This new book is an updated extension and summary of The Church and Social Justice as well as an acknowledged expert's lucid introduction to and explanation of Pope John's original contributions in Mater et Magistra to the social consciousness of his predecessors. Fr Calvez examines, in the light of the encyclical, the principles of property, labour, remuneration, State intervention, and private initiative, and devotes a chapter to the problems faced by an agricultural community within a basically industrial economy, together with those problems that arise through the disproportionate development of regional economies within a national economy. As a conclusion, there is a statement of the significance of the Church's social doctrine in the just solution of the problems that are the world's and therefore her concern.