Interested only in mankind's advancement, the Church proclaims the novel destiny of men and women as one with Christ in sonship to the Father. The Church wishes, therefore, to cooperate with all in fostering a sense of brotherhood. Introduction Aware of great material progress in parts of the world and dreadful want in other parts, and aware that concern for the secular far outstrips concern for the sacred, the Church wishes to understand our common human problems and try to solve them in the light of Christ's teaching. There is a real social and cultural transformation going on in the World. Such transformation gives rise to many questions about the meaning of life here and hereafter, about growth and power and the proper use of both, about the paradox of incredible wealth and comfort coexisting with dire poverty and human misery, about the impulse to global concern for the less fortunate on the one hand, and on the other, fierce political, social and economic competition.
Increased communications provide exchange of conflicting as well as compatible ideas.
Material progress outstrips spiritual advancement. Amid this complexity of circumstances, few are able to establish permanent values and they vacillate, therefore, between hope and anxiety. The mathematical, natural and social sciences together with technology have so quickened the pace of history that mankind has abandoned its old concept of nature as static for one of nature as evolving and dynamic. The result is an immense series of new problems calling for analysis and new understanding. Changes in the family structure and in the economic base of different countries, the promise of actual or potential improvement of living standards, a sense of group unity and personal self-worth are all factors in a changing social order.