Many popes since, in my opinion, John XXIII have been overly concerned with social justice and trying use the Church to influence these issues through the clergy. The clergy and the church in general has absolutely no business doing this. Its main purpose is the salvation of souls. Now, I think it is absolutely fine for the pope to voice church concern in the secular world but not realign church priorities mainly from training the clergy in the method and main mission of saving souls to that of training the clergy to be social justice warriors, if it is actually concerned with social justice. If every deacon, priest and bishop (including the bishop of Rome, who I do cede the prerogative to try and influence social justice) were to concentrate on forming and saving the souls of the laity and themselves, social justice, in my opinion would not be a problem. How many clergy, barring the pope or bishops who have become pope, have had a major impact on social justice, since it has become “a thing” in the last 2 centuries?
I think the whole thing was precipitated by Pope John XXIII and his saving numerous Jews during WWII. All of the church assisted the sitting pope during WWII in trying to save as many Jews as possible. But when Pope John XXIII became pope I think it shifted the mindset of the cardinals at the time to favor focusing on more participation in the “church” personally trying to save the world. Bring the light of Christ to the world and be its salt (Matthew 5:13), with a concentration on saving souls and champions and solutions to social justice problems will arise organically.
To begin with, I think it was a mistake, being a traditional catholic, to introduce the new mass (Novus Ordo) and I think the increase in the sexual abuse cases and the decreasing reverence in the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist proves this. But why? Much has been said about our use of the electronics and the internet robing us of attention span. The Tridentine Latin Mass AKA traditional Latin Mass (TLM), gives us time away from constantly thinking and having to respond as in the new mass in the vernacular. The quiet of the church gives ones mind a chance to rest and meditate on the Epistle and the Gospel, reading the translation, and if not able to read, hearing it in the vernacular during the Homily or Sermon as it is on Sundays. The quiet relaxes our mind and pulls us away from the cacophony that is traffic, the internet, smart phones and modern life in general and gives us time to meditate in relative silence. It is a psychological breather from our modern noise world, no thinking to do responses, no talking, little noise except for the soft murmur of the priest conducting the sacrifice of the mass, which we can follow along with in our missals and the sound of crying children every once in a while, that are not in the cry room.
But can I offer any proof that the Latin mass will lead organically to social Justice action? I’m not sure if I can call it proof per se, but I can give at least 2 examples of lay people, who were raised in the Latin mass that were social justice warriors, devout Catholics, one of whom won the Nobel peace prize.
Lech Walesa was born in 1943. The new mass or novus ordo was not introduced until 1968 when Lech Walesa was already 25. He had 8 Children. Helped root communism out of Poland after being elected president, with the help of pope John Paul II. He started out as a working man’s working man, an electrician.
https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/biography/lech-walesa
https://www.bushcenter.org/freedom-collection/lech-walesa-a-polish-pope
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1983/walesa/biographical/
Cesar Chavez (birth name Cesario Estrada Chavez) is another example. Born in 1927. The new mass or novus ordo was not introduced until 1968 when Cesar Chavez was already 41. He had 8 Children. As an American labor leader, he helped change the plight for the better of numerous American farm workers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesar_Chavez
the bottom line is that the Church should concentrate on the salvation of souls, through going back to things that have proven to work like the Traditional Latin Mass, close booth confessions (which are still predominate in some countries), and communion on the tongue and other forms of respect for the Eucharist (like the priest keeping his thumb and fore fingers together after consecration and use of the paten etc.) to stress the fact that that Jesus Christ is really and truly The Eucharist (John 6:53-70) not symbolically and renews the power of Calvery in a non-violent manner in each mass.
These only a couple, there are certainly a lot more, mostly represented by more ancient saints, but their impact was great indeed, in both Europe and the United States of America, during the last 100 years.