The solution to social problems lay not in attention to them, but in the religious renewal implied in a return to the Gospel and the Church. There is an implicit idealism underlying most of Pius' writings, a belief that right belief is primary. This is idealism, the direct opposite of Marxist materialism. It is a preference to work with ideas rather than material reality in the consideration of theology and social problems. His stand shows that the role played by the Church in society does not always have to be a conservative one.
Justice ranks higher.
Option for the Poor. The Social Encyclicals of Pius XI . 4-23 Visitors since 21 JAN 97.