CENTESIMUS ANNUS

Cen­tes­imus Annus begins with a restate­ment and a cur­rent appli­ca­tion of the major prin­ci­ples of Rerum Novarum. Pope John Paul II then address­es the rela­tion- ship of the Church’s social teach­ing to major trends and events in the past one hun­dred years with a spe­cial empha­sis on the events in East­ern Europe in 1989. He miss­es no oppor­tu­ni­ty to affirm human dig­ni­ty and human rights. The encycli­cal notes the fall of “Real Social­ism,” but cau­tions against think­ing that this fall sig­ni­fies a vic­to­ry for capitalism.