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R ERUM N OVARUM
Background, content, and significance of Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum

At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, thanks to the
“industrial revolution” factories prospered, but in this prosperity capitalism had become
abusive. Workers found themselves in worse and worse situations, receiving lower wages
and working longer hours. The conditions for work did not give workers any rights,
except that of receiving money in for exchange of work, but the ferocious competition in
finding work made the workers hurt each other by offering their work for a lesser price,
even arriving to extremely poor wages on which they could barely live. The right to leave
for sickness, retirement, paid holidays, are all things of our days. In those days absence
from work immediately meant the sack and, of course, without compensation. As the
wages could not pay for the cost of living of a family, many times the mothers and
children were obliged to work together with their husbands and fathers, working
sometimes even 12 to 16 hours a day in order to subsist.1

Faced with this situation there came a solution: socialism, that proposed the
suppression of private property and its equal distribution among the citizens, which not
only violated the rights of the legitimate owners, but also altered competition and the role
of the state.

The Church gave a response to this problem trying to reconcile employers with
employees, and to unite the workers, so that all together could improve the working
conditions to make them more just and in accord with the circumstances of each person.2
The response of the church came through one of the most important figures in modern
times, Pope Leo XIII with his encyclical Rerum Novarum.

1
See Document 10. 1, Samuel Coulson, called in and examined, ‘From evidence by factory workers on
the conditions of child labour, 1832’, in the Class Reader. p, 102-3.
2
Cf. John Paul II, Centesimus Annus § 4; but to see a more detailed view of the background of this
Encyclical see: John Molony, “The Making of Rerum Novarum, April 1890- May 1891” in The Church
Faces the Modern World: Rerum Novarum and Its Impact, Ed. Paul Furlong & David Curtis (Great
Britain :Earlsgate Press, 1994), 27-39.

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PRINCIPLES OF RERUM NOVARUM

Such was the impact of Rerum Novarum that several encyclicals commemorate it,
as is the case of Quadragesimo Anno that commemorated forty years, and Centesimus
Annus that commemorate one hundred years. This is a proof of the lasting value of
Rerum Novarum, praising its correct diagnosis of its contemporary situation and that it
had the courage to propose the right solutions for it.

Why was this encyclical so important that all other works are based on it? It is not
only that it was a great encyclical; Rerum Novarum is the cornerstone of the social
teaching of the church.

The conflict of class struggles 3

Industrialization created more problems than it solved, or so, no doubt, believed
the workers. Employers were demanding too much of the poor and little better than
slaves of workers. There was no sense of social responsibility and the employees found
themselves at a loss, for they could not defend themselves. Workers therefore soon started
to have violent reactions and demonstrations. If we had to make comparisons, the sweat-
shops of our days -eradicated as much as possible, or hidden from the public eyes- were
the general reality. The workers were seriously presented with the decision of accepting
the harsh conditions -we have said it was little better than slavery- or facing real
possibility of starvation for the whole family.4

In this context no doubt Marxist ideology, had so much influence. It was all a
class struggle, power struggle: rich against the poor, bourgeoisies against the workers.
The people accepted this, embraced it and hated the slaver capitalists.

Rerum Novarum thus, said something completely contrary to this. It not only said
that the rich and the poor were not to be against each other, but that they should
harmonize with each other because “each needs each other: capital cannot do without
3
Cf. Leo III, Encyclical Letter: Rerum Novarum, Downloaded from: Http://www.vatican.va, accessed 20-
10-2006, § 14-16; cf. John Paul II, Centecimus Annus § 5.
4
There were unhealthy conditions of work, low wages, cruelty against women and children, and a
growing gap between the rich and the poor. The majority of the capitalists were men whose only aim was
money. It was only predictable that the working class were to rebel, and so there were riots, machine
wrecking. See. Rodger Charles, Christian Social Witness and Teaching, The Catholic tradition form
Genesis to Centesimus Annus. V.1 (Wiltshire: Cromwell Press, 1998), 290-293.

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labour, nor labour without capital”.5 And it proposes a real bridge: the church, for there is
no intermediary more powerful. She brings the rich and working class together, by
reminding each of their duties of Justice. Then the document makes a further step saying
that the Church “tries to bind class to class in friendship and good feeling”.6 And this is
some thing only the church can do, because she gives us a glance into eternity.7

Right of workers and dignity of work 8

Work is one of the activities that belong to man that not only acts as mean to
achieve bread, but it his duty on earth that gives dignity.9 Socialism takes away the
dignity of work and considers it only a mean to an end: to provide bread. And so by
taking away private property, socialism denies the right of the father to provide for his
family, destroying the familiar organization. This is a serious injustice to workers and it is
done by denying workers the fruit of their labour.10

Leo XIII did not use this language: “dignity of work” as such. This is actually a
terminology used by John Paul II in Laborem Exercens. However it is worth noticing that
we find the essence of it here in Rerum Novarum.

5
Leo III, Rerum Novarum § 19.
6
Leo III, Rerum Novarum §21.
7
John Paul II said that Class struggle derives from ‘atheism’ -thanks to socialism-, because it does not
respect the dignity of the person. Once we lose sight of the transcendental, we lose sight of the
importance of the temporal as well. And with it goes our transcendental dignity, which is that we have
been created as the image and likeness of God and we have been created for perfect things not from this
world. “Marxist class struggle and Militarism have the same root: atheism and contempt for human
person”. John Paul II, Centesimus Annus §14
8
Cf. John Paul II, Centesimus Annus § 6.
9
For man, God has decreed work, even before the fall. God had said to man to cultivate and care for the
garden (Gen 2:15). God had given work to him. It was not burdensome, for Adam was still at peace with
himself and with God. Work is not only a means for earning bread that one may dispense if there were
others sources of income, but it is a duty for man on earth. After original sin, work became a redemptive
reality. For this God had said “with sweat on your brow shall you eat your bread” (Gen. 3:19). From that
moment work helps man to free himself form evil, to pay his debts with justice and to be responsible and
useful, to “collaborate” day after day, so as to say, with his own salvation, especially when food is scarce
and uncertain. See Carlo Carreto, Love is for Living (London: Darton a, Longman and Tood Ltd., 1976),
74-82.
10
Leo III, Rerum Novarum § 10, 14.

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Right of private property 11

The finality of work is not only subsistence as we have said, but also that the
worker may have things as well, that he may consider his own. The worker has the right
to receive wages and to use them as he wills. The type of private property emphasized by
Pope Leo XIII is land ownership but the concept “extends to all that we need for
personal development and the development of one’s family”.12 Private property, above all,
is to safeguard the family. If not, it would not have any moral standing.

Private property gives man independence. Subsequently, it should be regarded as

an extension of freedom. It adds incentive for carrying one’s duty and constitutes a kind
of prerequisite for civil liberties.13 In a system of exchange, private property serves
charity, because people can voluntarily offer their goods to others without intervention of
official functionaries. It gives the possibility of doing good helping others. This would be
impossible without it, for if you have nothing, you can give nothing. 14

All that said we can conclude that private property is a natural right of man.
Animals are given the goods of nature to use, freely. And if animals are given the goods
of the nature then man, being superior, has the right to use them regularly and perpetually,
for he has been endowed with intelligence and reason, a capacity that animals lack. 15

Natural right of private associations16

Natural instinct moves men to come together, and in so doing to form a civil
society whose goal is the common good. Inside this civil society, private associations
arise, whose end is the good of the participants. In our days workers associations are
more numerous than before.

In Pope Leo’s time, workers associations were formed to fight against their unjust
employers. These were, most of the time, unknown bosses that did not look for the

11
Leo III, Rerum Novarum §5-11; Centesimus Annus §6; 30-9.
12
Robert P. Kowanacki, “Catholic Social Thought, From Rerum Novarum to Centesimus Annus”,
Ecumenical Review, 43 n 4 (October 1991), 433.
13
This same idea is found in Gaudium et Spes § 71, In The Documents of Vatican II, ed. Austin Flannery
(New York: Pillar Books, 1975), 977.
14
Joseph Cardinal Hoffner, Christian Social Teaching (Bratislava: LUC, 1997), 169-170.
15
Leo III, Rerum Novarum § 6
16
Leo III, Rerum Novarum § 48-57; John Paul II, Centesimus Annus § 7

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welfare of others but only for their own benefit, and compelled others to unite with them,
organizing them or suffering hunger. Many Christians dedicated themselves to form
associations whose goal was to improve, through honest means, the condition of workers
and the relations between employers and employees. Rich Catholics united themselves to
these associations and help to propagate them. The principal benefit they should seek is
religious and moral perfection, because the Catholic seeks God and all else is given to
him. These associations should give great importance to religion so that all workers know
their own duties to God and the way of salvation, and so, they may encourage each
other.17 These institutions help as well, to improve the distribution of work and to share
responsibilities and goods, and to improve the relations between managers and workers.

Right to limitation of working hours, to legitimate rest and religious freedom

and rights of women and children to be treated differently18
Rerum Novarum says that strikes come from two sources: first, working hours
excessively long, and second, low wages. The solution to strikes, it follows, is that the
state remedies the reasons: fixing working hours so that they may not be abusive and
adjust wages according to hours worked. Rerum Novarum is concerned as well the right
of religious duties; this in practical terms means leaving Sundays free to exercise the cult
to God.19

Special care should be taken regarding women and children, E.g. not to admit
children to work if they are not sufficiently developed physically, morally and
intellectually. There are some works that are not suitable for women because of their
physiognomy being different to that of men. As a general rule, workers should get such
rest, as is necessary to maintain strength. All contracts should include rest, for the body
from exhaustion and to give due time to religion.
17
As the encyclical Centesimus Annus says, the social doctrine is an instrument for the evangelization: “as
such it proclaims God and his mystery of salvation in Christ to every human being and… reveals man to
himself’, “in this light, and only in this light does it concern itself with everything else”. John Paul II,
Centesimus Annus § 54.
18
Leo III, Rerum Novarum § 42; John Paul II, Centesimus Annus § 7. 9.
19
This same idea is repeated and emphasized in the Second Vatican Council and the many pronouncements
of John Paul II. There is the necessity of rest from work on feast days, and this rest must be consecrated
to religion and to the meditation on spiritual goods and to the cult to the celestial divinity. God had said so
“you shall sanctify the Sabbath”, and he himself gave us the example by resting on the seventh day after
having created the world. In a practical context it means for Catholics to have rest on Sundays, a right
sometimes forgotten even today. see Kowanacki, “Catholic Social Thought, From Rerum Novarum to
Centesimus Annus”, 432.

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Right to a just wage20

Wages are fixed by common accord of both parties, the employer and employee. 21
However to reach an accord on what is a just wage many factors have to be taken into
account, E.g. the wages received should at least to be sufficient to sustain life and that of
family. Salaries therefore even if fixed by both parties should not be inferior to that
minimum needed for sustenance and this is natural justice. 22

If we see today this measure put into practice in many countries, the idea really
started with this encyclical. In fact many things that we take for granted, especially in a
rich country, were not free only four generations back.23

Concept of state and citizens (criticizes socialism and liberalism)

Socialism has been severely criticized here and elsewhere by the papal
documents. The Church has seen the inefficiency of socialism in meeting the basic
human needs and denial of freedom. The same criticism however, is balanced by the
strong opposition of unrestrained market economics and the European idea of political
liberalism.24

ANTHROPOLOGY
The anthropology of the encyclical is something that deserves special attention. In
the encyclical Centesimus Annus Pope John Paul II clearly defines the anthropology that
we see in Rerum Novarum. It continues to be fundamental to all Catholic social thought,

20
Cf. Leo III, Rerum Novarum §45-6; John Paul II, Centesimus Annus § 8.
21
In the encyclical Quadragesimo Anno Pope Pius XI says that this mode of work contract has been
modified to a partnership-contract and thus workers and employees became sharers in ownership or
management or participate in some fashion in the profit received. see Pius XI, Quadragesimo Anno § 65.
22
Leo III, Rerum Novarum § 31.
23
Today the state stipulates what it is called a minimum wage, and it takes into consideration, at least, the
prices of items that are indispensable for life and many other calculations, for instance the average size of
a family. Although many countries have minimum wages, we see in other countries of the third world that
many times continue to do as they please. Examples of this are the sweat shops that exist still today.
24
This is because “dependence upon unchecked individualism favours the strong and rich, but the state has
special responsibility to care for and protect the poor”. Kowanacki, “Catholic Social Thought, From
Rerum Novarum to Centesimus Annus”, 432.

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namely that “man’s true identity is only fully revealed to him through faith, and it is
precisely from faith that the Church’s social teaching begins. While drawing upon all the
contributions from sciences and philosophy, her social teaching is aimed at helping man
on the path of salvation”25

In this context we see that efforts are made concerning the whole of man, not only
his physical sustenance, but also his spiritual needs. That is why Rerum Novarum affirms
so strongly and without hesitation: “that all the striving of men will be in vain if they
leave out the Church”.26 Looking with the eyes of the Church, life passes and the real life
starts when we go out from this world. When that moment comes, having riches or not, is
inconsequential for eternal happiness. However, it is of great importance how one uses
them while living.

In this regard, the document speaks clearly about how to use money. Christian
charity that helps others less fortunate: “to give is better than to receive”.27 Poverty is not
dishonourable, for Christ being God, became the poorest one. The true dignity of man has
its roots in morality, this is, in virtue. Virtues are the common inheritance of men, so the
reward of eternal happiness cannot be other than consequence of them. 28 Only after
understanding this, the document explains about connecting the two social classes
through bonds of friendship.29

CONCLUSION
From the beginning of the XIX century, the Church started to be more oriented to
and worried about social problems, issuing encyclicals and documents that could change
the social reality of those times of industrialization. Change was made, but not enough.
From then on the Church continued to involve herself in social, political and economic
matters, for she could not be alien to them if they were affecting directly the life of the
person.

25
John Paul II, Centesimus Annus §54.
26
Leo III, Rerum Novarum §16.
27
Acts 20:35.
28
Leo III, Rerum Novarum § 24.
29
Furthermore, Christians having bridged the division of classes, will not be content with friendship, and
will unite themselves by fraternal love. For they will understand that all are created for the same and only
end: God. see. Leo III, Rerum Novarum § 20.

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The encyclical Rerum Novarum gave fundamental principles for the social
doctrine developing it as a body of teaching from then on. The most famous points of this
encyclical are: that moral should be most important, that workers had the right to create
their own syndicates, and that the state should look after workers.

So important was this encyclical that many were written to commemorate and
actualize it, John Paul II wrote the strong encyclicals Laborem Exercens, and Sollicitudo
Rei Socialis, and later Centesimus Annus, to commemorate the 100 years of the issuing of
the Rerum Novarum. In it John Paul II said: “The present encyclical has looked at the
past, but above all it is directed at the future. Like Rerum Novarum, it comes almost at
the threshold of a new century, and its intention, with God’s help is to prepare for that
moment”.30

It is clear that the encyclical Rerum Novarum has had a huge impact in the Church
and in the world. The principles of the encyclical endure because they are founded in
something that does not change: human dignity, the Church and Christ.

30
John Paul II, Encyclical Letter: Centessimus Annus (Boston: St Paul & Media, 1991)§ 62.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bokenkotter, Thomas. A Concise History of the Catholic Church. New York: Image
Books, 1979.

Charles, Rodger. Christian Social Witness and Teaching, The Catholic tradition form
Genesis to Centesimus Annus. V.1. Wiltshire: Cromwell Press, 1998.

John Paul II. Encyclical Letter Centecimus Annus. Vatican Translation. Boston: St Pauls
Books & Media, 1991.

Joseph Cardinal Hoffner, Christian Social Teaching. Bratislava: LUC, 1997.

Kowanacki, Robert P. “Catholic Social Thought, From Rerum Novarum to Centesimus

Annus”. Ecumenical Review, 43 n 4 ,(October 1991), 430-434.

Leo III. Encyclical Letter: Rerum Novarum. Downloaded from: Http://www.vatican.va.

Accessed 20-10-2006.

Mejia, Jorge Maria. “Centesimus Annus, An Answer to the Unknowns and Questions of
Our Times” in Ecumenical Review, Vol. 43 Issue 4, (October 1991) p401-410.

Pius XI. On Social Reconstruction: Quadragesimo Anno. Boston, Daughters of St. Paul,
1931.
Vidler, Alec. The Church in an Age of Revolution, 1789 to the Present Day. London:
Penguin Books, 1990.

Molony, John. “The Making of Rerum Novarum, April 1890- May 1891” in The Church
Faces the Modern World: Rerum Novarum and Its Impact. Ed. Paul Furlong &
David Curtis. Great Britain :Earlsgate Press, 1994.