20th Century? The answers to both questions are found in (...) a famous German book, Philosophie der Vorzeit by Josef Kleutgen, now available for the first time in English. Pre-ModernPhilosophy Defended shaped and strengthened Pope Leo's resolve. It showed how inaccurate the harsh judgments had been and how sadly inferior the modern replacements from Descartes to Hegel had turned out to be in many respects. Not in all. Kleutgen was no knee-jerk reactionary. He made no bones about the obsolete status of pre-Newtonian physics and cosmology. Rather, he focused on the central boast of "modern" thought, namely, that it had turned at least to the "subject" and had provided a long-needed thing called a "critique of knowledge." This book is must reading for intellectual historians and for philosophers working today in epistemology. But most of all, it is essential reading for laity and clergy concerned about revivals of modernism in the church. What was modernism, after all, but an attempt to make the Church revise her theology in the "light" of Kant or Hegel? This is why every Modernist knew Kleutgen's name and hated this book. Here is the first English translation (from the German) of the master work of Josef Kleutgen, the nineteenth century social philosopher whose thought lies at, or near, the heart of Catholic Social Thought. Kleutgen is widely and rightly seen as the shadow author of the social encyclicals of Leo XII. Leo's Rerum Novarum remains the origin and constant reference point of all Catholic Social Teaching. And Popes since have dated their own social encyclicals from Rerum Novarum - hence, Quadragesimo anno and Centesimus annus. --Gerard V. Bradley, University of Notre Dame Pre-Modern Philosophy Defended is must reading for intellectual historians and for philosophers working today in epistemology. And it is essential reading for laity and clergy concerned about revivals of modernism in the church. What was modernism, after all, but an attempt to make the Church revise her theology in the 'light' of Kant or Hegel? This is why every Modernist knew Kleutgen's name and hated Philosophie der Vorzeit (Pre-Modern Philosophy Defended). (shrink)

"Pre-modern philosophy" means the line of reflection that started with Plato andvAristotle, passed through Augustine and Boethius, and reached its acme in Aquinas, Scotus, and Suarez. The whole line was harshly judged by Descartes, then mocked by the empiricsts of the 18th Century. Why, then, did Pope Leo XII make a determined effort to revive it? And, more importantly, why was the revival a stunning success by the middle of the 20th Century? The answers to both questions are found in (...) a famous German book, Philosophie der Vorzeit by Josef Kleutgen, now available for the first time in English. Pre-ModernPhilosophy Defended shaped and strengthened Pope Leo's resolve. It showed how inaccurate the harsh judgments had been and how sadly inferior the modern replacements from Descartes to Hegel had turned out to be in many respects. Not in all. Kleutgen was no knee-jerk reactionary. He made no bones about the obsolete status of pre-Newtonian physics and cosmology. Rather, he focused on the central boast of "modern" thought, namely, that it had turned at least to the "subject" and had provided a long-needed thing called a "critique of knowledge." This book is must reading for intellectual historians and for philosophers working today in epistemology. But most of all, it is essential reading for laity and clergy concerned about revivals of modernism in the church. What was modernism, after all, but an attempt to make the Church revise her theology in the "light" of Kant or Hegel? This is why every Modernist knew Kleutgen's name and hated this book. Here is the first English translation (from the German) of the master work of Josef Kleutgen, the nineteenth century social philosopher whose thought lies at, or near, the heart of Catholic Social Thought. Kleutgen is widely and rightly seen as the shadow author of the social encyclicals of Leo XII. Leo's Rerum Novarum remains the origin and constant reference point of all Catholic Social Teaching. And Popes since have dated their own social encyclicals from Rerum Novarum - hence, Quadragesimo anno and Centesimus annus. --Gerard V. Bradley, University of Notre Dame Pre-Modern Philosophy Defended is must reading for intellectual historians and for philosophers working today in epistemology. And it is essential reading for laity and clergy concerned about revivals of modernism in the church. What was modernism, after all, but an attempt to make the Church revise her theology in the 'light' of Kant or Hegel? This is why every Modernist knew Kleutgen's name and hated Philosophie der Vorzeit (Pre-Modern Philosophy Defended). (shrink)