A New Worldly Order: John Paul II and Human Freedom

by George Weigel

Pope John Paul II drew a great deal of attention not only within the Catholic Church but outside it as well with his May 1991 encyclical Centesimus Annus. Perhaps its most striking feature is the pope's endorsement of capitalism, properly understood, as the economic system most compatible with human freedom and most efficient in meeting human needs. Notable as well were his comments on the fall of Communist regimes in 1989 and the role of the workers' movement in that struggle.
A condensation of Centesimus Annus, accompanied by the pope's own public comments on it, starts off this stimulating collection. Twenty-three essays follow, by Catholics and non-Catholics, Americans and Europeans, political theorists, theologians, social scientists, lawyers, and journalists. They show a wide variety of reactions--positive and negative--to John Paul's vision of a new worldly order.

195 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1992

About the author

American author and political and social activist. Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Weigel was the Founding President of the James Madison Foundation.

Each summer, Weigel and several other Catholic intellectuals from the United States, Poland, and across Europe conduct the Tertio Millennio Seminar on the Free Society in Krakow, in which they and an assortment of students from the United States, Poland, and several other emerging democracies in Central and Eastern Europe discuss Christianity within the context of liberal democracy and capitalism, with the papal encyclical Centesimus Annus being the focal point.

He is a member of the advisory council of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.