Man Cannot Become a "Slave"

The first encyclical: a philosophy of human dignity

Popes speak and write continually and are variously heard and taken to heart. After his inauguration last fall John Paul II swiftly showed that he would be an activist teacher. His first speech endorsed both doctrinal conservatism and the reforms that grew out of the Second Vatican Council. Then in Latin America he demonstrated a blunt willingness to confront the theology of liberation and define just how priests should, and should not, pursue social justice. Last week he presented his first encyclical, a formal policy-setting letter from the Pope to the church and the world.

First encyclicals usually reveal what a Pope intends to do but they are rarely as memorable as those they issue later on. Nevertheless John Paul's Redemptor Hominis (Redeemer of Man) is a bold document that asserts religion's role as the conscience of the modern world, places Christ and individual man at the center of history and saves its sharpest language to criticize the dehumanizing excesses of modern political and economic systems, capitalist and Communist alike.

John Paul opposes Western consumerism and Marxist economic determinism because they exalt materialism at the expense of the spirit and undermine the dignity of the individual human being, established for all time by Jesus Christ's redeeming death on the cross: "[Man] cannot become the slave of things, the slave of economic systems, the slave of production," he writes.

At times, analyzing the paradoxical dangers of prosperity and progress, he sounds as revolutionary as the liberation theologians whom he had lately taken to task in Mexico. "A certain abuse of freedom," he charges, linked with "a consumer attitude uncontrolled by ethics," limits the freedom of others by driving them into "ever worse misery and destitution."

Industrial societies are found wanting in their dealings with the Third World. "Instead of bread and cultural aid, the new states and nations awakening to independent life are being offered, sometimes in abundance, modern weapons and means of destruction placed at the service of armed conflicts and war."

As to openly totalitarian regimes that refuse to let the people be the "sovereign of their own destiny," they produce only "oppression, intimidation, violence and terrorism." In an implicit reference to his experience in Communist Poland, John Paul pleads for freedom of conscience. "It is difficult to accept ... a position that gives only atheism the right of citizenship in public and social life, while believers are ... barely tolerated or ... deprived of the rights of citizenship." In a dramatic appeal to rulers, he demands respect for religious liberty: "No privilege is asked for, but only respect for an elementary right."

Redemptor Hominis continually reaffirms "Each man in all the unrepeatable reality of what he is and what he does, of his intellect and will, of his conscience and heart." In this philosophy each individual must make the reality of Christ's redemption his own in order to find himself. "If this profound process takes place within him, he then bears fruit not only of adoration of God but also of deep wonder at himself. How precious must man be in the eyes of the Creator if ... God 'gave his only Son' in order that man 'should not perish but have eternal life.' "

If man's freedom is respected, the question remains: Freedom for what? "Nowadays it is sometimes held, though wrongly, that freedom is an end in itself ... In reality, freedom is a great gift only when we know how to use it ... Christ teaches us that the best use of freedom is ... in self-giving and in service."

Previous Popes have used teams of experts to help prepare encyclicals. This document abandons the customary regal "we" in favor of "I," for it is entirely John Paul's work. He began it as soon as he was elected, completed it in just five weeks, and waited for Lent to issue it. After breakfast he would sit down at his desk with sleeves rolled up and write in clear longhand, composing in his native Polish. At times he would burst into religious folk song.

Redemptor Hominis also treats a variety of church issues. Among them:

Priestly Celibacy: Resisting pressure to relax the rule, John Paul reminds the faithful that Latin-rite priests "knowingly and freely commit ourselves to live in celibacy," and he urges each priest to be "faithful to the bond that he has accepted forever."

Dissent: Within the church many dogmas, even on the nature of Christ, are being questioned. The encyclical welcomes "pluralism of methodology," but it insists that theologians must be close collaborators with the church's Magisterium (teaching office). The conclusion: No scholar can turn theology into "a simple collection of his own personal ideas."

The State of the Church: Despite ongoing "tension," it has come through a period of turmoil following the Second Vatican Council with a new maturity and discernment about "thoughtless criticisms" and "novelties."

At 18,000 words Redemptor Hominis is not only unusually long (the last encyclical, Paul VI's much disputed 1968 ban on artificial birth control, ran 7,000 words), but extraordinarily direct and personal. Early on John Paul describes the moment when he became Pope: "It was to Christ the Redeemer that my feelings and my thoughts were directed on Oct. 16 of last year when, after the canonical election, I was asked 'Do you accept?' I then replied: 'With obedience in faith to Christ, my Lord, and with trust in the Mother of Christ and of the Church, in spite of the great difficulties, I accept.' Today I wish to make that reply known publicly." --

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