Rerum Novarum

The Church during the 19th century had seen the major shifts of how man earned higher standards way of living.
The Industrial Revolution had increased population growth in the whole of Europe; technical advances were made in
industries like the steam engine for instance, which brought about the increase of production. Cities expanded and
the Church experienced new births of cities in Europe. Capitalism has been the economic system adopted that
provided an unsupervised urban working class, a proletariat that lived in subhuman conditions, exploited and
unprotected. The factory has replaced the agricultural field in the daily cycle of human undertakings.

A great concern was to be focused on the poorer class of the society. Evangelical groups like the Methodists became
popular with the working and lower class of people. They echoed one message: Their own liberation and salvation
from their misery and predicaments is through faith in the passion and death of Christ. The evangelical movements
focused on the authority and the inspiration of the Bible for liberation in situations like this.

The Catholic Church, on the other hand, took a stand and proclaimed its reactions through the first social encyclical
of the Church, "Rerum Novarum." Pope Leo XIII's encyclical, issued May 15, 1891, was written within the
framework of St. Thomas Aquinas' understanding of the social order. Two things surfaced in the teaching: first, the
Church denied support for class warfare while attacking socialism as proposed by Karl Marx, and second, it spoke
against the various presuppositions of economic liberalism, that is, capitalism.

"Rerum Novarum" teaches:

First, the advancement of the industrialization period brought about injustice in the society through the inhumanity
of employers and the unguided method of competition. "After the old trade guilds had been destroyed in the last
century, and no protection was substituted in their place, and when public institutions and legislation had cast off
traditional religious teaching, it gradually came about that the present age handed over the workers, each alone and
defenseless, to the inhumanity of employers and the unbridled greed of competitors" ("Rerum Novarum," No. 6).

Second, "Rerum Novarum" was deeply concerned with the alienation of the workers from the Church as a result of
the widening gap between the social classes. Socialism attempted to solve this increasing problem but was
condemned by the Church, which proposed the equitable relationship between capital and labor instead. Leo XIII
explained that the worsening situation due to the relationship between socialism and the working class in fact [is
worse] than the evils of the capitalistic system.

The encyclical explains that "inasmuch as the socialists seek to transfer the goods of private persons to the
community at large, they make the lot of all wage earners worse, because in abolishing the freedom to dispose of
wages they take away from them by this very act the hope and the opportunity of increasing their property and of
securing advantages for themselves" (RN, 10).

Third, the social encyclical insists that the rich and poor, capital or labor have equal rights and duties. Against the
socialists, Leo XIII defends the right of individuals to private property. It is the prerogative of the individual to
exercise his own right to possess certain properties as a citizen of the country. However, Leo XIII warns abuses of
the right to private property. The encyclical laid down the limits to its use to avoid abuse to both individuals and
properties. Private property is a vocation and a right. Leo XIII says that it "is a right natural to man, and to exercise
this right, especially in life in society, is not only lawful, but clearly necessary. 'It is lawful for man to own his own
things. It is even necessary for human life'" (RN, 36).

Fourth, the poor and the weak have to be defended by the state. The state has the inalienable duty to defend their
rights. These rights have to be religiously protected it is because the weak and the poor rely on the state for
protection. The power of the state is manifested through its service to the weak and underprivileged. The state
should make the poor under its "special care and foresight" (RN, 54).

Fifth, the relationship between employers and employees has to be manifested through a just salary that would
enable the workers to support themselves individually and their own families. Leo XIII exhorts that it is the state
which has the duty to ensure the justice provided by the employers to their laborers. If justice could not be
maintained, it would be detrimental to the employers, to the workers, trade and commerce and most especially to the
interests of the state which as well as may stir up violence, riots, and civil disorder and thus jeopardize public peace
(see RN, 56).

Sixth, the state has the right to intervene into the labor problem of its citizens to guarantee justice to all. However,
Leo XIII warns that the state cannot absorb individuals. Every worker has the right to form unions with the
condition that these associations should ensure its functions in favor of the laborer.

Leo XIII adds that "man is permitted by a right of nature to form private societies; the state, on the other hand, has
been instituted to protect and not to destroy natural right, and if it should forbid its citizens to enter into associations,
it would clearly do something contradictory to itself because both the state itself and private associations are
begotten of one and the same principle, namely, that men are by nature inclined to associate" (RN, 72). Trade unions
have the right also to uphold the legitimate rights of the workers.

Seventh, the state has the primary duty of saving the soul of the individual worker. The protection of the individual
is not an end in itself "but a road only and a means for perfecting, through knowledge of truth and love of good, the
life of the soul" (RN, 57). It should be the vocation of the state and the Church to ensure the salvation of every
citizen of the country, especially among the working class, which constitutes the weak and poor of the society. Any
social organization likewise has the duty to lead the workers toward religious and moral perfection (see RN, 77).

The encyclical "Rerum Novarum" of Leo XIII indicated the Church's awareness and response to the signs of the
times. It was the task of the Pope to provide principles about the rights of workers and the duty of the state based on
eternal truths.

"Rerum Novarum" was a giant step of the Church toward making an alliance with the workers and the poor while
resisting the Church's temptation to ally with the bourgeois. The central theme of the encyclical was focused on the
conditions of workers as effects of the Industrial Revolution. Relationship between employees and employers should
be based on truth, justice, love, and respect to the individual's inalienable rights.

Quadragesimo Anno
The impact of Leo XIII's "Rerum Novarum" is assessed in Pius XI's encyclical "Quadragesimo Anno" on May 15,
1931. Pius XI focused on the principle of subsidiarity as an alternative to class struggles, socialism and capitalism.
Following the social foundations and principles of "Rerum Novarum," Pius XI pursued social justice based on the
Gospel principles. The Catholic Church desires to take up justice among the working class and the needs of the poor
through social concern and charity. The encyclical was issued amidst the depression of social order, the rise of
communist totalitarianism on the one hand, and extreme capitalism on the other.

Pius XI highlights these following points in his encyclical:

First, he reaffirms the principles set out by Leo XIII gaining foothold in the midst of the great Depression, in the age
of dictators and ruthless totalitarian systems of the right and the left. "Quadragesimo Anno" develops Catholic social
doctrines along the lines of the Gospel's great principles of love manifested through peace and justice, solidarity, the
common good, subsidiarity, the right to property, the right to associate and the fundamental role of the family in
society.

By affirming basic human rights, "Quadragesimo Anno" paved the way this courageous papal attacks on Nazism
("Mit Brennender Sorge," 1937), Soviet communism ("Divini Redemptoris," 1937), Italian fascism ("Non Abbiamo
Bisogno," 1931) and Masonic anti-clericalism in Mexico ("Nos Es Muy Conocida," 1937)

Second, "Quadragesimo Anno" affirms once more the magisterial vocation of the Church through the "Christian
reform of morals" (No. 15). The Church has the duty to educate the faithful with regard to the basic social principles
founded on sacred Scriptures. Responding to the current signs of the times, the Church has to exercise its duty of
leading the society toward its highest ideals by fulfilling its duty to restore the dignity of the workers.

It says that, "it is the Church, again, that strives not only to instruct the mind, but to regulate by her precepts the life
and morals of individuals, and that ameliorates the condition of the workers through her numerous and beneficent
institutions" (QA, 17).

Third, Pius XI attacks socialism as a system of societal affairs which may oppress human freedom through harmful
collectivism. It is a system of political and economic state of affairs based on common ownership that overrides the
right to private ownership. Pius XI mentioned two objectives of communism, namely "unrelenting class warfare and
absolute extermination of private ownership" (QA, 112).

On the other hand, Pius XI exposed the evils of capitalism that leads toward extreme individualism, which may
leave the rights of workers unprotected. One of the thrusts of the state is to defend the rights of the weak and the
poor. Pius XI reiterated Leo XIII's call for reform saying, "the function of the rulers of the state, moreover, is to
watch over the community and its parts; but in protecting private individuals in their rights, chief consideration
ought to be given to the weak and the poor" (QA, 25).

Fourth, Pius XI emphasized on the "principle of subsidiarity" which gives the freedom of various small economic
and social groups to handle matters of lesser importance. The state should not intervene in any affair that smaller
groups, business and institutions can do by their own. The encyclical says that "the supreme authority of the state
ought, therefore, to let subordinate groups handle matters and concerns of lesser importance, which would otherwise
dissipate its efforts greatly. Thereby the state will more freely, powerfully and effectively do all those things that
belong to it alone because it alone can do them: directing, watching, urging, restraining, as occasion requires and
necessity demands" (QA, 80).

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From Wikipedia:

Rerum Novarum (Latin for Of New Things) is an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII on May
15, 1891. It was an open letter, passed to all Catholic bishops, that addressed the condition of the
working classes. The encyclical is entitled: “Rights and Duties of Capital and Labour”.
Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler and Cardinal Henry Edward Manning were influential in its
composition.

It discussed the relationships and mutual duties between labour and obtaining capital, as well as
government and its citizens. Of primary concern was the need for some amelioration for “The
misery and wretchedness pressing so unjustly on the majority of the working class.”[1] It
supported the rights of labor to form unions, rejected communism and unrestricted capitalism,
whilst affirming the right to private property.

Many of the positions in Rerum Novarum were supplemented by later encyclicals, in particular
Pius XI’s Quadragesimo Anno (1931), John XXIII’s Mater et Magistra (1961), and John Paul
II’s Centesimus Annus (1991).

Message

Rerum Novarum is subtitled “On the Conditions of Labor”. In this document, Leo set out the
Catholic Church’s response to the social conflict that had risen in the wake of industrialization
and that had led to the rise of socialism. The Pope taught that the role of the State is to promote
social justice through the protection of rights, while the Church must speak out on social issues
in order to teach correct social principles and ensure class harmony. He restated the Church’s
long-standing teaching regarding the crucial importance of private property rights, but
recognized, in one of the best-known passages of the encyclical, that the free operation of market
forces must be tempered by moral considerations:

“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.”[2]

Rerum Novarum is remarkable for its vivid depiction of the plight of the nineteenth-century
urban poor and for its condemnation of unrestricted capitalism. Among the remedies it
prescribed were the formation of trade unions and the introduction of collective bargaining,
particularly as an alternative to state intervention.
The encyclical declared private property a fundamental principle of natural law. Rerum Novarum
thus dramatically adapted Thomistic ideas about property, as the Pope attempted to shift the class
alliances of the church, aligning with its erstwhile opponent, the bourgeoisie, in the face of the
perceived threat of socialism. [3]

Rerum Novarum also recognized that the poor have a special status in consideration of social
issues: the modern Catholic principle of the “preferential option for the poor” and the notion that
God is on the side of the poor found their first expression in this document.[4][5]

Quadragesimo Anno (Latin for “In the 40th Year”) is an encyclical written by Pope Pius XI,
issued 15 May 1931, 40 years after Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum. Unlike Leo XIII, who addressed
the condition of workers, Pius XI discusses the ethical implications of the social and economic
order. He describes the major dangers for human freedom and dignity arising from unrestrained
capitalism and totalitarian communism. He also calls for the reconstruction of the social order
based on the principle of solidarity and subsidiarity.

Changes since Rerum Novarum

Pope Pius XI issued his encyclical exactly forty years after Rerum Novarum. In the interim there
were other papal statements from Leo XIII, and also the encyclical Singulari Quadam of Pope
Pius X. Pius XI subtitled his encyclical Reconstruction of the Social Order. In the first part he
reviews and applauds the encyclical of his predecessor. The Church can be credited with
participating in the progress made and contributing to it. It developed a new social conscience.
The welfare State has become a reality and the once powerless workers have unionized and form
a powerful opposite to representatives of capitalism. [1]

But for Pope Pius, this did not solve the social problems that Leo XIII talked about. New
problems developed including a degree of industrialization, which was unthinkable in 1891.
Industrialization has become an undeniable fact, affecting not only the workers in factories but
society as a whole. [2] The division of societies into opposing social classes increased, said the
Pope. Both sides are highlighting differences and resulting social unrest is truly possible.

[edit] Private Property

The Church has a role in discussing these issues. Social and economic issues are vital to her not
from a technical point of view but in terms of moral and ethical issues involved. Ethical
considerations include the nature of private property [3] concerning which, within the Catholic
Church, several conflicting views had developed. Pope Pius XI proclaims private property to be
essential for the development and freedom of the individual. Those who deny private property
deny personal freedom and development. But, says Pius, private property has a social function as
well. Private property loses its morality if it is not subordinated to the common good. Therefore
governments have a right to pursue redistribution policies. In extreme cases, the Pope recognises
that the State has a right to expropriate private property. [4]

[edit] Capital and Labour

A related issue, says Pius, is the relation between capital and labour and the determination of fair
wages. [5] Pius develops the following ethical mandate: The Church considers it a perversion of
industrial society, to have developed sharp opposite camps based on income. He welcomes all
attempts to alleviate these cross differences. Three elements determine a fair wage: The worker's
family responsibilities, the economic condition of the enterprise and the economy as a whole.
The family has an innate right to development, but this is only possible within the framework of
a functioning economy and sound enterprises. For this Pope Pius concludes that solidarity not
conflict is a necessary condition, given the mutual interdependence of the parties involved. [5]

[edit] Social Order

Industrialization, says Pius XI, resulted in less freedom at the individual and communal level,
because numerous free social entities got absorbed by larger ones. A society of individuals
became a mass and class society. People are much more interdependent than in ancient times and
become egoistic or class-conscious in order to save some freedom for themselves. The pope
demands more solidarity, especially between employers and employees through new forms of
cooperation and communication. Pius draws a negative view of Capitalism, especially of the
anonymous international finance markets. [6] He identifies here problems: dangers for small and
medium-size enterprises who have insufficient access to capital markets and are squeezed or
destroyed by the larger ones. He warns, that capital interests can become a danger for states, who
would be reduced to be “chained slaves of individual interests” [7]

[edit] Communism and Socialism

Regarding Communism and Socialism, Pope Pius noted increasing differences. He condemns
communism but also the social conditions which nourish it. He demands that moderate socialism
not only distance itself from totalitarian communism as a matter of convenience, but as a matter
of principle, in light of the dignity of the human person. [8] Dignity and human freedom are
ethical considerations, which cannot be solved from a hostile class confrontation. Ethics are
based on religion and, declares the Pope, this is the realm where the Church meets industrial
society. [9]

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