Rerum Novarum

by Pope Leo XIII

Publisher:

Libreria Editrice Vaticana

, 1891

Overview

Rerum Novarum, Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical on capital and labor, was written in response to the social changes brought about by industrialization. Against the claims of socialism, it reaffirms the right to hold property, but emphasizes the limits to that right, rejecting the idea that moral considerations have no place in the free market. Its discussion of the rights and duties of labor and capital toward each other and the particular responsibility of society toward the poor laid the foundation for modern Catholic social teaching.

Contents

Top Highlights

“There is no need to bring in the State. Man precedes the State, and possesses, prior to the formation of any State, the right of providing for the substance of his body.” (source)

“The discussion is not easy, nor is it void of danger. It is no easy matter to define the relative rights and mutual duties of the rich and of the poor, of capital and of labor. And the danger lies in this, that crafty agitators are intent on making use of these differences of opinion to pervert men’s judgments and to stir up the people to revolt.” (source)

“It necessarily follows that each one has a natural right to procure what is required in order to live, and the poor can procure that in no other way than by what they can earn through their work.” (source)

“They are, moreover, emphatically unjust, for they would rob the lawful possessor, distort the functions of the State, and create utter confusion in the community.” (source)

“Socialists, therefore, by endeavoring to transfer the possessions of individuals to the community at large, strike at the interests of every wage-earner, since they would deprive him of the liberty of disposing of his wages, and thereby of all hope and possibility of increasing his resources and of bettering his condition in life.” (source)

Product Details

• Title: Rerum Novarum
• Author: Pope Leo XIII
• Publisher: Libreria Editrice Vaticana
• Print Publication Date: 1891
• Logos Release Date: 2014
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Church and social problems › Catholic Church--Papal documents; Working class › Papal documents; Christian sociology › Catholic Church--Papal documents
• Resource ID: LLS:RERUMNOVARUM
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T20:45:57Z

About Pope Leo XIII

Pope Leo XIII was pope from 1878 to 1903, and he spent the entirety of his papacy within the Vatican. The feud with the German government was ended by Leo XIII, and he also reestablished the Roman Catholic hierarchy in Presbyterian Scotland, and he sent the first apostolic delegate to America. Leo XIII strove for the reunion of all Christendom, but he denied the validity of Anglican clerical orders.