“Of the new things” establishes that the rich and bosses, “should not treat the worker as a slave”, respecting in him “the dignity of man”
Leo XIII, the Pope that Cardinal Robert Prevost decided to take continuity, was the author of the encyclical rerum Novarum (“of new things”), the first that addresses the condition of the workers, even in the late nineteenth century.
The encyclical was published on May 15, 1891, following the Industrial Revolution. It was the first major document of the Catholic Church that explicitly addresses social and economic problems, in a context of the great social disturbances, being considered the basis of the Church’s social doctrine in the strict sense.
“The headquarters of innovations, which has long taken over from societies and has them in a feverish agitation, should, late or early on, pass from the regions of politics to the neighboring sphere of the social economy,” thus begins the introduction of encyclical, stating that “the alteration of relations between the workers and the bosses, the influence of wealth in the hands of a small number alongside the multitude of the multitude, the most advanced opinion than those Workers make up themselves and their more compact union, all, not to mention the corruption of customs, gave the end of a fearsome conflict. ”
Safeguarding the role and social function of the Church, the encyclical, in the language of the time, establishes among the duties of the “poor and worker” that “must fully and faithfully provide all the work to which it has committed itself by free contract and according to equity”.
As for the rich and bosses, “they should not treat the worker as a slave,” respecting in him “the dignity of man.” Among the boss’s main duties-it refers to the document-“it is necessary to put, first of all, to give each one the salary that suits” but “certainly, to fix the fair measure, there are numerous points of view to consider”, including “precautionary” of every “violent act, all the usurious maneuver” against the poor.
Later, other encyclicals would follow, following the evolution of times, published, among other popes, by Pius XI, John XIII and Paul VI.
They are, however, attributed to St. Augustine – one of the most important theorists and philosophers of the early days of Christianity (fourth century) – the first considerations about the function of the Church and the role of human dignity and the common good in life in society.
Not by chance, the new Pope is an Augustinian, having entered the Order of St. Augustine in 1977 in Saint Louis, the state of Missouri (United States).
