The Person: Center of any Free Society

JPII sees the historic events of 1989 as as sort of cautious celebration.  Though happy that the evils of Socialism had been (at least formally) set aside, there is a danger in seeing it as a unilateral victory for another evil.  He says that many may see it as proof that Capitalism is by nature superior to Socialism, and that in light of these new events is the only economic system appropriate to take failed Socialism’s place.  The truth is much more complex than that.  In truth, “The Church has no [specific economic] models to present [as a replacement to Socialism]; models that are real and truly effective can only arise within the framework of different historical situations, through the efforts of all those who responsibly confront concrete problems in all their social, economic, political and cultural aspects, as these interact with one another (CA, 43).”  Rather, there are specific key ingredients to a functioning free society which the Church guides and exhorts those who “responsibly confront key problems” to bear in mind.  The most central of these is the preservation of the person as subject.

Capitalism as a replacement for Socialism is, as JPII posits, a tricky proposition.  “If by ‘capitalism’ is meant an economic system which recognizes the fundamental and positive role of business, the market, private property and the resulting responsibility for the means of production, as well as free human creativity in the economic sector, then the answer is certainly in the affirmative, even though it would perhaps be more appropriate to speak of a ‘business economy,’ ‘market economy’ or simply ‘free economy.’”  The necessary point in Capitalism, the one which would make it an admirable replacement, is the principle that the economy must be at the service of Man, not Man for the economy.  To that end, “if by ‘capitalism’ is meant a system in which freedom in the economic sector is not circumscribed within a strong juridical framework which places it at the service of human freedom in its totality, and which sees it as a particular aspect of that freedom, the core of which is ethical and religious, then the reply is certainly negative… Indeed, there is a risk that a radical capitalistic ideology could spread which refuses even to consider these problems, in the a priori belief that any attempt to solve them is doomed to failure, and which blindly entrusts their solution to the free development of market forces (CA, 42).”

How does Capitalism avoid becoming just another Socialism, and ensure that it is at the service of Man?  By preserving the right order and place of Man’s individual efforts within the economy.  Enterprise must be oriented towards the common good, and there must be recognition of “the legitimacy of workers' efforts to obtain full respect for their dignity and to gain broader areas of participation in the life of industrial enterprises so that, while cooperating with others and under the direction of others, they can in a certain sense ‘work for themselves’ through the exercise of their intelligence and freedom (CA, 43).”  Man must be free to work within an economy in a way that allows him to express his own creativity as a manifestation of his subjectivity.  In so doing, he not only finds meaning and fulfillment in his work, but transforms the workplace into a society of workers, not merely a common space made up of workers.

When I began my reading of Centesimus Annus, I was struck by the unique timing of the events it was responding to.  Published in 1991, this encyclical commemorates not only 100 years of Rerum Novarum, but the fall of Socialism in Europe two years prior.  The theme of Rerum Novarum which is crucial to the Church’s denunciation of Socialism - a theme taken up again in Centesimus Annus - is Socialism’s rejection of the person, of the subjective conscience and creativity of the individual in exchange for an atheistic cog who exists for the capital of the State.  What is significant about this is that for JPII, the year 2000 represented a Jubilee year for the Church, a Biblical celebration whereby God forgives sins and renews minds to bring His people closer to Himself.  In the Christian Church, this is accomplished through the Holy Spirit, He Who renews minds by convincing the world of sin, that is, by renewing and reorienting the conscience.  

How surprised I was when, in concluding my reading of the encyclical, I found that this was specifically in the mind of JPII himself!  “The present Encyclical,” he writes, “has looked at the past, but above all it is directed to the future. Like Rerum novarum, it comes almost at the threshold of a new century, and its intention, with God's help, is to prepare for that moment.  In every age the true and perennial ‘newness of things’ comes from the infinite power of God, who says: ‘Behold, I make all things new (Rev 21:5).’ These words refer to the fulfillment of history, when Christ ‘delivers the Kingdom to God the Father ... that God may be everything to everyone (1 Cor 15:24,28).’ But the Christian well knows that the newness which we await in its fullness at the Lord's second coming has been present since the creation of the world, and in a special way since the time when God became man in Jesus Christ and brought about a ‘new creation’ with him and through him (2 Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15) (CA, 62).”

  In short, the fall of Socialism in Europe was a precursor to the Jubilee celebration of the Church, and emphasized what JPII would insist is the central key ingredient to any functioning free society: freedom of conscience, and an emphasis on the creativity of the subjective person.  This conscience, he would assert elsewhere, is the defining point of personhood.  For JPII, the conscience is the source of personality, subjectivity, and individuality, wherein God causes Himself to be recognized by the individual in the particular ways that individual is most inclined.