Centesimus Annus as a Moral Assessment of the Post-Cold War World — St. John Paul II’s 1991 encyclical is viewed as a profound critique of Marxist collectivism and a call for systems that serve human dignity, emphasizing that politics and economics must remain subordinate to the human person.

Introduction of “Geopolitical Theology” (Theologeopolitik) — This proposed discipline applies Catholic Social Teaching, Thomistic ethics, Natural Law, and insights from liberation theology to evaluate the moral dimension of geopolitical actions by states, corporations, and institutions in the 21st century.

Geopolitics Is Never Morally Neutral — The article argues that power, sovereignty, technology, and global systems have moral consequences. Theologeopolitik aims to bridge timeless moral principles with modern geopolitical realities, holding actors accountable for justice, solidarity, and human dignity.

In 1991, Pope John Paul II issued Centesimus Annus to commemorate the centenary of Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum. Having analyzed this encyclical deeply, I regard it as a profound theological assessment of the Soviet bloc’s collapse. Within the framework of Catholic Social Teaching (CST), Centesimus Annus functions both as a critique of Marxist collectivism and as a vision for a global order rooted in human dignity.

1. Retrieving the Moral Center in a Fragmented World

The end of the Cold War marked a historic turning point in international affairs. Reflecting on the fall of totalitarian communism, St. John Paul II emphasized that political and economic systems must ultimately serve the human person, writing: “The economy in fact is only one aspect and one dimension of the whole of human activity” (Centesimus Annus, 39). Although addressed to economic life, this principle........

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