Leo XIII: father of social encyclicals?

(Vatican Radio) Leo XIII who died on the 20th July 1903 has gone down in history as the first pope ever to have written a social encyclical. It was 1891 and the title of this document was “ Rerum Novarum “, Latin words highlighting the novelty of the theme explored.
Veronica Scarisbrick asks Professor of Catholic Social Teaching at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas here in Rome Dominican Father Alejandro Crosthwaite to place this encyclical into historical context for us .
In this interview Father Crosthwaite also explains how with this document the Catholic Church begins to realise it needs to address social issues in a new way,consequently Pope Leo XIII expresses concern surrounding the fate of the workers at the time.
Father Crosthwaite then highlights how the vision of society of the Ancient Church does still tend to be a little paternalistic in this document : "..it's not until Vatican II basically, although we already begin to see that in Pius XII in his Christmas radio messages and in John XXIII's writings that the worker himself or herself is a subject and is called to be an actor member .That will not be explicit until John Paul II in Laborem Exercens ..."
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