'Rerum Novarum': an anniversary to remember

(Vatican Radio) Pope  Leo XIII  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 which highlight 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 an historical context for us.

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While Father Crosthwaite explains how the Catholic Church's concern in social issues dates back to the times of the Fathers of the Church, he also notes how this document breaks new ground. As for the first time in history a Roman Pontiff begins to realise the need to address social issues in a new way, expressing concern for the condition of workers.