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Leo XIII issues Rerum Novarum

1891 · Rome (Rome, Italy)

On 15 May 1891 Leo XIII issues Rerum Novarum, on the condition of the working classes. It defends private property against socialism, condemns the treatment of labor as a mere commodity, and upholds workers' rights to organize and to a just wage. The encyclical founds the modern body of Catholic social teaching.

Tagged: Catholic

The Event

Date
1891 (exact)
Era
Revolution and the Nineteenth Century; Standard periodization of Catholic history
Location
Rome; today Rome, Italy
Traditions
Catholicism
Streams
Catholic
Key figures
Leo XIII
Key texts
Rerum Novarum

Primary Sources

  • Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum, 1891.

Secondary Sources

  • Chadwick, Owen. A History of the Popes, 1830-1914. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998.
  • Duffy, Eamon. Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.
  • Hastings, Adrian, ed. A World History of Christianity. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999.
  • MacCulloch, Diarmaid. A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years. London: Penguin, 2009.
  • O'Malley, John W. Trent: What Happened at the Council. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013.

Provenance: HIST-1341; confidence 0.95; accessed 2026-10-30.

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