Catholic social teaching & the continuing struggle for the workers and the poor

Pope Leo XIV has been in the news globally in recent times because of his message and crusade for peace in the Middle East. There are those who are now accusing him of being an activist pope. Actually, if people understood why he chose the name Leo, then no one will be surprised.

When Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio became Pope Francis, it was clear that he sought to imitate Saint Francis of Assisi, who was a medieval monk known for his extreme poverty, his ministry to the poor and the marginalized and his reverence for all creation.

During his reign, the world saw how Pope Francis guided his papacy filled with compassion, humility and a persistent call for environmental care and social justice.

Pope Leo XIV explained his choice of name after his election:

“I chose to take the name Leo XIV. There are different reasons for this but mainly because Pope Leo XIII, in his encyclical Rerum Novarum, addressed the social question in the context of the first great Industrial Revolution. In our own day, the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another Industrial Revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges to the defense of human dignity, justice and labor.”

The 1891 landmark encyclical marked the birth of modern Catholic social teaching and addressed the profound changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution, especially the conditions of the working class. It offered a bold vision of social justice rooted in the dignity of the human person. This set the moral framework for how the church would engage with modern economic and social realities. Rerum Novarum is Latin for “Of New Things” and subtitled, “On the Conditions of Labor.”

At that time, factory workers, including women and children, often worked long hours in dangerous conditions for meager wages. Urban poverty, poor housing and unemployment were widespread. There were two existing competing ideologies at that time. On one side was laissez-faire capitalism which championed free markets with very little regulation. On the other side was Marxist socialism which called for the abolition of private property and collective ownership of the means of production. From the perspective of the Catholic Church at that time, both systems had significant moral shortcomings.

Pope Leo XIII, who was pope from 1878 to 1903, saw the urgent need for the Church to speak out to address the suffering of the poor and to offer an alternative to the extremes of unbridled capitalism and radical Marxist socialism. The alternative that Pope Leo XIII advanced was Catholic social teaching as advocated in his encyclical, Rerum Novarum.

This encyclical was considered revolutionary at the time it was released. It is very tragic for me that even after more than 135 years, it remains profoundly relevant.

The world today continues to grapple with the same issues that Pope Leo XIII addressed in 1891 – namely, economic inequality, the rights of workers, the lack of ethics in capitalism and the role of the state in promoting justice. The encyclical also teaches the dignity of labor, which states that work is not merely a commodity or activity but a human activity that contributes to human fulfillment and social development.

Workers are not tools to be used and discarded, but human beings with inherent dignity. They deserve just wages, which means a living wage.

Pope Leo XIII said that the economy must serve the person and not the other way around. In a later encyclical, Pope Francis defined just wages as a living wage which would be sufficient to allow the average family to live a life of human dignity.

Pope Leo XIII warned against excessive government control but also emphasized that the state has a moral duty to intervene in the economy to ensure the common good. This means enacting laws to protect workers, regulate working conditions and ensure that economic competition does not lead to exploitation.

The modern tradition of Catholic social teaching formally began with Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum. However, subsequent popes have written a series of papal encyclicals which are also aimed at applying Catholic values to modern social challenges. Among these encyclicals were Pope John XXIII’s Mater et Magistra (1961) and Pacem in Terris (1963) which emphasized social justice, international peace and human rights. Pope John Paul II in his encyclicals Laborem Exercens (1981) and Centesinus Annus (1991) continued this legacy by reflecting on the dignity of work, human freedom and the failures of both socialism and consumerist capitalism.

In the 21st century, Pope Francis renewed the call for Catholic social teaching through his encyclical Laudato Si (2015) focusing on ecological responsibility and environmental justice. He also repeated that the trickle-down philosophy of economics is a failure. This philosophy states that as the rich get richer, the poor will benefit.

We should remember these messages of the Church as we continue the debate on increasing minimum wages, distribution of wealth and taxes on the wealthy.

I expect that Pope Leo XIV will continue the advocacy of Catholic social teaching began by his namesake Pope Leo XIII.

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