125 Years Rerum novarum—The Theological Perspective

125 years ago, Pope Leo XIII released the encyclical Rerum novarum. This encyclical states the beginning of the social question in modern Catholicism. It results also from the conflicts about labour conditions in Ireland in 1846/67 concerning property and freedom of association. It deals with the question of a humane life for the workers, who Leo XIII. thematizes: What are basic human rights, independent from belief or the Church’s opinion? After the School of Salamanca this was the first elaboration of secular individual rights in Catholicism. The anthropological background of the social question becomes relevant in this context. Psalm 8 expresses the biblical dimension of this anthropological issue quite splendidly: “what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?” It asks the question of humans assuming, that there is a responsibility of men beyond temporal and finite borders: So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them (Gen 1, 27). This implies human dignity for everyone, which has to pervade the structure of institutions, but must not be narrowed down to solving current miseries. For from the biblical foundation arises within the vicinity of the Temple of Jerusalem the idea of an omnipotent God that wants to embrace man with his love and holds him accountable for the execution of his divine will. This is why politics and economics are challenged in this ultimate aim, the universal good and best for each person, not only the penultimate aim to do right in a certain situation. The focus lies on the question: How can love, being a term of central importance in Christian theology and belief, become relevant in political and economic structures; how can love and mercy inspire justice of institutional ethics? These questions are background of the encyclical Rerum novarum, too, because it responds to the question of the base of modern society from a Christian point of view. What is the setting, or even better: the fundament of our political, social and economic systems? What is the actual purpose of our economic and social order? More general: Why do these systems and institutions exist at all, and what are they meant to achieve? The answer of Catholic social teaching is easy for the moment: Systems and institutions, theological (visible and invisible sacraments) as well as secular (state, law and separation of powers) want nothing more than to support and help human beings along the way to their distinctive vocation: Receiving and giving love. From a full Christian perspective there is one last object for everything. The human vocation in theological dimensions is to experience, to enjoy and give mental qualities, of which love is the highest, rather than to accumulate material quantities. In order to express this love, societal institutions have to be made in a way, which allows the inalienable human dignity. This demand originally formulated by Leo XIII. in Rerum novarum has built a foundation for the Catholic social teaching and stays powerful to this day.