Mater et Magistra
The encyclical Mater et Magistra (Latin for mother and teacher ) of Pope John XXIII. was published on the occasion of the seventy year anniversary of the encyclical Rerum Novarum on 15 May 1961.
Structure and content
Introduction
There is an indication that the Catholic Church " mother and teacher of nations" was; it was instituted by Jesus Christ to do so.
Part One
- The time of Rerum Novarum
- Ways to rebuild
- The circular Quadragesimo anno 1931
- The broadcast message of Pentecost 1941
- New changes
Part Two
- Clarifications and continuation of the doctrine of Rerum Novarum
- Social links
- The remuneration
- Private property
- Public property
Part Three
- New pages of the social question
- Demands of justice in the relations between the various sectors of the economy
- Social justice and economic balance between peoples of different high economic levels
- Cooperation at the global level
Part Four
- The reorganization of social life in the truth, justice and love
- Sundays and Holidays
Summary
The unmistakable entering for the participation of workers circular explains that the workers the right to active participation in which they are entitled employing company. Mater et magistra opens the Catholic social teaching thus strengthening the social reality of working life. In addition, it also points to the problems of the economically less developed countries, which have never before been explicitly issue an encyclical. It 's not just for the common good of their own country and people, Mater et magistra is rather the labor problem as the first papal letter and globally to.
Assessment
Mater et magistra With an encyclical was presented, which significantly differs from the encyclicals of their predecessors. It is not a socio-philosophical reflection, but describes the difficulties and prospects of social development in the world with clear demands. The structure of the encyclical underlines their Rerum Novarum and flashbacks to Quadragesimo anno that the Catholic social doctrine focuses on the development and renewal. So for John XXIII. the Christian social doctrine " an integral part of the Christian doctrine of man ." One of the most important of these evolutions is the recognition of the democratic form of government environment towards creating the social claims. In Quadragesimo anno the corporate state was 1931 yet been touted as a desirable political order, but in Austria in 1938, Italy in 1943, in Portugal in 1974 and Spain in 1976 failed. Since 1944, Catholicism, under Pope Pius XII. reservations about the democratic form of government in the state which until 1918 was still rare, officially abandoned after republican France had proven to be the only Catholic country in Europe, as resistant to totalitarian excesses of authoritarian models (1926 papal ban on the Action Francaise ). This development confirms Mater et magistra and leads her away.
The response to this new social circular was accompanied by exuberant consents to the general rejection (also in Germany ), while the social encyclical was known as co-determination encyclical. Pope John XXIII. published, with the same thrust, 1963, Peace Pacem in Terris. The concerns of both has also Pope Paul VI. continued ( Populorum Progressio 1967 Apostolic Letter Octogesima adveniens 1971) and his successors have this newer social teaching is still developing.