On 15th May, 1891, Pope Leo XIII published the Rerum Novarum Encyclical. Its content was a proof that the Roman Catholic Church decided to include social and political questions into its teaching. What is more, the Pope's social thought went far beyond condemnations and prohibitions, entering sincere and thorough dispute over the most crucial problems of the time. His followers continued the task, and hence in the 20th century, the social teaching of the Roman Catholic Church assisted all political developments of that difficult century, while the assumptions it made initially underwent a major evolution. An outline of this evolution was concisely presented in Krystyna Chojnicka's work, beginning with the sources of the social teaching of the Church based on the Old and New Testament and ending with the Pontificate of John Paul II.
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