In early October 1979, John Paul II visited the United States and his first notable address with references to labor-management relations was to the United Nations General Assembly on October 2, 1979.(10) In expressing gratitude for the invitation of the UN and in recalling the relationships between the UN and the Catholic church, the pope said the UN,
. . . accepts and respects the religious and moral dimension of those human problems that is her duty to bring to the world . . . as is indicated by the vast organic complex of institutions and activities that are part of or collaborate with the United Nations, especially in fields of culture, health, labor and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
With a brief overview of the tragedies of World War II, especially horrors in places like Auschwitz, and the challenges of the weapons race, the pope referred to human rights expounded by Pope John XXIII in the encyclical Pacem in Terris. Among many mentioned were rights to
. . . food, clothing, housing, sufficient health care, rest and leisure . . . property and work . . . adequate working conditions . . . just wage . . . free assembly and association . . . freedom of movement . . . internal and external migration.
He viewed these rights as surrounding the satisfaction of essential human needs, the exercise of freedom, all human relations, and thus concern the world of spiritual and material values encompassing all of human life. John Paul II expanded,
It is easy to see that material goods do not have unlimited capacity for satisfying the needs of man: they are not in themselves easily distributed and, in the relationship between those who possess and enjoy them and those who are without them, they give rise to tension, dissension and division that will often turn into open conflict. Spiritual goods, on the other hand, are open conflict. Spiritual goods, on the other hand, are open to unlimited enjoyment by many at the same time, without diminution of the good themselves. Indeed, the more people share in such goods, the more they are enjoyed and drawn upon, the more then do those goods show their indestructible and immortal worth. The truth is confirmed, for example, by the works of thought, poetry, music and the figurative arts, fruits of man's spirit.
John Paul II conceded that in the past 100 years modern civilization had contributed to material goods as no other period in history. On the other hand, the pope decried the development, during the same period of history, of an increased insensitivity to the spiritual dimension of human existence. Such was due to,
. . . certain premises which reduce the meaning of human life chiefly to the many different material and economic factors-- I mean to demands of production, the market, consumption, accumulation of riches or of the growing bureaucracy with which an attempt is made to regulate these very processes. Is this not the result of having subordinated man to a single conception and sphere of values?
The pope then proceeded to delineate the links between such insensitivity and the cause of peace and war. He saw two main threats to human dignity in the field of international relations and within individual states or societies.
The first threat is linked to the distribution of material goods. The pope called for awareness among people that economic tensions contain within themselves substantial elements which restrict or violate human rights. Exploitation of labor is one. The pope then indicated the fundamental criterion for comparing social, economic and political systems. It cannot be,
. . . the criterion of hegemony and imperialism; it can be, and indeed it must be, the humanistic criterion, the measure of reducing, restraining and eliminating as far as possible the various forms of exploitation of man and ensuring for him through work, not only the just goods, but also a participation, in keeping with his dignity, in the whole process of production and in social life that grows up around that process. Let us not forget that, although man depends on the resources of the material world for his life, he cannot be their slave, but he must be their master. The words of the book of Genesis, "Fill the earth and subdue it" (Genesis 1:28) are in a sense a primary and essential directive in the field of economy and of labor policy.
Calling for "coordinate cooperation" within and among nations as the only way to overcome serious disparities between areas of satiety and indifference and areas of hunger and depression, the pope singled out some very specific disparities. In addition to lack of food, health and opportunity for education and work, he highlighted others,
. . . the radical separation of work from property . . . [and] man's indifference to the production enterprise to which he is linked only by a work obligation, without feeling that he is working for a good that will be his or himself.
The second threat to human rights was the various forms of injustice in the field of the spirit. Among these, John Paul emphasized civil liberties. Decisive for such liberties was an equality of rights without discrimination on grounds of origin, race, sex, nationality, religion and political convictions. Indeed, said the pope, "Equality of rights means the exclusion of the various forms of privilege for some and discrimination against others."
On the evening of his address to the United Nations General Assembly, John Paul II preached a homily at the eucharist in New York's Yankee Stadium.(11) After comments on the scripture readings of the liturgy, the pope shifted to the main import of his homily--the gospel story of Lazarus and Dives.
Social thinking and social practice inspired by the gospel must always be marked by special sensitivity toward those who are most in distress, those who are extremely poor, those suffering from all the physical, mental and moral ills that afflict humanity, including hunger, neglect, unemployment and despair.
The pope commended the Catholics and their fellow citizens for their extremely generous efforts on behalf of the needy everywhere. Yet, such would never be enough, if there was a failure "to seek out the structural reasons which foster or cause the different forms of poverty in the world and your own country so that you can apply the proper remedies." He cautioned Catholics and all their collaborators not to be discouraged or intimidated by oversimplified or ideological explanations for "complex evil." He urged all not to recoil from "reforms of attitudes and structures that may prove necessary in order to recreate over and over again the conditions needed by the disadvantaged."
John Paul II emphasized the crucial role of the laity in such effort and called for simpler lifestyles among all people. Nevertheless, he underlined that nowhere "does Christ condemn the mere possession of earthly goods." Only selfish possession without attention to the needs of others is condemned. In conclusion, the pope called for all humanity totranslate the parable of the rich man and the beggar "into contemporary terms of economy and politics, in terms of all human rights, in terms of relations between the `First,' `Second' and `Third' World."
John Paul II's next address during his 1979 U.S. trip was at a demonstration farming complex, called Living History Farms and located in Urbandale, Iowa.(12) During an outdoor liturgy on October 3, 1979 almost 350,000 people heard the pope proclaim the land as God's gift and people's responsibility. To respect both John Paul II outlined three attitudes appropriate to rural life.
The first attitude is gratitude to the Lord. Dependence upon Him is evident, not only in good things like land and seeds, rain and sunshine, but also in hailstorms and drought, tornadoes and floods. The second attitude is stewardship for each successive generation's benefit. "While it is true here that farming today provides an economic livelihood for the farmer, it always will be more than an enterprise of profit-making. In farming you co-operate with the creator in the sustenance of life on earth." A third attitude is generosity. As caretakers of the earth destined for fair sharing by all under the guidance of justice and tempered by charity and as potential providers of food to millions who suffer from famine, generosity is response to commands of the Lord as well. Speaking for farmers, John Paul II appealed for quite specific expressions of generosity.
. . . by sharing the fruit of our labor, by contributing to others the knowledge we have gained, by being promoters of rural development, everywhere and by defending the right to work of rural populations, since every person has a right to useful employment.
However, after outlining desirable attitudes toward rural life, John Paul II issued a caution about the deepest human hunger remaining, even if the most devastating and widespread physical hunger were eliminated. He urged all to bring their labor and weariness, as well as their cares for the poor and sick, exiled and hungry, to Christ's eucharistic altar-table, "for, His yoke is easy and His burden light."
On May 31, 1980 John Paul II delivered a homily in the Basilica of Saint-Denis, located in a working-class section of northern Paris.(13) On the last day of May, the month of Mary, the pope paid tribute to motherhood and the faith it implies in humanity. "The first right of every man is the right to life. We must defend that right and that value. Otherwise, all the logic of faith in man the whole agenda of really human progress would be threatened and collapse."
Tribute was paid to the many French and foreign workers--Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Yugoslavian, Turkish, North African, Mali, Senegalese, and Southeast Asian - who lived and worked in difficult conditions with regard to housing, wages and jobs. Special attention was directed to that feeling of being uprooted and the anonymity which brings homesickness. Noted also was the difficulty of human relationship and family integration, "because everyone is out of breath from a never-ending race between the places where they work, the family lodges and . . . go shopping." Much encouragement was given to priests, nuns, young and adult lay people who carry out "a real concern for evangelization . . . entirely devoted to the working class."
John Paul II highlighted the relationship on the one hand between human work and on the other hand justice and the family--that fundamental framework of human love. From Genesis, the Gospel and daily experience, he noted two definitions of work.
Man works to support himself and his family. . . . Both are genuine, that is, fully humanistic. . . . You have to follow these fundamental criteria to ensure man an adequate place in the whole economic order. . . .
Whatever the names of the systems may be. . . . If man is subjected to production . . . becomes only the instrument, then . . . human work, is deprived of its dignity and specific meaning.
The pope saw various measures for evaluating human work. First, indeed foremost, is the work to support a family, "flesh of his flesh and blood of his blood." Second is work that enables one to take part in creation.
John Paul II called for inscribing the rights of the family in the bases of every law on work.
For instance how is it possible to find a satisfactory solution to the problem--similar in many countries of the woman who works in a factory, at a trying pace, and who is constantly concerned about being present to her children and husband?
Referring to migrant work, John Paul II said,
I wish every society could give enough work to its own citizens! If, however, emigration for reasons of work becomes a necessity, I wish even more that all those who are in this situation might be able to transform this necessity into the measure of the love which binds them to . . . their families, their home countries. It is wrong to say workmen have no home country. They are actually, in a particular way, representatives of their people, they are the men of their own homes.
The pope called for the world of human work to be the world of moral strength and love, not destruction and hate. Indeed, the "rights of man, of the family, of the nation, of mankind are deeply inscribed in human work. The future of the world depends on respect for those rights."
John Paul II warned about detaching of "the reality of human work" from the struggle for social justice. Continuing, he interpreted Mary's Magnificat in that vein.
Those words say that the . . . order which must rule the relationships between men is based on justice. That this order must be unceasingly realized in this world . . . as the situations and social systems are growing and developing, as new conditions and economic possibilities, the new possibilities of technology and production, and at the same time the new possibilities and necessities in the distribution of goods are developing.
Those words of Mary's canticle . . . say that the world designed by God cannot be a world in which some, the `happy few', hoard immoderate wealth in their hand, while others, by far the greater number--suffer from destitution and poverty and die of hunger.
Yet, even while using scripture to support the struggle for social justice, John Paul II disapproved of any class opposition or narrow analyses.
Today, as matter of fact, the problem concerns whole societies, whole areas of the world . . . defined in various ways. For example, we refer to developed societies and underdeveloped societies.
But we also have to mention consumer societies and those societies in which men are literally starving. Narrow analyses . . . can sometimes . . . obstruct the way rather than clear it, for example when the victory of a system or a party is at stake more than the actual needs of man.
Those needs exist . . . not only on the economic level, in the sphere of material goods. There also exist other real human needs, there also exist other rights of man which are violated. And not only the rights of man, but equally the rights of the family and . . . nations.
The list of fundamental rights was given and "the great society of workers" was reminded of its moral obligation to struggle courageously for every form of justice. John XXIII's insight about justice as the condition of peace, in Pacem in Terris, was employed, as well as the beatitudes and Mary's canticle, as the clarion to the labor movement for greater involvement, even in the peace and disarmament movement. Worker solidarity must ask some very pointed questions as categorical imperatives.
Where, in what field, why has the limit of that noble struggle for justice, of the struggle for the good of man, in particular of the man who lives on the outermost fringes of society, or the most destitute man, been over-stepped? Where, in what field, why has this moral and creative strength developed into a destructive strength, hate, in new forms of collective selfishness which bear the threat of a possible struggle of all against all, of mutual self-destruction?
Finally, John Paul II requested all his hearers to ask, "Why has the struggle for justice in the world been linked with a radical negation of God? With the organized program of atheistic impregnation of men and societies?" Such questions, for the pope, had to be asked in the name of integral truth about humanity, inner human freedom and dignity, and history.
In 1980, from June 30 to July 12, John Paul II visited Brazil, where he gave more than forty speeches. One of the most significant was to 150,000 workers in the Morumbi stadium in Sao Paulo, during a heavy rain.(14) He was fascinated and worried about Sao Paulo, for its extraordinary growth in productivity had gone hand in hand with a rapid urbanization. Specifically, Sao Paulo harbored many people,
. . . who have been forced to the very periphery of society, the unemployed, the under employed, the inefficiently employed, who have no opportunity to use their energies and to develop the fertile resources of their minds and hearts.
The worries about people subject to such conditions prompted the pope to repeat many of his remarks, made several months earlier when speaking to workers in the Saint Denis section of Paris, on the canticle of Mary and his own work experience in Poland.
In addition to decrying violence and ideological analyses, John Paul II expanded with comments on the Puebla option for the poor and rejection of class struggle. The option means,
. . . essentially this: that the poor have the Gospel preached to them; that the Church once again redouble her efforts to proclaim Jesus Christ to all, especially the poor; and that all have access to this source of life, the sacraments, the community of the baptized.
Warning that class struggle brings the risk of worse conditions and creation of new situations of injustice, the pope proclaimed that rejecting class struggle is,
. . . to make a resolute choice of a noble struggle for the cause of social justice. The various centers of power and the various representatives of society must be capable of combining and coordinating their efforts and reaching agreement on clear and effective programs. All of society must be in solidarity with every individual and, above all, with those who have greater need of help, namely the poor. The preference given to the poor is a Christian choice; it is also the choice any society will make that is concerned for the real common good. Therefore, power may never be used to protect the interests of one group at the expense of others.
Commenting on the beatitude, "Blest are the poor in spirit," the pope made it clear that such an attitude is for all Christians.
Those who are well off economically . . . must open their hearts to the poor because if they do not, unjust situations will not change. The political system or the social system may change but unless hearts and consciences change there will be no just and stable social order.
. . . those who are not well off economically . . . must . . . not allow material poverty to deprive them of their human dignity, for this dignity is more important than any material possessions.
John Paul II devoted much time to the "extraordinary value" Christian teaching assigned to human work. He defined work as service to families and cities and discipline that strengthens character. Thus, a fundamental concern of everyone.
. . . bureaucrats, politicians, union administrators, and managers of corporations must be to provide work for all. It is unrealistic and inadmissible to expect that the solution of this problem will come as the more or less automatic result of an economic order and development, of whatever kind it may be, in which employment is regarded as a secondary result.
Economic theory and practice must have courage to regard employment and the real possibilities for it today as a central objective.
The pope also stated the necessity of working conditions worthy of a human person, social security extended to cover all risks and burdens, and wages to provide real and equitable sharing in the wealth created collaboratively in a company, profession and national economy. Calling such efforts serious and too sensitive to be regulated by demagoguery, ideology, or scientism, he added, "The economy will be strong in the proper way if it is human, that is, created by and for human beings." Thus, workers must be able to share freely and effectively in elaborating and controlling the decisions that effect them at all levels. Emphasis was added by paraphrasing Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum statement on workers' right of free association to make their voices heard, to defend their interests and to contribute responsibility to the common good.
Workers in such an atmosphere would be noble collaborators in the labor of the Creator, associates in the redemption of Christ, and participants in the development of the human family. Contrariwise, the world of work prevalent in the early industrial revolution and current economic development mocked creation, redemption and solidarity.
A narrowly economic logic, rendered more vicious by a crass materialism, has, in many case, invaded all areas of life, endangering the environment, threatening families and destroying all respect for the human person. Factories spew out their wastes, disfigure and contaminate the environment and make the air unbreathable. Waves of immigrant crowd into hovels unworthy of human beings, where many lose hope and end in destitution. Children, young boys and girls, adolescents do not find the vital scope they need in order to develop fully their physical and spiritual energies.
Finally, while Christians have the right and duty to contribute to the transformation of the economy and entire society, the essential condition of which is "a human direction and a human logic" and to utilize all the associations and institutions of a free society, John Paul II was quite insistent the church's role was limited. She was not to supplant the legitimate means of deliberation and action in the civil society. Yet, the church had an obligation and right to render service of "an ethical and religious kind." In order to do such, the church is entitled to demand fully "an indispensable space of freedom" and to preserve her religious character. Thus, the pope called on grassroots communities, parishes, dioceses and the national community to make their specific contribution in the construction of a just society, For,
. . . evangelization, the raison d'etre of any ecclesial community, would not be complete if it did not keep in mind the relations existing between the message of the Gospel and man's personal and social life, between the commandment of love of one's suffering neighbor and concrete situations of injustice to be combated and of justice and peace to be established.
Another significant talk John Paul II gave, while visiting Brazil, was entitled "Builders of a Just Society."(15) Given on July 6, 1980, it was delivered to a largely mixed audience. The pope repeated the church's role of strengthening moral and spiritual foundations, forming consciences anddecrying attacks on the human persons. Hence, "the church does not propose a particular or economic model but, rather, shows the general path and offers general principles." He repeated some of the specific rights he had presented in his October 1979 address to the Organization of the American States: physical and moral integrity, responsible participation in the national life, food and housing, access to cultural heritage, health and employment.
While emphasizing the crucial role for the human person in the church's social teaching and the necessity of a just social order for the preservation of nations, the pope challenged all.
Reject any attitude that is inspired by the collective selfishness of a group or class or that is based on a one-sided profit motive. Reject violence as a means of solving society's problems because violence is hostile to life and destroys the person. Use your power, whether political, economic or cultural in the service of solidarity embracing all human beings, but especially those who have greater need of it and whose rights are often violated.
There were specific challenges issued to political militants and leaders, education and communication experts, scientists and technicians. Employers, business leaders and industrialists heard,
. . . make human beings the first consideration in your plans and projects, for these human beings, by their toils and products of their mind and hands, are the builders of society--first in their own families, then in the larger community. Do not forget that every person has the right to employment and this not only in the cities and the industrial centers but in the rural areas as well.
Workers were told that building society was not solely the task of those who controlled the economy, industry and agriculture. Workers build society for themselves, their families and the future. Consequently, "If you have the right to express your opinion on economic and industrial activity, you also have an obligation to direct the activity in accordance with requirements of the moral law, namely, justice, dignity and love."
In conclusion, John Paul II summarized the characteristics of "builders of society"-- consciousness and solidarity, openness and solidarity. He offered the church's assistance in building the Brazilian society, with a ringing cry for justice,
. . . either justice will come through radical and courageous reform in accordance with principles based on the primacy of human dignity or it will come through violence but then . . . without lasting results and without benefit to the human person.
On July 10, 1980 John Paul II addressed the assembled hierarchy of Brazil on the topic of the episcopal office.(16) Concerned mostly with the responsibilities and prerogatives of bishops, in a brief review of the theology of the episcopacy, the talk also had some very specific things to say about social justice. The pope reminded the bishops of the theology of the laity set forth in the documents of the Second Vatican Council. He noted the laity had a right to receive, from bishops, certainty about the teaching of Christ, spiritual strength for their lives and consistent direction for their activity as Christian living in the world.
They also look to the bishops to give them a legitimate freedom in their commitments to the temporal order . . . not as pseudoclerics (and this means that they expect their pastors to be completely pastors, not pseudolaymen).
After warning the bishops to avoid anything resembling favoring any political party or submitting to any ideology or system, the pope urged them,
. . . to be close to and in the service of all human beings, especially those who are weakest and in the greatest need.
You are well aware that a preference for the poor . . . is not an invitation to exclusivism. . . .
However, the preference for the poor does mean a special solidarity with the lowly and weak, the suffering and sorrowing, those who are humiliated and pushed to the periphery of life and society.
Repeating what he said earlier about the church not asserting a right to engage in political activity, undermining the right of civil authority necessary for maintaining and exercising it sovereignty and engaging in purely temporal programs, John Paul II cried out,
. . . the Church of Brazil is right to be the Church of the poor, Church of the first beatitude. . . .
It is the duty of the episcopacy to draw up and propose a program for this kind of social pastoral call and to implement it in collegial unity. In Brazil this kind of action can be expected to yield great fruit, since Church and episcopacy are a powerful social force in the country.
The characteristics of such a program were spelt out by John Paul II - Catholic, Brazilian, organic, and all embracing. By organic he meant that there had to be analysis, education and action. All had to make clear the "various economic and technical factors . . . and cultural requirements." Yet, any reforms proposed,
. . . must not aim solely at collectivizing the means of production, especially if this means the concentration of everything in the hands of the state which thus becomes a real capitalist force and, in fact, the only one.
The purpose of these reforms must rather be to give everyone access to property, since the latter is, to some extent, an indispensable condition for human freedom and creativity that enable men and women to emerge from anonymity and alienation and to collaborate for the common good.
On November 30, 1980 John Paul II wrote his second encyclical, Rich in Mercy.(17) It expanded on and presented new perspectives on some of the themes contained in his first encyclical Redeemer of Humanity. The letter began with scriptural and theological analysis of mercy as "the fundamental content of the messianic message of Christ and the constitutive power of his mission." In developing such a perspective, the pope devoted much attention to the prodigal son parable, the paschal mystery, and Mary as the mother of mercy.
After praising the accomplishments of modern science, technology, communication and transportation, the pope noted, "the world today also contains shadows and imbalances which are not always merely superficial." Among some mentioned were the areas of poverty, shortage and underdevelopment, as well as the situations of inequality between individuals and nations.
It is obvious that a fundamental defect, or rather a series of defects, indeed a defective machinery is at the root of contemporary economics and materialistic civilization, which does not allow the human family to break free from such radically unjust situations.
John Paul II then elaborated the church's responsibility to profess and practice mercy, "the most stupendous attribute of the Creator and Redeemer," through its sacraments, eucharist, preaching and living. He emphasized the relationship of mercy to justice. While he called mercy the most perfect incarnation of equality and justice among peoples, the pope added.
Society can become ever more human only if we introduce into the many-sided setting of interpersonal and social relationships "merciful love" and not merely justice.