This encyclical deals with Christianity and social progress. The Church is a Mother and Teacher of mankind, Pope John XXIII says, rather than an enforcer of orthodoxy. Although the Church's first concern is the soul, it also concerns itself with the body. The Church's practice of charity reflects Christ's command to love others. John praises Rerum Novarum and its efforts to Christianize the working classes and have the Chruch become a champion and defender of the oppressed.

The conditions of the free market are held to result in extreme inequality and injury of the morality, health, and faith of the lower classes, including disruption of family life by unemployment. The indignation of the working classes led to their support for theories whose implementation would result in even worse conditions.

Pope Leo XIII, in his work Rerum Novarum, offered complete social teaching in his synthesis of Christianity and the defense of the earthly interests of the poor. There is no solution without Christ and his Church, he argued. They offer the economic and social foundations for the "reconstruction of human society." Remuneration for work cannot depend on the voluntary agreement between the employer and employed in a free market; it must depend on laws of "justice and equity" (which are not defined).

Private property is a natural right that the state should not suppress, Pope John argues, but it also entails social obligations. The state is obligated to work for the betterment of the working man. The state must regulate labor conditions. Workers should be unhindered in their free association with other workers (e.g., unions, collective bargaining). Employers and workers should regulate their relations based on human solidarity and Christian brotherhood, rather than by the free market or the Marxist creed of class warfare.

The encyclical Quadragesimo Anno, by Pius XI, which John briefly summarizes in this work, argues that the wage system is not inherently unjust but is often implemented in unjust ways. It argues that employees should share in ownership or profits (but does not address sharing business risk and capital). Wages should take into account the individual, the family, and needs of the community, as well as the financial condition of the business. Pius XI emphasized the incompatibility of Christianity with communism or even moderate socialism because they impose "too severe a restraint on human liberty." However, the plutocracy had resulted in extreme inequality. The solution is economic relations based on social justice (a concept left undefined) and charity. The Church has the competence to instruct in such reforms. The natural right of private property should not stand in the way of goods flowing to all alike according to justice and charity (again left undefined). If the common good demands it, the state can intervene in the case of those that can't work or refuse to work. The right of migration is supported.

Economic, technological, and social progress is uneven among nations. Personal initiative and state intervention both have their place and must work in harmony, John argues. Organizations of civil society are positive, as long as they do not too greatly restrict individual liberty. Inequality and excessive spending on armaments and national prestige are problems. Wages cannot be left up to the market. The prior argument for a "just wage" is reiterated. Economic progress should lead to social progress for everyone. Profit sharing and ownership for workers in profitable firms is reiterated (without addressing risk sharing and capital investment). Concern for the common good should guide sectoral and class balancing inside nations and between them and impact dividends to investors.

John continues to argue for...