State and Culture in the Encyclical Centesimus Annus

“All human activity takes place within a culture and interacts with culture”.

With these words Pope John Paul II begins paragraph 51 of his encyclical Centesimus Annus. It is clear, then, that the pope sees the importance of culture in all the forms and facets of human life. Paragraph 51, however, is located in the chapter entirely dedicated to the relation between State and culture. This also signifies that the pope places a significant importance on the role of the State towards this element of human life. 

This post will discuss Pope John Paul II’s view on culture and its relation to the State based around his encyclical Centesimus Annus. First, a brief summary of the encyclical will be given. Then, a description of culture will be provided and the importance given to it by the Church and the pope. Next, a summary and discussion of the chapter in the encyclical devoted to State and culture will follow. The succeeding section will be devoted to two key messages the pope highlights in this chapter and finally the post will be concluded accordingly. 

Centesimus Annus – Summary

Centesimus Annus is a supplementary encyclical (along with other encyclicals like Quadragesimo Anno by Pius XI and Mater et Magistra by John XXIII) to Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum, which is considered to be a foundational text (along with the Scriptures) of Catholic social teaching. Centesimus Annus was written by Pope John Paul II in 1991 on the centenary of the promulgation of Rerum Novarum. 

The encyclical, written in the last days of the Cold War, specifically looks  at contemporary political and economic issues. It criticises Marxist/communist ideologies and also regimes that implemented violence to combat these ideologies. It defends the rights for private property, the right to form private associations and recognises markets and businesses as necessary elements of a political system that respects human dignity and allows the individual to flourish in the fullness of its humanity. Recurring themes in the encyclical are those discussed in Rerum Novarum: the State should protect the human rights of all its citizens and should be the agent of justice especially to the poor.

Culture & its Importance

The term ‘culture’ is difficult to define because it is more so an atmosphere than a system that can be easily adjusted or changed.¹ E.B. Tylor, perhaps, summarises the meaning of the word best: “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”.² To this can be added that culture unites people and embraces the totality of the life of a people. It encompasses a people’s set of values and the forms through which these values are expressed and depicted.³ 

Culture, therefore, has a historical and social aspect and as a result the Church sees a role in itself to foster and stimulate it appropriately. Over the years, especially since Vatican II, it has done so noticeably to the point where it places the importance of its proper advancing over the proper orienting of such things as politics. For example, in the Vatican II document Gaudium et Spes it gives an order of chapter priority to culture over politics and economics. In this document it also says that “Man comes to a true and full humanity only through culture”⁴ and, hence, that the Church has a responsibility to “strengthen, perfect and restore”⁵ it.

Like the Church, John Paul II also saw a paramount importance of culture to mankind and the individual person. During World War II, the Nazi State occupying Poland attempted to stamp out the intellectual and cultural world of this country. In response, Karol Wojtyła chose the power of resistance through culture rather than through armed efforts. Throughout the war he penned many plays and was instrumental in the forming of the underground Rhapsodic Theatre. Some have suggested that Wojtyła during this time escaped into a world of religious quietism. However, as George Weigel argues, Karol deliberately chose resistance in this way through his conviction of the power of the word and Word. Anyone questioning his decision questions the power of these.⁶ In the course of his pontificate, John Paul II continued this “resistance” through culture. For example, he formed the Pontifical Council for Culture in 1982 and gave a total of 22 addresses to its members. He also wrote the famous Letter to Artists in 1999, in which he quotes Fyodor Dostoyevsky from The Idiot: “Beauty will save the world”.⁷

It is not surprising, therefore, that being influenced by the Church, Vatican II and his experience with the power of culture from a young age John Paul II chose to include an entire chapter on culture in his encyclical on social justice. 

State & Culture in Centesimus Annus

Since culture has a social aspect the State is able to influence it in considerable ways. With this in mind, the Pope discussed State and culture in chapter five of his encyclical. The first half of this chapter lists various ways the State can have an impact on the culture of a society. It discusses these ways in the context of the political changes that had occurred at the end of the 20th century. 

The chapter begins by stating that a theory of the State needs “to ensure the normal development of man’s spiritual and temporal activities”.⁸ John Paul II first comments on this with reference to the culture of totalitarianism, which does the exact opposite as the quote mandates. It absorbs within itself the nation, society, family, communities and individuals by denying the existence of objective and transcendent truth. The totalitarian system is the holder of any truth and it will enforce this rule by subduing everything and everyone. The truth of the dignity of man is not respected and he subsequently becomes oppressed. Without a truly free spirit man cannot engage in profound creativity and intellectual endeavours, which are cultural activities that separate him from animals.⁹ 

Similarly for the democratic system, which the Church values “inasmuch as it ensures the participation of citizens in making political choices, guarantees to the governed the possibility both of electing and holding accountable those who govern them, and of replacing them through peaceful means when appropriate”. It too cannot in any way be authentic (i.e. ensure a fulness in the development of man) unless it is in a State “ruled by law, and on the basis of a correct conception of the human person”¹⁰.¹¹ 

The pope also emphasised the role of the State in recognising and upholding human rights. At the time of writing the encyclical Communism had just collapsed and there was a lot of debate centred around building new systems concerned for human rights. Some of the rights the Pope lists are as follows: the right to life especially of the unborn, the right to live in a united family, the right to develop as an individual and to seek and know the truth, the right to work and receive enough remuneration to support oneself and one’s dependents, and the right to establish a family and raise children in an environment conducive to the growth of a child’s personality. All these rights play a central role in a people’s culture and it is a responsibility of the State to uphold them in any society.¹² 

Essential to all this is likewise the role of the State in the economic sector. The duty of the State, according to Pope John Paul II, is not to intervene too much in the economic sector but enough to create job opportunities and remove obstacles to development, such as those posed by monopolies.¹³ As an example of too much interference by the State in the market economy is the so-called “Welfare State” where society is deprived of its responsibility and the “Social Assistance State leads to a loss of human energies and an inordinate increase of public agencies, which are dominated more by bureaucratic ways of thinking than by concern for serving their clients”.¹⁴ 

Finally, the State should assist in the overcoming of the individualistic mentality – undoubtedly a bane on present day society. For this, solidarity and charity are required, the learning of which begins in the family. The family, therefore, needs the State to provide it with necessary support of resources and policies to help it combat this affliction. Communities that foster solidarity should also be given appropriate assistance.¹⁵ 

The Key Messages on State and Culture

Regarding, in general, the relation between State and culture two key messages are underlined by the pope – messages that Cardinal Avery Dulles S.J. argues are in fact principal to his entire encyclical.¹⁶ First, that politics and economics need to be subordinate to culture; and second, that culture is incomplete without religion.

With respect to the first point, a key quote, which was undeniably influenced by Gaudium et Spes (see above), is as follows: “The individual today is often suffocated between two poles represented by the State and the marketplace. At times it seems as though he exists only as a producer and consumer of goods, or as an object of State administration” (CA 49). Politicisation and commercialisation are not the sole alternatives. The cultural system is a third participator in the equation – and it is the more fundamental of the two. Politics and economics deal only with temporal goods, culture on the other hand deals with human existence as a whole. Culture, especially with its moral values, needs to be the sustainer and shaper of politics and economics.¹⁷ It has to presuppose the two, form their foundations; and this is something the State can never forget.¹⁸ 

With respect to the second key message the pope highlights that culture touches transcendent truths about man. These truths cannot escape mystery especially the deepest mystery which is God: “At the heart of every culture lies the attitude that a person takes to the greatest mystery: the mystery of God” (CA 24). Culture, therefore, is inseparable from religion. To shun God and religion means to turn away from a genuine concern for the true, the beautiful, and the good (cf. CA36). Ultimately, culture needs to be oriented towards these transcendentals. 

Culture, understood as a pursuit of the true, beautiful and good, has institutional forms of expression. Education and research serve the truth; museums, art, literature, parks, etc. serve and promote beauty; and good is fostered by churches and religious groups. These forms of expressions need to be supported by the State especially since most of them cannot sustain themselves.¹⁹ 

Conclusion

This post discussed Pope John Paul II’s view on the relation between culture and the State based around his encyclical Centesimus Annus. A summary of this encyclical was given and then background information provided on what culture is and the importance of it placed by the Church and the pope. It was shown that, notably since Vatican II, the Church sees the promotion and stimulation of culture as hugely important. The pope likewise, undoubtedly influenced by the Church, recognised this importance especially for today’s world. He manifested this view by promulgating Centesimus Annus in which he advocated that any theory of the State needs to ensure the development of man’s spiritual and temporal activities. Ways in which the State can do this include: the recognising and upholding of human rights, correctly monitoring the economic sector, supporting the family, and respecting the true dignity of man. Two key points, which Cardinal Dulles argues are principal to the entire encyclical, were finally presented: that politics and economics need to be firmly founded on culture and that culture is incomplete without religion. The State’s role, therefore, is to ensure that it does not deal with politics and economics without providing the necessary support to institutions and policies, including religious ones, that directly or indirectly affect culture.

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Footnotes

1. Cardinal Avery Dulles S.J., Centesimus Annus and the Renewal of Culture, Journal of Markets & Morality, 2.1, 1999, p. 2.
2. Edward B. Tylor, Primitive culture: researches into the development of mythology, philosophy, religion, art, and custom, New York: Gordon Press, 1974, p. 1.
3. John Paul II, Speech to Intellectuals and Scientists, Coimbra, Portugal, 1982.
4. Vatican II, Gaudium et Spes, 53.
5. Ibid., 58.
6. G. Weigel, Witness to Hope, New York: Cliff Street Books, 1999, pp. 62-67.
7. John Paul II, Letter to Artists, 1999, 16.
8. Centesimus Annus, 44.
9. Ibid., 44-45.
10. Ibid. 46.
    In a speech given to intellectuals and scientists in Coimbra, Portugal in 1982, the pope expanded on this: “Culture is of man… comes from man… and is for man”. Without a correct conception of man culture, therefore, has a weak foundation.
11. Centesimus Annus, 46.
12. Ibid., 47.
13. The basic idea here is the principle of subsidiarity: a higher order community should not interfere in the internal life of a lower order community. It should find ways of supporting it only when it is in need and always with a view to the common good. However, it should be remembered that the market economy cannot itself operate outside of a political or juridical system. It needs to respect human rights as well and always keep the dignity of the individual at the forefront (Ibid., 46).
14. Ibid., 48.
15. Ibid., 49.
16. Cardinal Avery Dulles S.J., Centesimus Annus and the Renewal of Culture, Journal of Markets & Morality, 2.1, 1999, p. 6.
17. In an earlier section of the encyclical outside of the chapter on State and culture, the pope says the following, which ties in with this topic: “what is wrong is a style of life which is presumed to be better when it is directed towards “having” rather than “being”” (CA 36).
18. On this note, Michael Novak in a few of his books writes interesting analyses on the United States and how its capitalistic system, with its initially strong moral and cultural foundation, has slowly decayed as a result of a neglect of this foundation resulting in a continual increase in societal dysfunctions like divorce, crime, drug abuse, abortions, etc. See M. Novak, The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1982, p. 185 and M. Novak, The Catholic Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, New York: The Free Press, 1993, p. 214.
19. Cardinal Avery Dulles S.J., Centesimus Annus and the Renewal of Culture, Journal of Markets & Morality, 2.1, 1999, p. 4.