After Vatican II the situation changed, as the very definition of missionary activity was transformed and the duties of all Christians to undertake evangelical work was emphasized. The “new evangelism” emphasized the importance of bearing witness to Christ, which includes efforts to spread the gospel and to promote the church’s teachings on human dignity. The former missionary churches were placed more and more in the hands of local peoples, and the bishops in regional councils took over leadership of evangelization formerly held by missionary orders. In the decades following Vatican II, the church’s mission was conducted with greater sensitivity toward other cultures, and church leaders emphasized interreligious dialogue. In 1986 and 2002 Pope John Paul II invited world religious leaders to Assisi to pray for peace, and he subsequently prayed at a synagogue and a mosque. The pope offered further guidance on missions in his encyclical Redemptoris missio (December 7, 1990; “The Mission of Christ the Redeemer”), renewing the church’s commitment to mission and calling for the evangelization of lapsed Christians and non-Christians alike. Education
Between the so-called “barbarian invasions” and the Protestant Reformation, education in Europe, except in the Arabic and Jewish centres of learning, was conducted by representatives of the church. Learning during the early Middle Ages was preserved by the monasteries. Monks copied the books of the Bible and the manuscripts of Latin pagan writers and of the Church Fathers, and they composed works of history, hagiography, and theology. They were also charged with establishing schools and teaching those with the ability and desire to learn. The establishment of the European universities after 1100 was also the work of the church; these institutions were stimulated by Arabic scholars, whose writings introduced Europeans to Aristotle, thereby laying a foundation for later Scholastic philosophy and theology. The cultivation of literature and the arts in the 15th century flourished under the patronage of the papacy and of Catholic princes and prelates.
The birth of modern science was coincidental with the Reformation and the ages of European expansion. The Roman Catholic response to the new science, as well as to the new philosophical systems that accompanied it, was largely hostile; consequently, the world of European learning after 1600 was dissociated from the Roman Catholic Church, which patronized only defensive learning. At the same time, Roman Catholic initiatives in educating the poor were gaining momentum. The invention of printing had diffused education to an extent far beyond what was possible before, and all the churches were interested in reaching the minds of the young. This interest was matched after the French Revolution by the modern states, which in the 19th century moved toward the exclusion of church influence from education. But the Roman Catholic Church, through its religious communities, was a pioneer in educating children and the poor.
In the 20th century the Roman Catholic educational endeavour in many European and American countries, particularly in the United States, had become a vast enterprise. In the second half of the century, however, mounting costs and reduced numbers of religious instructors and other personnel created critical problems for Catholic schools, and even their survival was at stake in many regions. The problems were not lessened by the fact that Roman Catholic education, even where it was strongest, reached only a minority of Catholic students. In addition, the church had to confront its traditional reputation as an adversary of the intellectual freedom that the modern academic world cherishes. Pope John Paul II took steps to improve relations with the scholarly world by promoting the value of modern science and technology and by commissioning a review of the church’s condemnation of Galileo (see BTW: Galileo’s Condemnation). Charitable activities
Institutional benevolence to the poor, the sick, orphans, and other people in need has been characteristic of the Christian church from its beginnings. The church’s charitable activities have involved organized assistance, supported by the contributions of the entire community and rendered by dedicated persons. The church in this way fulfills the duty of “the seven corporal works of mercy” mentioned in The Gospel According to Matthew (chapter 25) and carries on the healing mission of Jesus. Protestant churches continued the works of institutional benevolence after their separation from the Roman church. Institutional assistance to the needy is a legacy from the church to modern governments. Church and state relations
The most important modification in the Roman Catholic theory and practice of church-state relations was the declaration of Vatican II in which the Roman Catholic Church recognized the modern, secular, pluralistic nation as a valid political entity. Union of church and state had been the common pattern since the era of Constantine, and all pontifical declarations of the 19th century rejected separation of church and state as pernicious. This position was steadfastly maintained despite the fact that the separation of church and state had been accepted by the Protestant countries of Europe; it reflected a long history of the state’s domination of the church and the church’s involvement in political power struggles. Vatican II declared that the Roman Catholic Church is not a political agent and will not ask for political support for ecclesiastical ends. A significant change in the Roman attitude toward the state was the council’s explicit endorsement of freedom of religion. Although they did not support any specific form of secular government, the popes of the 20th century, including John XXIII and John Paul II, asserted that the state must guarantee the human rights and personal dignity of all its citizens. Economic views and practice
During the centuries when the Roman Catholic Church constituted the whole of Christendom, each individual’s place in the church reflected his or her place in the political and economic structure. In modern times the identification of the church hierarchy with the landed aristocracy led the revolutionaries of 18th-century France to attempt to destroy the Roman Catholic Church along with other components of the old order. The Roman Catholic Church entered the 19th century with a firm official bias against revolutionary movements, and the brief liberalism of Pius IX ended with his experiences in Italy during and after the Revolutions of 1848. The Roman Catholic Church was inflexibly opposed to all forms of socialism, and its opposition to Marxist communism was implacable. Thus, the Roman Catholic hierarchy was identified with the new capitalist classes of industrial society. In many European countries this meant that the church lost membership among the working classes. In Rerum novarum (1891), Leo XIII became the first pope to speak out against the abuses of capitalism. The church’s teaching on social issues was further elaborated by Pius XI in Quadragesimo anno (1931; “In the 40th Year”), by John XXIII in Mater et magistra and Pacem in terris, by Paul VI in Populorum progressio, by John Paul II in Centesimus annus (1991; “In the Hundreth Year”), and by Pope Francis in Laudato Si (2015; “Praise Be to You”). The church’s opposition to socialism has gradually diminished, and it has approved of labour unions and even moderated its staunch opposition to liberation theology. John Paul II, whose role in the fall of communism is widely recognized, was highly critical of unregulated capitalism as well as Western materialism and consumerism.
In its own practices, the Roman Catholic Church has insisted on exercising complete control of its private property and productive investments. It is not accountable to the laity for its funds, which are managed by the hierarchy; hence, the wealth of the Roman Catholic Church has long been a mystery. However, the raids of greedy anticlerical governments, as well as some public disclosures, have indicated that the wealth of the church is exaggerated in popular belief. Following Vatican II, there was a strong movement in favour of public financial reports. In 2015 Pope Francis ordered an audit of the Vatican’s finances and called for greater transparency of the church’s spending and of the Vatican Bank. The family