7 - Social Teaching in Pope John Paul II

Summary

Pope St. John Paul’s emphasis on the inherent moral significance of free self-constitution and of self-initiative by individuals and families, and his direct knowledge before he was pope of life under a communist dictatorship, seem to have influenced his social thought. Thus, John Paul advanced a developed understanding of work as itself fulfilling for the worker and proposed a deepened explanation of the ethical justification of private ownership and of the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity. He commended the free market principle as an organizing principle of a country’s economy, but taught that it was also limited or modified by other principles. John Paul also presented sharp criticisms of socialism, of the modern welfare state, and of the dangers of excessive bureaucracy.