„Social Gospel” is addressed to everybody, especially Christians,
clergymen, and secular Catholics. Their major common
characteristic is „good will”. It is a sufficient condition to allow
learning about the meaning behind the „social teachings of the
Church”. Teachings of the Church state that „social education
presents the basic criteria for pastoral activities within the social
area: proclaiming the Gospel; confronting the evangelical
message with social reality; planning activities to restore such
realities through transformation according to the requirements
of Christian morality” (Kompendium nauki społecznej Kościoła
526). In his social encyclical, John Paul II draws attention to
the fact that „new evangelization, which the world is in urgent
need of (...) must include, as one of its significant components,
the proclamation of social teachings of the Church, which nowadays
has been able (...) to show the just path and undertake
any challenges of the modern era, while other ideologies become
unreliable” (Centesimus annus 5). Benedict XVI, in his encyclical
titled Caritas in veritate, noticed that social teachings of the
Church are „caritas in veritate in re sociali: the proclamation of
truth of Christ’s love among the society. Such teachings are the
service of love, but in a true manner”.
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