The pope's splendid new encyclical. "Centesimus Annus' (dated May 1. 1091), adds a new characteristic to his detense of liberty. It has been clear for many years that Pope John Paul II supports democratic institutions more than any previous pope and sees them as the best way to secure human nignts. It has also been clear to some that he supports a type of "reformed capitalism." But this new encyclical makes clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that the pope endorses the "business economy," the "market economy' or sumply the free economy" as the goal he now proposes for formerly Communist and Third World societies. This support, even though limited, is very important for his native Poland and many other suffering peopies.

The institutional limitations on capitalism on which the pope insists are vo: nrst, a juridical framework that protects other fundamental liberties besides economic liberty; and, second, a grounding of all liberties in a moral nd religious core. In short, the economic system must be limited by a iemocratic polity and by a strong set of moral and cultural institutions tamilies, unions, associations, universities, media, churches, etc.). Only in his way will it, better than other systems, meet basic needs and constantly raise the level of the common good of peoples.

Jacques Maritain and Reinhold Niebuhr reter to such a mixed system as "capitalistic democracy." America's Founders used the term "commercial republic." Some of us prefer (on the model of "political economy"") "democratIc capitalism." The name does not matter: it is the poutical and moral checks and balances that count.

"Centesimus Annus" is 113 pages long in its Vatican edition. Its main purpose is to mark the centenary of the tirst of all modern papal social ncyclicals, Leo XIII's "Rerum Novarum" (May 15, 1891). Whereas Leo XIII varned against the coming scourge of socialism. John Paul II now vividly describes the collapse of "real existing socialism." His chapter three. "The Year 1989," is a particularly brilliant cominentary; it was, after all, the year this pope himself did so much to make possible.

TUESDAY, MAY 199!

There is much that is new and tresh in this encyclical. The pope is professional philosopner with a very concrete turn of mind. Thus page arter page is filled with sustained, complex, nuanced argument, noting the specific differences between Latin America and Africa, Eastern Europe and Western Europe, etc. Regularly, he cuts through siogans. He tres to see the whole human reality true-in its glory and in its seu-betrayals.

Yet for readers alert to the main debates of the last 20 years. two contributions of this encyclical stand out. First, the collapse of socialism suggests to him that much in "liberation theology" has been bypassed by events, and in section 42 he proposes as the goal for formerly Communist nations and the Third World a new ideal for "integral liberation": democracy and, in the appropriately limited sense, capitalism. This analysis, subtle and nuanced, is little short of brilliant. It has more than fulfilled the dreams (and pravers) of many of us. The market, the pope sees, is an important but limited tool of integral human uberation. Through it surges the creativity that God has endowed in every woman and man.

Second, Chapter 5. "State and Culture." offers the papacy's strongest language ever about limitations on state power. It includes a trenchant but fair criticism of the human losses involved in the "welfare state" and even more in the "social assistance state." No neo-liberal or neo-conservative ever made the case more profoundly and with so resounding a ring of truth. The pope emphasizes the human side-or better, the anti-human side-ot bureaucratic "social assistance." He all but uses the phrase "the little platoons" of society. Eammi Beloki's.

The pope's greatest originality, however, may lie in going beyond questions of politics and economics to questions of morality and culture. In a sense, the political argument of the 20th century has been resolved in favor of democracy; and the economic argument has been resolved in favor of capitalism. Thinking of the chief battleground of the next century, the pope turns to the disappointing use that existing tree societies are now making of their freedom. He turns to the inadequacies of modern culture and morals. Pope John Paul II is a humanist through-and-through. The legacy he wants to leave to Catholic social thought, he savs, is that it is made for humans. not humans for it. He places Catholic social thought at the service of the migh vocation that the Creator gives to every woman and everv man. it is a vocation that we each often fail. The pope describes humans as nighly endowed by nature, gifted by grace, and yet, nonetheless, tending orten to turn against God and hus gifts. His anthropology may be summarized as: "humans simultaneously graced and sinners."

. Each society John Paul II observes) has its own ecology-its own cuiture. ethos, distinctive shape and story. Sometimes a culture disfigures the numan character of its citizens, pollutes their minds, warps their wills, twists their instincts. Human beings can be made into monsters by their culture. The pope calls for a new science of "human ecology." This means a protracted public inquiry into human nature and destiny. Wrong answers in this inquiry can mean social suicide. Wrong answers always entail the disfigurement of human beings.

You can tell the quality and depth of a nation's cuiture. the rope trenchantly states. by observing what it produces and consumes. Thus simple remark imposes a new moral accountability on capitalist firms. advertisers and media. In this century, the pope thinks tree peoples have neglected their responsibilities to the quality of the moral atmosphere, the cultural egy in which they try to raise their children and to be faithful to their destiny as free citizens.

This is a great encyclical. It will release enormous energies in Eastern Europe, the Third World and advanced societies. It should read as well in 2091 as Leo XIII's accurate predictions about socialism in 1891 stil read today. No other world leader could have produced such a protound tour d'horizon. Get a copy and see for yourself. You will be glad you did.

The writer holds the George Frederick Jewett Chair in Religion and Public Policy at the American Enterprise Institute.