Source: http://hismercy.ca/content/church_docs/encyclicals/en_1967_Paul%20VI_DEVELO.html
Timestamp: 2019-11-20 14:23:48
Document Index: 105862585

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 3', '§ 2', '§ 1', '§ 3', '§ 4', '§ 2', '§ 3', '§ 4', '§ 2']

Pope Paul VI 26 March 1967 Development of Peoples
Encyclical Letter of His Holiness promulgated on 26 March 1967
1. The development of peoples has the Church’s close attention, particularly the development of those peoples who are striving to escape from hunger, misery, endemic diseases and ignorance; of those who are looking for a wider share in the benefits of civilization and a more active improvement of their human qualities; of those who are aiming purposefully at their complete fulfillment. Following on the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council a renewed consciousness of the demands of the Gospel makes it her duty to put herself at the service of all, to help them grasp their serious problem in all its dimensions, and to convince them that solidarity in action at this turning point in human history is a matter of urgency.
2. Our predecessors in their great encyclicals, Leo XIII in Rerum Novarum,[1] Pius XI in Quadragesimo Anno[2] and John XXIII in Mater et Magistra[3] and Pacem in Terris[4]—not to mention the messages of Pius XII[5] to the world did not fail in the duty of their office of shedding the light of the Gospel on the social questions of their times.
3. Today the principal fact that we must all recognize is that the social question has become world-wide. John XXIII stated this in unambiguous terms[6] and the Council echoed him in its Pastoral Constitution on The Church in the Modern World.[7] This teaching is important and its application urgent. Today the peoples in hunger are making a dramatic appeal to the peoples blessed with abundance. The Church shudders at this cry of anguish and calls each one to give a loving response of charity to this brother’s cry for help.
Then quite recently, in Our desire to carry out the wishes of the Council and give specific expression to the Holy See’s contribution to this great cause of peoples in development, We considered it Our duty to set up a Pontifical Commission in the Church’s central administration, charged with "bringing to the whole of God’s People the full knowledge of the part expected of them at the present time, so as to further the progress of poorer peoples, to encourage social justice among nations, to offer to less developed nations the means whereby they can further their own progress":[8] its name, which is also its programme, is Justice and Peace. We think that this can and should bring together men of good will with our Catholic sons and our Christian brothers. So it is to all that We address this solemn appeal for concrete action towards man’s complete development and the development of all mankind.
6. Freedom from misery, the greater assurance of finding subsistence, health and fixed employment; an increased share of responsibility without oppression of any kind and in security from situations that do violence to their dignity as men; better education—in brief, to seek to do more, know more and have more in order to be more: that is what men aspire to now when a greater number of them are condemned to live in conditions that make this lawful desire illusory. Besides, peoples who have recently gained national independence experience the need to add to this political freedom a fitting autonomous growth, social as well as economic, in order to assure their citizens of a full human enhancement and to take their rightful place with other nations.
8. Yet once this is admitted, it remains only too true that the resultant situation is manifestly inadequate for facing the hard reality of modern economics. Left to itself it works rather to widen the differences in the world’s levels of life, not to diminish them: rich peoples enjoy rapid growth whereas the poor develop slowly. The imbalance is on the increase: some produce a surplus of foodstuffs, others cruelly lack them and see their exports made uncertain.
9. At the same time social conflicts have taken on world dimensions. The acute disquiet which has taken hold of the poor classes in countries that are becoming industrialised, is now embracing those whose economy is almost exclusively agrarian: farming people, too, are becoming aware of their " undeserved hardship."[9] There is also the scandal of glaring inequalities not merely in the enjoyment of possessions but even more in the exercise of power. While a small restricted group enjoys a refined civilization in certain regions, the remainder of the population, poor and scattered, is " deprived of nearly all possibility of personal initiative and of responsibility, and oftentimes even its living and working conditions are unworthy of the human person".[10]
19. Increased possession is not the ultimate goal of nations nor of individuals. All growth is ambivalent. It is essential if man is to develop as a man, but in a way it imprisons man if he considers it the supreme good, and it restricts his vision. Then we see hearts harden and minds close, and men no longer gather together in friendship but out of self-interest, which soon leads to oppositions and disunity. The exclusive pursuit of possessions thus become an obstacle to individual fulfillment and to man’s true greatness. Both for nations and for individual men, avarice is the most evident form of moral underdevelopment.
25 The introduction of industry is a necessity for economic growth and human progress; it is also a sign of development and contributes to it. By persistent work and use of his intelligence man gradually wrests nature’s secrets from her and finds a better application for her riches. As his self-mastery increases, he develops a taste for research and discovery, an ability to take a calculated risk, boldness in enterprises, generosity in what he does and a sense of responsibility.
28. Work of course can have contrary effects, for it promises money, pleasure and power, invites some to selfishness, others to revolt; it also develops professional awareness, sense of duty and charity to one’s neighbor. When it is more scientific and better organized, there is a risk of its dehumanizing those who perform it, by making them its servants, for work is human only if it remains intelligent and free. John XXIII gave a reminder of the urgency of giving everyone who works his proper dignity by making him a true sharer in the work he does with others: " every effort should be made that the enterprise become a community of persons in the dealings, activities and standing of all its members".[30] Man’s labor means much more still for the Christian: the mission of sharing in the creation of the supernatural world[31] which remains incomplete until we all come to build up together that perfect Man of whom St. Paul speaks "who realizes the fullness of Christ".[32]
31. We know, however, that a revolutionary uprising—save where there is manifest, long-standing tyranny which would do great damage to fundamental personal rights and dangerous harm to the common good of the country—produces new injustices, throws more elements out of balance and brings on new disasters. A real evil should not be fought against at the cost of greater misery.
32. We want to be clearly understood: the present situation must be faced with courage and the injustices linked with it must be fought against and overcome. Development demands bold transformations, innovations that go deep. Urgent reforms should be undertaken without delay. It is for each one to take his share in them with generosity, particularly those whose education, position and opportunities afford them wide scope for action. May they show an example, and give of their own possessions as several of Our brothers in the episcopacy have done.[33] In so doing they will live up to men’s expectations and be faithful to the Spirit of God, since it is " the ferment of the Gospel which has aroused and continues to arouse in man’s heart the irresistible requirements of his dignity".[34]
34. This is true since every program, made to increase production, has, in the last analysis, no other raison d’ętre than the service of man. Such programs should reduce inequalities, fight discriminations, free man from various types of servitude and enable him to be the instrument of his own material betterment, of his moral progress and of his spiritual growth. To speak of development, is in effect to show as much concern for social progress as for economic growth. It is not sufficient to increase overall wealth for it to be distributed equitably. It is not sufficient to promote technology to render the world a more human place in which to live. The mistakes of their predecessors should warn those on the road to development of the dangers to be avoided in this field. Tomorrow’s technocracy can beget evils no less redoubtable than those due to the liberalism of yesterday. Economics and technology have no meaning except from man whom they should serve. And man is only truly man in as far as, master of his own acts and judge of their worth, he is author of his own advancement, in keeping with the nature which was given to him by his Creator and whose possibilities and exigencies he himself freely assumes.
35. It can even be affirmed that economic growth depends in the very first place upon social progress: thus basic education is the primary object of any plan of development. Indeed hunger for education is no less debasing than hunger for food: an illiterate is a person with an undernourished mind. To be able to read and write, to acquire a professional formation, means to recover confidence in oneself and to discover that one can progress along with the others. As We said in Our message to the UNESCO Congress held in 1965 at Teheran, for man literacy is " a fundamental factor of social integration, as well as of personal enrichment, and for society it is a privileged instrument of economic progress and of development".[36] We also rejoice at the good work accomplished in this field by private initiative, by the public authorities and by international organizations: these are the primary agents of development, because they render man capable of acting for himself.
36. But man finds his true identity only in his social milieu, where the family plays a fundamental role. The family’s influence may have been excessive, at some periods of history and in some places, when it was exercised to the detriment of the fundamental rights of the individual. The long-standing social frameworks, often too rigid and badly organized, existing in developing countries, are, nevertheless, still necessary for a time, yet progressively relaxing their excessive hold on the population. But the natural family, monogamous and stable, such as the divine plan conceived it[37] and as Christianity sanctified it, must remain the place where " the various generations come together and help one another to grow wiser and to harmonize personal rights with the other requirements of social life".[38]
37. It is true that too frequently an accelerated demographic increase adds its own difficulties to the problems of development: the size of the population increases more rapidly than available resources, and things are found to have reached apparently an impasse. From that moment the temptation is great to check the demographic increase by means of radical measures. It is certain that public authorities can intervene, within the limit of their competence, by favoring the availability of appropriate information and by adopting suitable measures, provided that these be in conformity with the moral law and that they respect the rightful freedom of married couples. Where the inalienable right to marriage and procreation is lacking, human dignity has ceased to exist. Finally, it is for the parents to decide, with full knowledge of the matter, on the number of their children, taking into account their responsibilities towards God, themselves, the children they have already brought into the world, and the community to which they belong. In all this they must follow the demands of their own conscience enlightened by God’s law authentically interpreted, and sustained by confidence in Him.[39]
38. In the task of development, man, who finds his life’s primary environment in the family, is often aided by professional organizations. If it is their objective to promote the interests of their members, their responsibility is also great with regard to the educative task which at the same time they can and ought to accomplish. By means of the information they provide and the formation they propose, they can do much to give to all a sense of the common good and of the consequent obligations that fall upon each person.
40. In addition to professional organizations, there are also institutions which are at work. Their role is no less important for the success of development. "The future of the world stands in peril", the Council gravely affirms, "unless wiser men are forthcoming". And it adds:
" many nations, poorer in economic goods, are quite rich in wisdom and able to offer noteworthy advantages to others".[40] Rich or poor, each country possesses a civilization handed down by their ancestors: institutions called for by life in this world, and higher manifestations of the life of the spirit, manifestations of an artistic, intellectual and religious character. When the latter possess true human values, it would be grave error to sacrifice them to the former. A people that would act in this way would thereby lose the best of its patrimony; in order to live, it would be sacrificing its reasons for living. Christ’s teaching also applies to people: " What does it profit a man to gain the whole world if he suffers the loss of his soul"[41]
42. What must be aimed at is complete humanism.[44] And what is that if not the fully-rounded development of the whole man and of all men? A humanism closed in on itself, and not open to the values of the spirit and to God Who is their source, could achieve apparent success. True, man can organize the world apart from God, but "without God man can organize it in the end only to man’s detriment. An isolated humanism is an inhuman humanism".[45] There is no true humanism but that which is open to the Absolute and is conscious of a vocation which gives human life its true meaning. Far from being the ultimate measure of all things, man can only realize himself by reaching beyond himself. As Pascal has said so well:
"Man infinitely surpasses man".[46]
44. This duty is the concern especially of better-off nations. Their obligations stem from a brotherhood that is at once human and supernatural, and take on a threefold aspect: the duty of human solidarity the aid that the rich nations must give to developing countries; the duty of social justice—the rectification of inequitable trade relations between powerful nations and weak nations; the duty of universal charity—the effort to bring about a world that is more human towards all men, where all will be able to give and receive, without one group making progress at the expense of the other. The question is urgent, for on it depends the future of the civilization of the world.
45. "If a brother or a sister be naked", says Saint James; " if they lack their daily nourishment, and one of you says to them: ‘ Go in peace, be warmed and be filled’, without giving them what is necessary for the body, what good does it do?"[48] Today no one can be ignorant any longer of the fact that in whole continents countless men and women are ravished by hunger, countless numbers of children are undernourished, so that many of them die in infancy, while the physical growth and mental development of many others are retarded and as a result whole regions are condemned to the most depressing despondency.
49. We must repeat once more that the superfluous wealth of rich countries should be placed at the service of poor nations. The rule which up to now held good for the benefit of those nearest to us, must today be applied to all the needy of this world. Besides, the rich will be the first to benefit as a result. Otherwise their continued greed will certainly call down upon them the judgment of God and the wrath of the poor, with consequences no one can foretell. If today’s flourishing civilizations remain selfishly wrapped up in themselves, they could easily place their highest values in jeopardy, sacrificing their will to be great to the desire to possess more. To them we could apply also the parable of the rich man whose fields yielded an abundant harvest and who did not know where to store his harvest: "God said to him: ‘Fool, this night do they demand your soul of you’".[54]
67. We cannot insist too much on the duty of welcoming others—a duty springing from human solidarity and Christian charity—which is incumbent both on the families and the cultural organizations of the host countries. Centers of welcome and hostels must be multiplied, especially for youth. This must be done first to protect them from loneliness, the feeling of abandonment and distress, which undermine all moral resistance. This is also necessary to protect them from the unhealthy situation in which they find themselves, forced as they are to compare the extreme poverty of their homeland with the luxury and waste which often surround them. It should be done also to protect them against the subversive teachings and temptations to aggression which assail them, as they recall so much " unmerited misery".[58] Finally, and above all, this hospitality should aim to provide them, in the warm atmosphere of a brotherly welcome, with the example of wholesome living, an esteem for genuine and effective Christian charity, an esteem for spiritual values.
74. Many young people have already responded with warmth and enthusiasm to the appeal of Pius XII for lay missionaries.[60] Many also are those who have spontaneously put themselves at the disposition of official or private organizations which are collaborating with developing nations. We are pleased to learn that in certain nations "military service" can be partially accomplished by doing "social service", a "service pure and simple". We bless these undertakings and the good will which inspires them. May all those who wish to belong to Christ hear His appeal: "I was hungry and you gave me to eat, thirsty and you gave me to drink, a stranger and you took me in, naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, a prisoner and you came to see me".[61] No one can remain indifferent to the lot of his brothers who are still buried in wretchedness, and victims of insecurity, slaves of ignorance. Like the heart of Christ, the heart of the Christian must sympathize with this misery: "I have pity on this multitude".[62]
75. The prayer of all ought to rise with fervor to the Almighty. Having become aware of such great misfortunes, the human race will apply itself with intelligence and steadfastness to abolish them. This prayer should be matched by the resolute commitment of each individual—according to the measure of his strength and possibilities—to the struggle against underdevelopment. May individuals, social groups, and nations join hands in brotherly fashion, the strong aiding the weak to grow, exerting all their competence, enthusiasm and disinterested love. More than any other, the individual who is animated by true charity labors skillfully to discover the causes of misery, to find the means to combat it, to overcome it resolutely. A creator of peace, he " will follow his path, lighting the lamps of joy and playing their brilliance and loveliness on the hearts of men across the surface of the globe, leading them to recognize, across all frontiers, the faces of their brothers, the faces of their friend".[63]
76. Excessive economic, social and cultural inequalities among peoples arouse tensions and conflicts, and are a danger to peace. As We said to the Fathers of the Council when We returned from Our journey of peace to the United Nations: "The condition of the peoples in process of development ought to be the object of our consideration; or better: our charity for the poor in the world—and there are multitudes of them—must become more considerate, more active, more generous".[64] To wage war on misery and to struggle against injustice is to promote, along with improved conditions, the human and spiritual progress of all men, and therefore the common good of humanity. Peace cannot be limited to a mere absence of war, the result of an ever precarious balance of forces. No, peace is something that is built up day after day, in the pursuit of an order intended by God, which implies a more perfect form of justice among men.[65]
77. The peoples themselves have the prime responsibility to work for their own development. But they will not bring this about in isolation. Regional agreements among weak nations for mutual support, understandings of wider scope entered into for their help, more far-reaching agreements to establish programs for closer cooperation among groups of nations—these are the milestones on the road to development that leads to peace.
79. Some would consider such hopes utopian. It may be that these persons are not realistic enough, and that they have not perceived the dynamism of a world which desires to live more fraternally—a world which, in spite of its ignorance, its mistakes and even its sins, its relapses into barbarism and its wanderings far from the road of salvation, is, even unawares, taking slow but sure steps towards its Creator. This road towards a greater humanity requires effort and sacrifice; but suffering itself, accepted for the love of our brethren, favors the progress of the entire human family. Christians know that union with the sacrifice of our Savior contributes to the building up of the Body of Christ in its plenitude: the assembled people of God.[67]
86. All of you who have heard the appeal of suffering peoples, all of you who are working to answer their cries, you are the apostles of a development which is good and genuine, which is not wealth that is self-centered and sought for its own sake, but rather an economy which is put at the service of man, the bread which is daily distributed to all, as a source of brotherhood and a sign of Providence.
87. With a full heart We bless you, and We appeal to all men of good will to join you in a spirit of brotherhood. For, if the new name for peace is development, who would not wish to labor for it with all his powers? Yes, We ask you, all of you, to heed Our cry of anguish, in the name of the Lord.
9. Encyclical Rerum Novarum, May 15, 1891: Acta Leonis XIII, t. XI (1892), p. 98.
10. Gaudium et Spes, n. 63, § 3.
12. Gaudium et Spes, n. 3, § 2.
13. Cf. Encyclical Immortale Dei, Nov. 1, 1885: Acta Leonis XIII, t. V (1885),p.127.
14. Gaudium et Spes n. 4, §[1]
17 Cf., for example, J. Maritain, Les conditions spirituelles du progres et de la paix, in Rencontre des cultures a I’UNESCO sous le signe du Concile oecumenique Vatican II, Paris: Mame, 1966, p. 66.
20. Gaudium et Spes, n. 69, § 1.
21. 1 Jn 3 17.
22. De Nabuthe, c. 12, n. 53; (P. L. 14, 747). Cf. J. R. Palanque, Saint Ambrose et l’empire romain, Paris: de Boccard, 1933, pp. 336 f.
23. Letter to the 82nd Session of the French Social Weeks (Brest 1965), in L’homme et la revolution urbaine, Lyons Chronique sociale 1965, pp. 8 and 9. Cf. L’Osservatore Romano, July 10, 1965, Documentation catholique t. 62, Paris, 1965, col 1365.
25. Cf., ibid.. n. 65, § 3.
27. Cf., for example, Colin Clark, The Conditions of Economic Progress, 3rd ed., London: Macmillan and Co., and New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1960, pp. 3-6.
28. Letter to the 51st Session of the French Social Weeks (Lyons, 1961). in Le travail et les travailleurs dans la societe contemporaine, Lyons, Chronique sociale, 1965, p. 6. Cf, L’Osservatore Romano, July 10, 1964; Documentation catholique, t. 61, Paris, 1964, col 931
34. Gaudium et Spes, n. 26, .§ 4.
36. L’Osservatore Romano, Sept. 11, 1965; Documentation catholique, t. 62, Paris 1965, col. 1674-75.
39. Cf. ibid., n. 50-51 and note 14, and n. 87, § 2 and 3.
40. Ibid., n. 15, § 3.
42. Gaudium et Spes, n. 57, § 4.
43. Ibid., n. 19, § 2.
44. Cf., for example, J. Maritain, L’humanisme integral, Paris: Aubier 1936. Eng. tr.: True Humanism, London: Geoffrey Bles, and New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1938.
45. H. de Lubac, S. J., Le drame de l’humanisme athee, 3rd ed., Paris, Spes, 1945, p. 10. Eng. tr. The Drama of Atheistic Humanism, London: Sheed and Ward, 1949, p. VII.
46. Pensees, ed. Brunschvicg, n. 434. Cf. M. Zundel, L’homme passe l’homme, Le Caire, Editions du lien, 1944.
57. Cf. Acta Leonis XIII, t. XI (1892), p. 131.
61. Mt 25: 35-36. Mk 8: 2.
62. Address of John XXIII upon Reception of the Balzan Prize for Peace, May 10, 1963,
63. AAS 55 (1963), p. 455.
67.Cf. Eph. 4 12; Lumen Gentium, n. 13.
68 Cf. Apostolicam Actuositatem, nn. 7, 13 and 24. 69 Lk 11: 9.