When Pope Leo XIII wrote the encyclical Rerum Novarum, 130 years ago, his writings responded to the disturbing realities that the world was experiencing. Little did he know that it would become an epic moment for the Church’s social teachings.
Although more than a century has passed since its publication in 1891, the social challenges are not very different from what they were then.
Leo XIII became the first pope, after many centuries, not to rule over the papal states. The territory was lost to French imperialism and the remainder was annexed to the newly unified kingdom of Italy.
The world in which the pope was elected was not friendly to Catholicism. Many of his contemporaries wanted to elect a pope who had strong diplomatic skills and a more liberal vision than his predecessor. Upon his election, Pope Leo XIII set out to get the Church to engage with the modern world. His main challenge was to understand the new reality of a secular state, neutral to all faiths. He was confronted with new theories that challenged the Church, such as Marxism and Darwinism, and the dawn of industrialisation was rapidly spreading throughout Europe.
Through Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo XIII sought to rekindle the emphasis on the Church’s evangelical mission. He urged Catholics to focus more on social issues and expounded these principles: labour and capital, dignity of work, just wages and workers’ associations, the role of the state, private ownership and property, and defending the poor.
Pope Francis often advocates the establishment of a universal living wage- Claudio Farrugia
In the encyclical, the pope affirmed that capital, which is made up of material things, must always be used in a way that serves labour, regardless of whether the owner is the state or private enterprise. Leo XIII advocated the concept of state intervention on economic matters. This concept was at odds with liberal and socialist ideologies of the day.
On its 100th anniversary, in the encyclical Centesimus Annus, Pope John Paul II affirmed that state intervention should not stifle creative economic forces and hinder the impulse to innovate. At the same time, the state must correct market failures and provide essential goods and services to those who are deprived of market participation through no fault of their own.
In Rerum Novarum, the pope defended every worker’s dignity and the importance of the common good. Pope Benedict XVI, in his apostolic exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis, further added that “(work) must always be organised and carried out with full respect for human dignity and must always serve the common good. At the same time, it is indispensable that people do not allow themselves to be enslaved by work or to idolise it, claiming to find in it the ultimate and definitive meaning of life.”
Fair wages were a problem at the time as much as it is today. We live in a world where the gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen. The most recent results of the EU’s European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions Survey showed that there are 43,700 people in Malta who suffer material deprivation and the number keeps edging up.
New types of employment contracts are being created to skirt giving fair wages. The recent issue with Bolt couriers, particularly the non-European workers, is a typical example. Pope Francis often advocates the establishment of a universal living wage that is “enough for the worker, the worker’s spouse and the worker’s children not only to live on but also to have enough to save for a better life”.
From Rerum Novarum to the present day, the Church, through encyclicals, papal teachings and its charities, has continuously addressed the rights of working people and the dignity of every human person. The hardships caused by precarious work is a reminder to us today that, 130 years ago, Leo XIII was right to consider the nature of work and fairness for the workers as key to the whole social question.
Claudio Farrugia, member, Catholic Voices Malta