The volume investigates the profound link between cooperation and the Church’s social doctrine. The study analyzes the Magisterium of the Church in the social field and all the related encyclicals – from Rerum Novarum of 1891 to Laudato si ‘ of 2015 – to see how the theme of cooperative enterprise is present and developed. The principles of the Social Doctrine and the cooperative principles are then compared. From this analysis the “doctrinal coincidence” emerges clearly, which finds its reasons in the particular cooperative economic model. The concluding part is dedicated to emblematic figures (Christians, religious and laity) who, driven by their faith, have faced problems of social justice by privileging the cooperative instrument to promote dignity and economic autonomy.

“The emerging core of this essay is represented by what is defined as the ‘doctrinal coincidence’ between the social doctrine of the Church and the principles of cooperation. It is a matter of a ‘common spirit’, but also of a perspective: that which leads the Church to recognize the ‘signs of the times’ ”.
From the Preface by Francesco Beschi, Bishop of Bergamo