Rerum novarum is an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII on 15 May 1891. It is an open letter passed to all Catholic bishops addressing the condition of the working class. It discusses the relationships and mutual duties between labor and capital, as well as between government and its citizens. Of primary concern is the need to alleviate the poverty of the working class. The encyclical attempts to strike a just balance among the rights of workers, owners, and the state, supporting the rights of labor to form trade unions and earn a living wage, balanced with the right to private property, while rejecting the extremes of state socialism and laissez-faire capitalism.
A foundational text of modern Catholic social teaching, many of the positions in Rerum novarum are supplemented by later encyclicals, in particular Pius XI's Quadragesimo anno (1931), John XXIII's Mater et magistra (1961), Paul VI's Octogesima adveniens (1971), John Paul II's Centesimus annus (1991), and Leo XIV's Magnifica humanitas (2026), each commemorating an anniversary of Rerum novarum.
The encyclical also inspired Catholic activism and influenced the development of both distributism and corporatism. Socialists generally contest the encyclical's interpretation of socialism; Catholic socialists in particular, interpreting Rerum novarum as not rejecting socialism, argue that divine law justifies the abolition of private property and emphasize the encyclical's anti-capitalist character.
Composition
The first draft and content of the encyclical was written by Tommaso Maria Zigliara, professor from 1870 to 1879 at the College of Saint Thomas (rector after 1873), a member of seven Roman congregations including the Congregation for Studies, and co-founder of the Pontifical Academy of Saint Thomas Aquinas in 1879. Zigliara's fame as a scholar at the forefront of the Thomist revival was widespread in Rome and elsewhere. In addition to Rerum novarum, which elicited the strongest response in the United States, Zigliara had contributed to the drafting of the encyclical Aeterni Patris (1879), which addressed modern science and attempted to advance the revival of Scholastic philosophy; he was a strong opponent of traditionalism and ontologism, favoring instead the moderate philosophical realism of Thomas Aquinas, and was with Giuseppe Pecci one of the Thomist cardinals of Leo.
The encyclical was made possible by the writings of the precursors of economic personalism, in particular the Jesuit fathers Luigi Taparelli D'Azeglio and Matteo Liberatore. The latter was one of the authors of the document together with the Dominican Cardinal Tommaso Maria Zigliara. In drafting the encyclical, the Pope requested the collaboration of the then secretary for Latin letters Vincenzo Tarozzi. The German theologian Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler and the British Cardinal Henry Edward Manning were also influential in its composition. Manning, who was a significant contributor to the development of the encyclical, encouraged English Catholics to engage in politics and seek economic justice, even going so far as to support the 1889 London dock strike.
Message Rerum novarum explicitly addresses the condition of the working class and is subtitled "On the Conditions of Labor", reflecting the need that a "remedy must be found quickly for the misery and wretchedness pressing so unjustly on the majority of the working class". In this encyclical, Leo articulates the Catholic Church's response to the social conflict in the wake of capitalism and industrialization, which had provoked socialist and communist movements and ideologies, as well as to the emerging economic liberal and Marxist theories. The encyclical defends the right of workers to form unions and the institution of property, as well as the right to a living wage. At the same time, it condemns socialism and capitalism, particularly state socialism and competitive or laissez-faire capitalism, while avoiding more radical alternatives like Georgism.
The Pope declares that the role of the state is to promote justice through the protection of rights, while the Church must speak out on social issues to teach correct social principles and ensure class harmony, calming class conflict. He restates the Church's long-standing teaching regarding the crucial importance of private property rights but recognizes, in one of the well-known passages of the encyclical, that the free operation of market forces must be tempered by moral considerations. In that passage, he writes: "Let the working man and the employer make free agreements, and in particular let them agree freely as to the wages; nevertheless, there underlies a dictate of natural justice more imperious and ancient than any bargain between man and man, namely, that wages ought not to be insufficient to support a frugal and well-behaved wage-earner. If through necessity or fear of a worse evil the workman accept harder conditions because an employer or contractor will afford him no better, he is made the victim of force and injustice."
Rerum novarum is remarkable for its vivid depiction of the plight of the 19th-century urban poor and for its condemnation of laissez-faire capitalism. Among the remedies it prescribes are the formation of trade unions and the introduction of collective bargaining, particularly as an alternative to state intervention. Although the encyclical follows traditional teaching concerning the rights and duties of property and the relations of employer and employee, it applies the old doctrines specifically to modern conditions, hence the title. Leo first quotes Aquinas in affirming that private property is a fundamental principle of natural law. He then quotes Gregory the Great regarding its proper use: "He that hath a talent, let him see that he hide it not; he that hath abundance, let him quicken himself to mercy and generosity; he that hath art and skill, let him do his best to share the use and the utility hereof with his neighbor." Rerum novarum also recognizes the special status of the poor in relation to social issues, expressing God's compassion and favor for them; this is elaborated in the modern Catholic principle of the "preferential option for the poor".
Criticism of socialism and capitalism In addition to liberalism and other forms of modernism, socialism was first condemned in Syllabus of Errors (1864) by Pope Pius IX. As in the encyclical Libertas (1888), which addressed liberalism as the other 19th-century main political movement, Leo lists the positive and negative aspects of socialism in Rerum novarum. Whereas in Quod apostolici muneris (1878) he gave a strong condemnation of socialism, communism, and nihilism, Rerum novarum offers a more nuanced critique that nonetheless ultimately sees certain expressions of socialism as fundamentally flawed. Leo argues that socialists sought to replace rights and Catholic moral teaching with the ideology of state power. He argues that this would lead to the destruction of the family unit, where moral, productive individuals were taught and raised most successfully.
Leo opposes socialism for its rejection of private property, stating "the main tenet of socialism, the community of goods, must be utterly rejected", and despite his support for some state intervention, he also rejects socialism for giving too much power to the state. He argues that equality in society is not obtainable "in capability, in diligence, in health, and in strength; an unequal fortune is a necessary result of inequality in condition." In response to the socialist arguments, he writes: "To remedy these wrongs the socialists, working on the poor man's envy of the rich, are striving to do away with private property, and contend that individual possessions should become the common property of all, to be administered by the State or by municipal bodies. They hold that by thus transferring property from private individuals to the community, the present mischievous state of things will be set to rights, inasmuch as each citizen will then get his fair share of whatever there is to enjoy. But their contentions are so clearly powerless to end the controversy that were they carried into effect the working man himself would be among the first to suffer. 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."
Although its critical of socialism, Rerum novarum equally opposes laissez-faire capitalism and individualism. For instance, Leo writes of "the cruelty of grasping speculators who use human beings as mere instruments for making money" and called for the government to ensure that the poor are "housed, clothed and enabled to support life". In this sense, Rerum novarum argues that the state should not only make interventions for the common good but particularly for the poor and the working class, and thus could be used to argue for socialism despite its condemnation of socialism "as an answer to social problems". In another passage, Leo writes: "But all agree, and there can be no question whatever, that some remedy must be found, and quickly found, for the misery and wretchedness which press so heavily at this moment on the large majority of the very poor."
Rights and duties In many cases, governments had acted solely to support the interests of businesses, while suppressing labor unions' attempts to bargain for better working conditions. To build social harmony, the Pope proposes a framework of reciprocal rights and duties between workers and employers. Some of the duties of workers are "fully and faithfully" to perform their agreed-upon tasks, to individually refrain from vandalism or personal violence, and to collectively refrain from rioting and insurrection. Some of the duties of employers are to provide work suited to each person's strength, gender, and age, and to respect the dignity of workers and not treat them as bondmen. By reminding workers and employers of their rights and duties, the Church can form and awaken their conscience; however, the Pope also recommends that civil authorities act to protect workers' rights and to keep the peace. The law should intervene no further than necessary to stop abuses. In stating the rights and duties of both workers and employers in Rerum novarum, the Church officially organized its effort against the socialist movement.
Principles Dignity of the person Leo states that "according to natural reason and Christian philosophy, working for gain is creditable, not shameful, to a man, since it enables him to earn an honorable livelihood." He asserts that God has given human dignity to each person, creating them in God's image and endowing them with free will and immortal souls. To respect their workers' dignity in the workplace, employers should give time off from work to worship God, and to fulfill family obligations; give periods of rest, not expecting work for long hours that preclude adequate sleep; not require work under unsafe conditions with danger of bodily harm; not require work under immoral conditions that endanger the soul; and pay a fair daily wage, for which employees should give a full day's work.