Religions's moral compass and a just economic order: Reflections on Pope John Paul II's encyclicalCentesimus Annus

The purpose of Pope John Paul's encyclicalCentesimus Annus (CA) is to propound the foundations of a just economic order and to sketch its essential characteristics. As such he essentially provides an orientation or moral compass for the political economy rather than a precise road map. This article first reviews the principal components of CA and then analyzes and evaluates its central contentions on both cultural and economic grounds.S. Prakash Sethi is a Professor of Management and Associate Director of the Center for Management, Baruch College, The City University of New York. He has published twenty books and over 130 articles in scholarly and professional journals in such diverse areas as business and public policy, corporate strategy, and international business.Paul Steidlmeier is associate professor at the School of Management of Binghamton University in the State University of New York system. He has written a number of articles in leading journals and has publishedPeople and Profits: The Ethics of Capitalism (Prentice Hall, 1992). Recent work has focused upon institutionalist aspects of Business and Society issues and problems of intellectual property and the social responsibility of business in developing countries (China).