Pope Blames East, West for Third World’s Woes : In 7th Encyclical, He Says Superpower-Led Blocs Are ‘Betraying Humanity’; New Priorities Urged

Pope John Paul II on Friday accused the blocs led by the two superpowers of the “betrayal of humanity” by means of what he called a dangerous and sinful competition that aggravates the misery of the world’s have-not majority.

Condemning “imperialism” and “neocolonialism” by East and West alike, the Pope attacked “the logic of blocs” as the principal cause of a growing gap between rich and poor that threatens world peace.

He demanded a reordering of international priorities and a restructuring of international institutions as the remedy for lagging development and social justice in a world he portrayed as increasingly divided but at the same time ever more interdependent.

“Peace is indivisible,” he said. “It is either for all or for none.”

His remarks were contained in his 7th encyclical, “Sollicitudo Rei Socialis,” or “The Social Concern of the Church.” The 20,000-word statement is a papal assessment of the state of the world.

“In today’s world, including the world of economics,” it says, “the prevailing picture is one destined to lead us more quickly toward death rather than one of concern for true development.”

The encyclical is scornful of the West’s “super development,” which “makes people slaves of possessions and of immediate gratification, with no other horizon.”

It continues, in blunt language: “When the West gives the impression of abandoning itself to forms of growing and selfish isolation, and the East in its turn seems to ignore for questionable reasons its duty to cooperate in the task of alleviating human misery, then we are up against not only a betrayal of humanity’s legitimate expectations--a betrayal that is a harbinger of unforeseeable consequences--but also a real desertion of a moral obligation.”

Criticizing “crass materialism” in the U.S.-led West and totalitarianism in the Moscow-dominated East, the document demands greater attention to the poor South by the rich North. Third World countries must be helped, it insists, but they, like the countries of the Soviet Bloc, must also help themselves by aiming for decent societies “as expressed in the free and responsible participation of all citizens in public affairs, in the rule of law and in respect for and promotion of human rights.”

In presenting the encyclical to reporters, Cardinal Roger Etchegaray said, “In this document breathes Pope Wojtyla--body and soul.” He said the document “paints a panorama of the contemporary world with its shadows and light, and expresses among the strongest judgments of this pontificate on the promotion of man and peoples.”

In church intellectual circles, it was thought that the Pope, born in Poland as Karol Wojtyla, had worked with two Jesuit theologians, a center-left Austrian and a center-right Frenchman, to help crystallize his thoughts.

Moral Obligation Seen

It was written to reaffirm and extend the view that Catholics have a moral obligation to improve the quality of human life and is an update of Pope Paul VI’s ground- breaking “Populorum Progressio,” or “Development of Peoples,” which was issued 20 years ago.

Elaborating on “Populorum Progressio’s” proposition that “development is the new name for peace,” John Paul argues that both presuppose international collaboration for a common good that is not only economic but also moral, and has been conspicuous by its absence over the past two decades.

The possibility of such collaboration, he says, is undermined by East-West competition for military, ideological and economic power, and he adds:

“This opposition is transferred to the developing countries themselves, and thus helps to widen the gap already existing on the economic level between the North and South. . . . This is one of the reasons why the church’s social doctrine adopts a critical attitude toward both liberal capitalism and Marxist collectivism.” The encyclical calls both systems “imperfect and in need of radical correction.”

Collaboration Urged

“World peace is inconceivable,” the Pope writes, “unless the world’s leaders come to recognize that interdependence in itself demands the abandonment of the politics of blocs, the sacrifice of all forms of economic, military or political imperialism and the transformation of mutual distrust into collaboration.”

At present, in John Paul’s view, instead of sharing in development, poor countries “become parts of a machine, cogs on a gigantic wheel.” He says “it is this abnormal situation, the result of a war and of an unacceptably exaggerated concern for security, which deadens the impulse toward united cooperation by all for the common good of the human race.”

A world rigidly divided by conflicting ideologies in which “different forms of imperialism hold sway, can only be a world subject to structures of sin,” he says. And personal sins that support the structure of sin, he says, are “on the one hand the all-consuming desire for profit, and on the other the thirst for power, with the intention of imposing one’s will upon others.”

Sin Seldom Mentioned

Sin is seldom mentioned in the context of international shortcomings, the encyclical notes, and goes on to say that “one cannot easily gain a profound understanding of the reality that confronts us unless we give a name to the root of the evils which afflict us.”

Calling “the present division of the world a direct obstacle to the real transformation of the conditions of underdevelopment,” the encyclical calls for international cooperation to reform international trade and the world monetary and financial system, and to better promote the transfer of technology from North to South.

It also calls for revitalizing international institutions. The Pope regards increased food production, a greater respect for human rights and greater concern for the environment as among the relatively few positive developments of the past 20 years.

Not a Specific Remedy

He warns that his teaching is not intended as a specific remedy. “The church’s social doctrine is not a ‘third way’ between liberal capitalism and Marxist collectivism,” he says, “nor even a possible alternative to other solutions less radically opposed to one another.” Rather, he says, the purpose is “to interpret realities and guide Christian behavior.”

Addressed to Catholics “and all people of good will,” the encyclical invites other Christians as well as Jews and Muslims to join in common pursuit of meaningful world peace and development.

Catholics are enjoined to obey the teachings of the encyclical in their personal lives and in the practice of their faith.

“Faced by cases of need,” the encyclical says, “one cannot ignore them in favor of superfluous church ornaments and costly furnishings for divine worship. “On the contrary it could be obligatory to sell these goods in order to provide food, drink, clothing and shelter for those who lack these things.”

Cardinal Etchegaray, who is president of the Vatican’s Commission on Justice and Peace, recalled that on a visit to Brazil, John Paul had given his pastoral ring to slum dwellers, and he said the encyclical’s passage on selling church property did not represent a new position but could be prophetic.