26 March 1967 marked the 50th anniversary of the publication of Paul VI’s encyclical Populorum Progressio, which invites people everywhere to break the chains of a perverse cycle in which the rich become richer and the poor become poorer. Half a century later, this papal pronouncement is still extremely relevant. Expanding Catholic social justice work to worlwide dimensions, the document can be considered a declaration of the Church’s mission in the age of globalization. If the Church is to be faithful to Gospel, then she cannot neglect her service to human beings, whose integral development is the new name for peace.
The wisdom contained in the teachings of Populorum Progressio still guides the thoughts and activities of all those who want to build a civilization of plenary humanism. This humanism must be lived and witnessed to, formulated and transmitted, by means of a process of education centered on the encyclical’s plea to search for solidarity in a world marked by countless differences through heterogeneous visions of good, characterized by the peaceful cohabitation of different faiths and moral outlooks.