“We especially urge Catholic men living in developed nations to offer their skills and earnest assistance to public and private organizations, both civil and religious, working to solve the problems of developing nations. They will surely want to be in the first ranks of those who spare no effort to have just and fair laws, based on moral precepts, established among all nations.”

On March 26, 1967 Pope Paul VI issued the encyclical Populorum Progressio or “The Development of Peoples”.

This encyclical addresses topics connected to the social teaching of the Catholic Church such as the relationship of rich and poor, the need to promote the formation of authentic human community and development, the responsibility of the wealthy nations to help those in need.

Twenty years later, Pope John Paul II would issue his own encyclical Sollicitudo rei socialis, to commemorate this event. Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical Caritas in Veritate was written to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the issuing of Populorum Progressio.

The text of the encyclical
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin on the 40th anniversary of Populorum Progressio
Podcast on the importance of Populorum Progressio from the Center for Catholic Thought at Creighton University