The Belated Manifesto Of Catholic Social Teaching: Rerum Novarum

The period initiated by the Industrial Revolution brought about profound social, economic, and political transformations worldwide. The emergence of new ideologies, widespread misery, hunger, high levels of poverty, the deterioration of the family institution, epidemics, and the weakening of religious beliefs generated significant concern among various actors. Changes in state structures, the conflicts between newly emerging social classes, and the ideologies that fueled these conflicts were, in turn, nourished by these societal issues. For an extended period, the Church remained silent in this new context, refraining from taking any particular stance or setting a clear direction. This silence finally came to an end as the Church’s existence was perceived to be under threat, and religious beliefs no longer commanded acceptance based solely on religious teachings and paradigms. In 1891, the encyclical Rerum Novarum, or “new things,” was issued, addressing the misery and challenges experienced by workers, offering critiques of ideologies such as socialism and capitalism, and proposing various recommendations for building an ideal society to eliminate these issues. However, upon closer examination, it is evident that this encyclical was not solely driven by the virtue of charity, as attributed by the Church itself, but also aimed to preserve the Church’s position as a religious authority.