Why the Church Teaches on Society

The Church's social teaching did not appear overnight. From Rerum Novarum (1891) to Laudato Si' (2015), popes have addressed the concrete conditions of workers, families and communities.

In this lesson we trace that history and ask a practical question: what does it change about how we design a development programme?

Key idea: every policy and budget is a moral statement about people — Catholic Social Teaching simply asks us to make that statement honestly.