1. Popes and Catholic Social Teaching

2. 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)

3. Baptism
Every Christian is baptized as
Priest
Prophet
King

4. Catholic SOCIAL Teaching
When you hear SOCIAL teaching or SOCIAL justice, think SOCIETY

5. Pope Leo XIII and 1891
Industrial Revolution

6. A few billionaires, millions on the brink of starvation
Slums – dirty, disease spreading rapidly
Sweatshops – pay is criminally low, dangerous, no protection, etc.

7. Ideas
In response to the working conditions and wages, UNIONS are forming.
Throughout Europe, US, etc., Marxism (an atheistic version of COMMUNISM) is spreading

8. 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

9. 1931

10. 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!!!

11. Quadragesimo Anno “On the Fortieth Year”
Pope condemns dictatorships, as fascism and communism are spreading

13. 1961 Middle of the Cold War
Cold War – Communist governments control EVERYTHING
Every business, media, etc. owned by state

14. Mater et Magistra “Mother and Teacher”
We need a balance between EXCESSIVE intervention of the state and INSUFFICIENT intervention (needed to curb injustices)

15. 1963

16. 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

17. Pacem in Terris “Peace on Earth”
Nuclear arms race condemned
Racism condemned
Resources shared for common good

18. 1965

19. Two decades after the end of the Holocaust
In the US, JFK almost lost election because of his Catholicism

20. Dignitatis Humanae “Human Dignity”
At the urging of US church leaders, this Vatican II document called for religious freedom in every country

21. 1965

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

23. 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”

24. 1967 People were travelling much more
Issues like global poverty coming to the forefront

25. Populorum Progressio “The Progress of People”
“Development is the new name for peace”
Inequality will cause conflict

26. 1971
Bishops in South America had met three years earlier, discussing the vast injustices of the country, Church’s role

27. 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

28. 1981
Still the middle of the Cold War, Pope John Paul II lived through Nazism and Communism
USA and USSR the two global this time

29. 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.

30. 1987
Severe recession in mid-80’s, widening gap between rich and poor

31. 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

33. 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

34. 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”

35. 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

36. 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

37. 2009 Global financial crisis of 2008 Poor disproportionately affected
Growing environmental concerns

38. Caritas in Veritate “Charity in Truth”
Global poverty, injustice, arms race major themes
Strong environmental concerns – “intergenerational justice”

39. 2013
Greed and poverty unchanged

40. Evangelii Gaudium “The Joy of the Gospel”
Talks about markets, spiritual worldliness, consumerism, the “crisis of communal commitment”.