Synopsis
Pius XI's encyclical updating Catholic social teaching, condemning both unrestrained capitalism and socialism while proposing subsidiarity and a reconstruction of the social order.
Core passage idea
Paraphrase · Modern copyrighted workIt is gravely wrong for a higher body to absorb tasks that smaller, lower communities can perform — authority should rest at the most local capable level.
This articulation of subsidiarity offers a middle path between collectivism and laissez-faire, shaping modern Christian democratic and decentralist politics.
To avoid a bubble
Pair with Friedrich Hayek, Road to Serfdom.
Reading note
Read it alongside Rerum Novarum, noting how it responds to the Depression and to the rise of both communism and fascism.
Best paired with
Friedrich Hayek, Road to Serfdom