Pope’s Encyclical

In his analysis of Pope John Paul II’s latest encyclical, “Centesimus Annus,” George Weigel (Commentary, May 3) selectively reads this powerful restatement of the church’s social teaching. Weigel understands the encyclical to be an endorsement of capitalism and free-market enterprise and the church’s critical eulogy for socialism’s inevitable demise.

To the question of whether the encyclical posits capitalism as the answer to fledgling democracies in Central and Eastern Europe and struggling Third Worldcountries, Weigel interprets the answer as “yes” with only limited qualifications. Weigel fails to see the document in its entirety and within the context of the century of social teaching which this document commemorates.

John Paul II states clearly that the failure of communism might lead Western countries to see this collapse “as a one-sided victory of their own economic system, and thereby failing to make the necessary corrections in that system.” This triumphalism, he warns, can blind political powers to the social, political and economic problems that remain: exploitation, human alienation and material and moral poverty.

The preferential concern for the poor underpins “Centesimus Annus.” This option for the poor and vulnerable demands that every system be measured by a simple test: How does it affirm human dignity? How do policies and institutions impact the poor and secure their social, political and economic empowerment? These are questions Weigel ignores. In doing so, however, he misses the true message of the encyclical and the church’s social teaching.

THOMAS A. CHABOLLA

Executive Director

Office of Justice and Peace

Archdiocese of Los Angeles