History of the papacy not only his deep inner resignation but also his constant abandonment to divine providence.". It is this character trait, which led to the opening of the process of beatification and canonization for Paul VI. With the accession of Pope John Paul II after the mysterious death of Pope John Paul I (who only survived as pope for 33 days), the church had, for the first time since Pope Adrian VI in the 16th century, a non-Italian pope. John Paul II has been credited with helping to bring down communism in eastern Europe by sparking what amounted to a peaceful revolution
Social teachings of the papacy Social teachings of the papacy Social teachings of the papacy gives a succinct review of salient features in the papal social encyclicals beginning with "Rerum novarum", the groundbreaking encyclical of Pope Leo XIII in 1891, and going to the present time. Pope Leo XIII, amidst the Industrial Revolution and concerns about the deteriorating working and living conditions of urban workers wrote the first social encyclical of modern times, "Rerum novarum" ("Of new things"), in 1891, under the influence of the German Bishop Wilhelm Emmanuel Freiherr von Ketteler. This 1891 encyclical set the tone for the Catholic Church's social teaching to