The Foundations of Solidarity and John Paul II

The Catholic Church has long upheld the themes of human dignity, the rights of the worker, and appropriate limits on government. These causes, championed by Pope Leo XIII in his work Rerum Novarum and by Pope John XXIII in his work Mater et Magistra, were taken up again in the Second Vatican Council with the help of Karol Wojtyła before he was made Pope John Paul II. This paper investigates these matters and how John Paul II as pope used this Catholic understanding of mankind to inspire the people of Poland to unite in SOLIDARITY.