Populorum progressio is the encyclical written by Pope Paul VI on the topic of "the development of peoples" and that the economy of the world should serve mankind and not just the few. It was released on March 26, 1967.
It touches on a variety of principles of Catholic social teaching: the right to a just wage; the right to security of employment; the right to fair and reasonable working conditions; the right to join a union; and the universal destination of resources and goods.
Twenty years later Pope John Paul II issued another encyclical, Sollicitudo rei socialis, in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of Populorum progressio.
In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI published the encylical Caritas in veritate which again addressed many of the themes discussed in Populorum progressio.
In 2004, the UK-based nongovernmental development organisation Catholic Institute for International Relations, (CIIR), changed its name to Progressio and established Progressio Ireland in Dublin. The organisation takes its name from this document and is based on Catholic Social Teaching espoused in the encyclical.