09/03/2024
Catholic Textbook Project
May 13
3 min read
Pope Leo XIII addresses Socialism back in 1891
Pope Leo XIII Issues the Encyclical “Rerum Novarum”: May 15, 1891
Updated: May 14
This text comes from our book, Light to the Nations, Part 2.
During his 25 years as pope, Leo XIII addressed many encyclicals to the Church. The topics of his encyclicals were issues that threatened not only the Church, but the health of the state and society. Because, for instance, European states were allowing divorce, Leo explained the Church’s teaching on marriage in the 1880 encyclical, Arcanum Divinae Sapientiae. To combat Liberal notions of the state, Leo in 1885 published Immortale Dei, in which he condemned separation of the state from the Church and the Liberal doctrine that men have the right to say and publish anything they want, even if it is harmful to morality and the good of society. In 1893, Leo published the encyclical Providentissimus Deus, in which he encouraged the scientific study of the Bible.
Pope Leo XIII in 1896
Pope Leo XIII in 1896
Like many in his time, Leo was troubled by the rapid growth of socialism in Europe. Despite the attempts by some governments to better the living conditions of the working class, most workers and their families continued to be exploited by employers and lived in dire poverty. Socialists offered hope to the oppressed workers; but, as Leo saw, it was a false hope. Socialists promised workers that, if they only overthrew existing governments and the bourgeois capitalist class, they could create a workers’ paradise on earth. By abolishing private property, by holding all property in common, every man, woman, and child could have a decent roof over their heads, adequate clothing, and enough to eat, said the socialists.
Unlike many of those who opposed socialism, Leo saw that to fight it successfully one had to recognize the evils of laissez-fa
