The Development and Presence of the Social Doctrine of the Church in the 20th Century, and in Slovenia

The article provides a historical overview of the presence of the Catholic Church in social and political life from the first encyclical Rerum Novarum until today, with particular reference to the Slovenian geographical space. From the very definition of the Church's social doctrine as a special theological discipline, it is clear that this sphere of research has been subject to historical changes, as presented in the first chapter of this articles. The diversity of views on the relationship between religion, society and politics has resonated visibly across Slovenian social circles. Between the two world wars, Slovenia was wholly comparable to the neighboring, especially Western European countries in terms of the Slovenians’ active role as Christians in the society. The most important actors in this were Janez Evangelist Krek, Andrej Gosar and Edvard Kocbek, whose socially active role is presented in the following two chapters. The progress of this process was blocked for half a century with the communist revolution in the period during and after the second world war, which is presented in the fourth chapter. After the Second Vatican Council, the Church's social doctrine was subject to some significant changes, and Slovenians adapted to them fairly well. Due to the powerful pressures exerted by the laicist and secularist culture in the Slovenian environment, both society and the state lag significantly behind other European countries in terms of relations between faith and reason, between the laymen and the Christian culture, between the church and the state. The Catholic Church's vision of the presence of Christians in modern society is relatively clear and has been reshaped under the last few popes, which is the subject of the final chapter of the article.