Rerum Novarum and Seven Principles of Catholic Social Doctrine | Barbara Lanari | Ignatius Insight

All Catholic social doctrine is based on the dignity of the human

person. Man derives both his dignity and his social nature from
the fact that he is made in the image and likeness of God. God is
a community of loving relationships between the three Persons of
the Blessed Trinity. Man similarly seeks out loving relationships in
his life on earth. As man by his very nature desires to live in loving
community with others and with God, Catholic social doctrine
seeks to support all that facilitates this endeavor, and seeks to
eliminate all that hampers this endeavor. While the Catholic
Church is primarily concerned with the salvation of souls and with
one's eternal destiny, it is also genuinely concerned with man's
earthly existence and his temporal welfare during his pilgrimage
to his eternal home.

In 1891, in response to a growing disparity of wealth in many

areas of the world, Pope Leo XIII wrote an encyclical letter that
addressed the rights and duties of those with capital who
employed laborers and the rights and duties of laborers toward
those with greater wealth who employed them. This encyclical,
called Rerum Novarum (hereafter RN), laid out fundamental
principles for the relationship between "capital" and "labor," and
also responded to both negative and positive methods that were
being employed to deal with this problem. The negative methods
were stirring up revolution and hatred toward the wealthier in
society with an interest in redistributing their personal property,
while the positive methods encouraged the wealthy to practice
generosity and compassion through setting up private
organizations to assist workers and their families in times of need.
Pope Leo XIII believed that human society could only be saved
and healed by a Christian life and Christian institutions, because
they are ordered to man's true end and true good. Following are
seven principles of Catholic social doctrine that were laid out in
this encyclical. They are as applicable today as they were over a
hundred years ago.

The dignity of the human person, as mentioned above, comes

from the fact that man is created in the image and likeness of
God. Each person has God's life, law and love deeply imprinted
on his very nature. God, each person has the ability and desire to
both give and receive life, law and love to others. The ability of
man to practice virtues in regard to God and his fellow man gives
him a value much higher than any other earthly creature. His
ability to practice virtues like prudence, justice, fortitude and
temperance allows him to bring to fulfillment the powers and gifts
that he possesses; hopefully in loving communion with God and
his fellow man.

Another part of man's dignity comes from the fact that he

possesses free will. This can be either a blessing or a curse as far
as living with others in society. Due to free will a person can either
choose to serve God and his fellow man with his gifts and
abilities, or use his gifts and abilities to get others to serve him.
Hence, virtues that were meant to help man reach his intended
end of eternal happiness can instead become perverted into vices
that hinder man in reaching this end. With this complex tension
between virtue and vice, good and evil, one can see that
relationships between capital and labor, or employers and
employees, can be quite complicated. One only has to look at the
present situation in the U.S. economy regarding taxes, health
care, welfare programs, banking, etc. to see that things can get
extremely convoluted. Where generosity should be the guiding
principle, sometimes greed is present instead in the taking of
greater compensation for one's work than it is worth. Where self-
sacrifice should be present, sometimes selfishness exists in the
exploitation of workers. RN points out that capital and labor need
each other and that both have a crucial role to play in upholding
man's dignity. Capital provides the funds to provide man with
food, clothing and shelter, while labor provides the manpower to
make the capital from the resources that God has provided.

Each person should be treated with respect because he or she

has an eternal soul with hope of living for eternity as a son or
daughter of God in God's heavenly kingdom. This is the principal
aspect of man being created in the image and likeness of God-
that man has an immortal soul and the capacity to enter into an
eternal union with God. Some practical applications in respecting
man's dignity in the workplace are as follows: 1) one should be
given time off of work to worship God, thus upholding man's
dignity and keeping him connected with his Creator; b) one should
have periods of rest and not be expected to work long hours that
prevent one from getting adequate sleep; c) one should not be
required to work in unsafe conditions where he is in danger of
bodily harm; d) one should not be forced to work in immoral
conditions that endanger his soul; e) an employer should pay a
fair wage and an employee should give a full day's work for a full
day's pay; f) states should not overtax earnings; g) a worker
should be allowed time to fulfill family obligations. These
guidelines maintain the respect and dignity of the person.

The common good, according to RN, is truly more about making

man virtuous than granting man material comforts. Pope Leo XIII
believed that the highest good a society could have was virtue.
For if everyone in society was virtuous, then there would be just
and fair laws, and no one would be without the means to live fairly
well because Christian charity would cause others to provide for
those who were needy. Rightly understood, the "common good"
does not mean what is most materially good for the most number
of people. Rather it means the good that is shared by all, which
they hold in common. It is really more the moral and spiritual good
that all members of society hold in common. Thinking of the
biblical image of the Mystical Body of Christ is a good analogy to
aid in understanding the concept of the common good.

In the Mystical Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:1-11; Eph. 1:18-23) each

member of the body has an important role to contribute to the
whole body. If each member of the body is healthy and
contributing to the good of the whole, the body will be functional
and accomplish that for which it was created. Members retain
their diversity in a body (i.e., a brain cannot fulfill the function of a
heart, which pumps oxygenated blood to the body, nor can a
heart do the thinking and processing of electrical impulses, as a
brain does), yet all the members form a single, united body. In the
same way in civil society, those who labor at a trade provide an
invaluable service to a society. They move the body of society in
a sense. However, labor alone cannot keep society healthy and
functional. There also needs to be those who hold and distribute
capitallike bankers for instance-who provide the fuel for the
workers' labor. To pit these two against each other is detrimental
to both, as RN points out so well.

Pope Leo XIII states that if the needs of the common laborers are
met, then they are more productive and those with capital benefit
as well. He writes that to obtain profit and in the process cause
another to be needy is morally wrong. Rather, when one is
blessed with material wealth, one should use this to benefit as
many others as possible. RN is quick to point out that no one
should be forced to share his goods, however, as that would be
stealing. Rather, all should be encouraged to practice the virtue of
generosity. This Christian charity of almsgiving keeps the whole of
society healthy and prevents those who are needy from becoming
desperate and taking desperate or violent measures to provide for
their needs. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (pars. 1907-
1909) singles out three principal aspects of the common good: 1)
respect for the human person and his rights; 2) social well-being
and development; and 3) peace, which is "the stability and
security of a just order."

Subsidiarity is a very important principle in Catholic social

doctrine. While RN does not use this term specifically, it refers to
the basic principle. Subsidiarity is the principle that governments
should not intervene in matters that can be taken care of or
resolved by families or communities. States or governments
should not replace the rights and responsibilities of families.
Rather, those in authority in government should see themselves
in a fatherly role of guidance and protection. They should only
intervene when a family or community is unable or unwilling to
fulfill their rights and duties in regard to its members. Government
should be at the service of the family, not vice versa.

Larger governments should never remove from families or smaller

local governments what they can do for themselves, because this
removes their freedom and personal initiative. However, if a
person, family or small community is totally without any means of
providing for itself—perhaps due to illness, injury, drought, flood,
hurricane, earthquake, etc—then the larger government should
assist. Pope Leo XIII strongly emphasizes that socialism is
fundamentally flawed because is seeks to replace the rights and
duties of parents, families and communities with the supervision
of the state. This destroys the family unit, which is the basic
building block of society, where the virtues that build a productive,
cohesive society are taught and practiced most successfully.

Participation is the principle that every person in a society should

participate in building up society, while keeping in mind God's
plan for the human person individually and communally. This
principle is based on the belief that every person has been given
gifts and talents by God to grow in virtue themselves and to aid
others in growing in virtue. By using one's gifts and abilities, one
can achieve his highest good and intended end, as well as help
others to do the same. God wants man to participate in the world
in which he lives. He wants man to participate in a life with the
Blessed Trinity and with one's fellow man. This goes back to the
human person's social nature; the fact that man was created for
communion, not for isolation. Participation is a duty to be fulfilled
by all, whereby one contributes to the cultural, economic, political
and social life of the civil community to which he belongs.

Solidarity is the principle that all members of society have a

responsibility to help the other members of their family,
community or country with the needs and problems that they
cannot remedy themselves. This includes protecting and caring
for those who are weak, injured or unable to provide for
themselves for one reason or another. States have a duty to
prevent abuses of basic human rights and punish abuses when
families and communities are unable or unwilling to take care of
abuses on their own. The formation of Christian virtues like charity
and generosity will help one to see others' needs, and give him
the desire to act to fulfill those needs. However, sometimes
laziness or selfishness keeps one from voluntarily practicing
solidarity.

The state should not interfere in family, employer, or employee

rights and duties in general (this is the principle of subsidiarity).
Sometimes, however, the government does need to step in to
stop evil situations like child abuse, exploitation of workers,
dangerous working conditions, or unfair labor practices. The state
should also protect its citizens from evil aggressors through police
and military protection when necessary. If the principle of
solidarity were truly practiced by family, extended family,
neighborhoods, and church communities in interactions with those
they know who are suffering from physical or spiritual need, there
would not need to be the extensive (and often poorly managed)
state welfare programs that are in existence in the U.S. today. RN
states that the government can never be as effective as Christian
charity in helping the poor.

The right of private property is explained extensively in RN.

Pope Leo XIII states that private property represents the wages
that one has rightfully earned, and that one needs private property
to provide for the needs of one's family. This was especially true
in 1891 when many grew food, raised animals for food or sale, or
produced a marketable crop on their property. Pope Leo XIII
rightly predicted that if private property was stolen from rightful
owners and given to a state in the name of distributing the wealth
more equitably, workers and the poor would suffer the most. This
redistribution of property was being encouraged by those
preaching socialist revolution. Pope Leo XIII's prediction was
borne out after the Russian Revolution of the early 1900s, when a
massive redistribution of land led to an economic crisis and
famine that was largely responsible for the starvation of millions of
Russians.

Ownership of private property is beneficial for the common good.

This point is emphasized in RN. This encyclical points out that if
one has ownership of land or other possessions, he will work
harder to take care of them than someone who has no vested
interest in the property. If a person works hard to acquire
ownership of land, and then works hard to maintain the land and
cause it to produce something valuable, then one has a certain
rightful pride in this and will take better care of it than a stranger. It
also is a matter of justice that one who labors to cultivate land and
make it fruitful should be able to possess that which he has
invested so much of himself in.

Universal destination of goods is the principle that God made

the goods of the earth for the use of all men so that all would be
fed, clothed and sheltered. RN states that Christian living should
lead to temporal prosperity for all; not necessarily great temporal
wealth for all, but adequate food and shelter for all. In order for
this to be a reality, man must share the goods of the earth with all.
Property rights and the right of free trade are only instruments for
respecting the greater principle of the universal destination of
goods. For example, private property can be taxed to assist in
providing goods and services that are at the service of all, like
police protection, the building of roads and public libraries, for
example.

The fundamental principles of Catholic social doctrine that are set

out in Rerum Novarum are as important today as they were in
1891. Two more social encyclicals have been written [editor's
note: prior to when this essay was written; Benedict XVI's social
encyclical Caritas in veritate, was presented in 2009] to expound
on these principles, and both were written in anniversary years of
this important encyclical.

In 1931, Pope Pius XI wrote Quadragesimo Anno (On Social

Reconstruction) and in 1991, Pope John Paul II
wrote Centesimus Annus. A reading of these three encyclicals
can give one an important foundation for knowing what each
person's rights and responsibilities are as a member of society. It
can also assist those who set government and workplace policies
to know the best ways to serve the ultimate good of all while
respecting the dignity of each and every human person.
As RN points out, socialism, which promotes class warfare
between the wealthy and the poor, is never a good answer to
social and economic problems. Neither is unbridled capitalism
that promotes materialism and greed.

Christian social doctrine and Christian morality are the best

answers to the problems of human society that beset man today.
This is because they keep greed and power-mongering in check
by inspiring generosity and a spirit of service to the less fortunate.
Christian life discourages vice and encourages virtue. Christianity
discourages vices like laziness, lust and pride, which can destroy
both large and small incomes, ruin families and end hopes of
eternal beatitude. Christianity encourages virtues like prudence,
justice, fortitude and temperance, which can help build a society
where there is hope of both temporal well-being and eternal
happiness.