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RERUM NOVARUM
ON CAPITAL AND LABOR
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE LEO XIII
MAY 15, 1891
To Our Venerable Brethren the Patriarchs,
Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, and other
Ordinaries of Places having Peace and Communion
with the Apostolic See.
That the spirit of revolutionary change, which
has long been disturbing the nations of the
world, should have passed beyond the sphere of
politics and made its influence felt in the
cognate sphere of practical economics is not
surprising. The elements of the conflict now
raging are unmistakable, in the vast expansion of
industrial pursuits and the marvelous discoveries
of science; in the changed relations between
masters and workmen; in the enormous fortunes of
some few individuals, and the utter poverty of
the masses; in the increased self-reliance and
closer mutual combination of the working classes;
as also, finally, in the prevailing moral
degeneracy. The momentous gravity of the state of
things now obtaining fills every mind with
painful apprehension; wise men are discussing it;
practical men are proposing schemes; popular
meetings, legislatures, and rulers of nations are
all busied with it -- actually there is no
question which has taken a deeper hold on the
public mind.
2. Therefore, venerable brethren, as on former
occasions when it seemed opportune to refute
false teaching, We have addressed you in the
interests of the Church and of the common weal,
and have issued letters bearing on political
power, human liberty, the Christian constitution
of the State, and like matters, so have We
thought it expedient now to speak on the
condition of the working classes.[1] It is a
subject on which We have already touched more
than once, incidentally. But in the present
letter, the responsibility of the apostolic
office urges Us to treat the question of set
purpose and in detail, in order that no
misapprehension may exist as to the principles
which truth and justice dictate for its
settlement. The discussion is not easy, nor is it
void of danger. It is no easy matter to define
the relative rights and mutual duties of the rich
and of the poor, of capital and of labor. And the
danger lies in this, that crafty agitators are
intent on making use of these differences of
opinion to pervert men's judgments and to stir up
the people to revolt.
3. In any case we clearly see, and on this there
is general agreement, that some opportune remedy
must be found quickly for the misery and
wretchedness pressing so unjustly on the majority
of the working class: for the ancient
workingmen's guilds were abolished in the last
century, and no other protective organization
took their place. Public institutions and the
laws set aside the ancient religion. Hence, by
degrees it has come to pass that working men have
been surrendered, isolated and helpless, to the
hardheartedness of employers and the greed of
unchecked competition. The mischief has been
increased by rapacious usury, which, although
more than once condemned by the Church, is
nevertheless, under a different guise, but with
like injustice, still practiced by covetous and
grasping men. To this must be added that the
hiring of labor and the conduct of trade are
concentrated in the hands of comparatively few;
so that a small number of very rich men have been
able to lay upon the teeming masses of the
laboring poor a yoke little better than that of
slavery itself.
4. To remedy these wrongs the socialists, working
on the poor man's envy of the rich, are striving
to do away with private property, and contend
that individual possessions should become the
common property of all, to be administered by the
State or by municipal bodies. They hold that by
thus transferring property from private
individuals to the community, the present
mischievous state of things will be set to
rights, inasmuch as each citizen will then get
his fair share of whatever there is to enjoy. But
their contentions are so clearly powerless to end
the controversy that were they carried into
effect the working man himself would be among the
first to suffer. They are, moreover, emphatically
unjust, for they would rob the lawful possessor,
distort the functions of the State, and create
utter confusion in the community.
5. It is surely undeniable that, when a man
engages in remunerative labor, the impelling
reason and motive of his work is to obtain
property, and thereafter to hold it as his very
own. If one man hires out to another his strength
or skill, he does so for the purpose of receiving
in return what is necessary for the satisfaction
of his needs; he therefore expressly intends to
acquire a right full and real, not only to the
remuneration, but also to the disposal of such
remuneration, just as he pleases. Thus, if he
lives sparingly, saves money, and, for greater
security, invests his savings in land, the land,
in such case, is only his wages under another
form; and, consequently, a working man's little
estate thus purchased should be as completely at
his full disposal as are the wages he receives
for his labor. But it is precisely in such power
of disposal that ownership obtains, whether the
property consist of land or chattels. Socialists,
therefore, by endeavoring to transfer the
possessions of individuals to the community at
large, strike at the interests of every
wage-earner, since they would deprive him of the
liberty of disposing of his wages, and thereby of
all hope and possibility of increasing his
resources and of bettering his condition in life.
6. What is of far greater moment, however, is the
fact that the remedy they propose is manifestly
against justice. For, every man has by nature the
right to possess property as his own. This is one
of the chief points of distinction between man
and the animal creation, for the brute has no
power of self-direction, but is governed by two
main instincts, which keep his powers on the
alert, impel him to develop them in a fitting
manner, and stimulate and determine him to action
without any power of choice. One of these
instincts is self-preservation, the other the
propagation of the species. Both can attain their
purpose by means of things which lie within
range; beyond their verge the brute creation
cannot go, for they are moved to action by their
senses only, and in the special direction which
these suggest. But with man it is wholly
different. He possesses, on the one hand, the
full perfection of the animal being, and hence
enjoys at least as much as the rest of the animal
kind, the fruition of things material. But animal
nature, however perfect, is far from representing
the human being in its completeness, and is in
truth but humanity's humble handmaid, made to
serve and to obey. It is the mind, or reason,
which is the predominant element in us who are
human creatures; it is this which renders a human
being human, and distinguishes him essentially
from the brute. And on this very account -- that
man alone among the animal creation is endowed
with reason -- it must be within his right to
possess things not merely for temporary and
momentary use, as other living things do, but to
have and to hold them in stable and permanent
possession; he must have not only things that
perish in the use, but those also which, though
they have been reduced into use, continue for
further use in after time.
7. This becomes still more clearly evident if
man's nature be considered a little more deeply.
For man, fathoming by his faculty of reason
matters without number, linking the future with
the present, and being master of his own acts,
guides his ways under the eternal law and the
power of God, whose providence governs all
things. Wherefore, it is in his power to exercise
his choice not only as to matters that regard his
present welfare, but also about those which he
deems may be for his advantage in time yet to
come. Hence, man not only should possess the
fruits of the earth, but also the very soil,
inasmuch as from the produce of the earth he has
to lay by provision for the future. Man's needs
do not die out, but forever recur; although
satisfied today, they demand fresh supplies for
tomorrow. Nature accordingly must have given to
man a source that is stable and remaining always
with him, from which he might look to draw
continual supplies. And this stable condition of
things he finds solely in the earth and its
fruits. There is no need to bring in the State.
Man precedes the State, and possesses, prior to
the formation of any State, the right of
providing for the substance of his body.
8. The fact that God has given the earth for the
use and enjoyment of the whole human race can in
no way be a bar to the owning of private
property. For God has granted the earth to
mankind in general, not in the sense that all
without distinction can deal with it as they
like, but rather that no part of it was assigned
to any one in particular, and that the limits of
private possession have been left to be fixed by
man's own industry, and by the laws of individual
races. Moreover, the earth, even though
apportioned among private owners, ceases not
thereby to minister to the needs of all, inasmuch
as there is not one who does not sustain life
from what the land produces. Those who do not
possess the soil contribute their labor; hence,
it may truly be said that all human subsistence
is derived either from labor on one's own land,
or from some toil, some calling, which is paid
for either in the produce of the land itself, or
in that which is exchanged for what the land
brings forth.
9. Here, again, we have further proof that
private ownership is in accordance with the law
of nature. Truly, that which is required for the
preservation of life, and for life's well-being,
is produced in great abundance from the soil, but
not until man has brought it into cultivation and
expended upon it his solicitude and skill. Now,
when man thus turns the activity of his mind and
the strength of his body toward procuring the
fruits of nature, by such act he makes his own
that portion of nature's field which he
cultivates -- that portion on which he leaves, as
it were, the impress of his personality; and it
cannot but be just that he should possess that
portion as his very own, and have a right to hold
it without any one being justified in violating
that right.
10. So strong and convincing are these arguments
that it seems amazing that some should now be
setting up anew certain obsolete opinions in
opposition to what is here laid down. They assert
that it is right for private persons to have the
use of the soil and its various fruits, but that
it is unjust for any one to possess outright
either the land on which he has built or the
estate which he has brought under cultivation.
But those who deny these rights do not perceive
that they are defrauding man of what his own
labor has produced. For the soil which is tilled
and cultivated with toil and skill utterly
changes its condition; it was wild before, now it
is fruitful; was barren, but now brings forth in
abundance. That which has thus altered and
improved the land becomes so truly part of itself
as to be in great measure indistinguishable and
inseparable from it. Is it just that the fruit of
a man's own sweat and labor should be possessed
and enjoyed by any one else? As effects follow
their cause, so is it just and right that the
results of labor should belong to those who have
bestowed their labor.
11. With reason, then, the common opinion of
mankind, little affected by the few dissentients
who have contended for the opposite view, has
found in the careful study of nature, and in the
laws of nature, the foundations of the division
of property, and the practice of all ages has
consecrated the principle of private ownership,
as being pre-eminently in conformity with human
nature, and as conducing in the most unmistakable
manner to the peace and tranquility of human
existence. The same principle is confirmed and
enforced by the civil laws -- laws which, so long
as they are just, derive from the law of nature
their binding force. The authority of the divine
law adds its sanction, forbidding us in severest
terms even to covet that which is another's:
"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife; nor
his house, nor his field, nor his man-servant,
nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass,
nor anything that is his."[2]
12. The rights here spoken of, belonging to each
individual man, are seen in much stronger light
when considered in relation to man's social and
domestic obligations. In choosing a state of
life, it is indisputable that all are at full
liberty to follow the counsel of Jesus Christ as
to observing virginity, or to bind themselves by
the marriage tie. No human law can abolish the
natural and original right of marriage, nor in
any way limit the chief and principal purpose of
marriage ordained by God's authority from the
beginning: "Increase and multiply."[3] Hence we
have the family, the "society" of a man's house
-- a society very small, one must admit, but none
the less a true society, and one older than any
State. Consequently, it has rights and duties
peculiar to itself which are quite independent of
the State.
13. That right to property, therefore, which has
been proved to belong naturally to individual
persons, must in like wise belong to a man in his
capacity of head of a family; nay, that right is
all the stronger in proportion as the human
person receives a wider extension in the family
group. It is a most sacred law of nature that a
father should provide food and all necessaries
for those whom he has begotten; and, similarly,
it is natural that he should wish that his
children, who carry on, so to speak, and continue
his personality, should be by him provided with
all that is needful to enable them to keep
themselves decently from want and misery amid the
uncertainties of this mortal life. Now, in no
other way can a father effect this except by the
ownership of productive property, which he can
transmit to his children by inheritance. A
family, no less than a State, is, as We have
said, a true society, governed by an authority
peculiar to itself, that is to say, by the
authority of the father. Provided, therefore, the
limits which are prescribed by the very purposes
for which it exists be not transgressed, the
family has at least equal rights with the State
in the choice and pursuit of the things needful
to its preservation and its just liberty. We say,
"at least equal rights"; for, inasmuch as the
domestic household is antecedent, as well in idea
as in fact, to the gathering of men into a
community, the family must necessarily have
rights and duties which are prior to those of the
community, and founded more immediately in
nature. If the citizens, if the families on
entering into association and fellowship, were to
experience hindrance in a commonwealth instead of
help, and were to find their rights attacked
instead of being upheld, society would rightly be
an object of detestation rather than of desire.
14. The contention, then, that the civil
government should at its option intrude into and
exercise intimate control over the family and the
household is a great and pernicious error. True,
if a family finds itself in exceeding distress,
utterly deprived of the counsel of friends, and
without any prospect of extricating itself, it is
right that extreme necessity be met by public
aid, since each family is a part of the
commonwealth. In like manner, if within the
precincts of the household there occur grave
disturbance of mutual rights, public authority
should intervene to force each party to yield to
the other its proper due; for this is not to
deprive citizens of their rights, but justly and
properly to safeguard and strengthen them.
But the rulers of the commonwealth must go no
further; here, nature bids them stop. Paternal
authority can be neither abolished nor absorbed
by the State; for it has the same source as human
life itself. "The child belongs to the father,"
and is, as it were, the continuation of the
father's personality; and speaking strictly, the
child takes its place in civil society, not of
its own right, but in its quality as member of
the family in which it is born. And for the very
reason that "the child belongs to the father" it
is, as St. Thomas Aquinas says, "before it
attains the use of free will, under the power and
the charge of its parents."[4] The socialists,
therefore, in setting aside the parent and
setting up a State supervision, act against
natural justice, and destroy the structure of the
home.
15. And in addition to injustice, it is only too
evident what an upset and disturbance there would
be in all classes, and to how intolerable and
hateful a slavery citizens would be subjected.
The door would be thrown open to envy, to mutual
invective, and to discord; the sources of wealth
themselves would run dry, for no one would have
any interest in exerting his talents or his
industry; and that ideal equality about which
they entertain pleasant dreams would be in
reality the leveling down of all to a like
condition of misery and degradation.
Hence, it is clear that the main tenet of
socialism, community of goods, must be utterly
rejected, since it only injures those whom it
would seem meant to benefit, is directly contrary
to the natural rights of mankind, and would
introduce confusion and disorder into the
commonweal. The first and most fundamental
principle, therefore, if one would undertake to
alleviate the condition of the masses, must be
the inviolability of private property. This being
established, we proceed to show where the remedy
sought for must be found.
16. We approach the subject with confidence, and
in the exercise of the rights which manifestly
appertain to Us, for no practical solution of
this question will be found apart from the
intervention of religion and of the Church. It is
We who are the chief guardian of religion and the
chief dispenser of what pertains to the Church;
and by keeping silence we would seem to neglect
the duty incumbent on us. Doubtless, this most
serious question demands the attention and the
efforts of others besides ourselves -- to wit, of
the rulers of States, of employers of labor, of
the wealthy, aye, of the working classes
themselves, for whom We are pleading. But We
affirm without hesitation that all the striving
of men will be vain if they leave out the Church.
It is the Church that insists, on the authority
of the Gospel, upon those teachings whereby the
conflict can be brought to an end, or rendered,
at least, far less bitter; the Church uses her
efforts not only to enlighten the mind, but to
direct by her precepts the life and conduct of
each and all; the Church improves and betters the
condition of the working man by means of numerous
organizations; does her best to enlist the
services of all classes in discussing and
endeavoring to further in the most practical way,
the interests of the working classes; and
considers that for this purpose recourse should
be had, in due measure and degree, to the
intervention of the law and of State authority.
17. It must be first of all recognized that the
condition of things inherent in human affairs
must be borne with, for it is impossible to
reduce civil society to one dead level.
Socialists may in that intent do their utmost,
but all striving against nature is in vain. There
naturally exist among mankind manifold
differences of the most important kind; people
differ in capacity, skill, health, strength; and
unequal fortune is a necessary result of unequal
condition. Such inequality is far from being
disadvantageous either to individuals or to the
community. Social and public life can only be
maintained by means of various kinds of capacity
for business and the playing of many parts; and
each man, as a rule, chooses the part which suits
his own peculiar domestic condition. As regards
bodily labor, even had man never fallen from the
state of innocence, he would not have remained
wholly idle; but that which would then have been
his free choice and his delight became afterwards
compulsory, and the painful expiation for his
disobedience. "Cursed be the earth in thy work;
in thy labor thou shalt eat of it all the days of
thy life."[5]
18. In like manner, the other pains and hardships
of life will have no end or cessation on earth;
for the consequences of sin are bitter and hard
to bear, and they must accompany man so long as
life lasts. To suffer and to endure, therefore,
is the lot of humanity; let them strive as they
may, no strength and no artifice will ever
succeed in banishing from human life the ills and
troubles which beset it. If any there are who
pretend differently -- who hold out to a
hard-pressed people the boon of freedom from pain
and trouble, an undisturbed repose, and constant
enjoyment -- they delude the people and impose
upon them, and their lying promises will only one
day bring forth evils worse than the present.
Nothing is more useful than to look upon the
world as it really is, and at the same time to
seek elsewhere, as We have said, for the solace
to its troubles.
19. The great mistake made in regard to the
matter now under consideration is to take up with
the notion that class is naturally hostile to
class, and that the wealthy and the working men
are intended by nature to live in mutual
conflict. So irrational and so false is this view
that the direct contrary is the truth. Just as
the symmetry of the human frame is the result of
the suitable arrangement of the different parts
of the body, so in a State is it ordained by
nature that these two classes should dwell in
harmony and agreement, so as to maintain the
balance of the body politic. Each needs the
other: capital cannot do without labor, nor labor
without capital. Mutual agreement results in the
beauty of good order, while perpetual conflict
necessarily produces confusion and savage
barbarity. Now, in preventing such strife as
this, and in uprooting it, the efficacy of
Christian institutions is marvelous and manifold.
First of all, there is no intermediary more
powerful than religion (whereof the Church is the
interpreter and guardian) in drawing the rich and
the working class together, by reminding each of
its duties to the other, and especially of the
obligations of justice.
20. Of these duties, the following bind the
proletarian and the worker: fully and faithfully
to perform the work which has been freely and
equitably agreed upon; never to injure the
property, nor to outrage the person, of an
employer; never to resort to violence in
defending their own cause, nor to engage in riot
or disorder; and to have nothing to do with men
of evil principles, who work upon the people with
artful promises of great results, and excite
foolish hopes which usually end in useless
regrets and grievous loss. The following duties
bind the wealthy owner and the employer: not to
look upon their work people as their bondsmen,
but to respect in every man his dignity as a
person ennobled by Christian character. They are
reminded that, according to natural reason and
Christian philosophy, working for gain is
creditable, not shameful, to a man, since it
enables him to earn an honorable livelihood; but
to misuse men as though they were things in the
pursuit of gain, or to value them solely for
their physical powers -- that is truly shameful
and inhuman. Again justice demands that, in
dealing with the working man, religion and the
good of his soul must be kept in mind. Hence, the
employer is bound to see that the worker has time
for his religious duties; that he be not exposed
to corrupting influences and dangerous occasions;
and that he be not led away to neglect his home
and family, or to squander his earnings.
Furthermore, the employer must never tax his work
people beyond their strength, or employ them in
work unsuited to their sex and age. His great and
principal duty is to give every one what is just.
Doubtless, before deciding whether wages are
fair, many things have to be considered; but
wealthy owners and all masters of labor should be
mindful of this -- that to exercise pressure upon
the indigent and the destitute for the sake of
gain, and to gather one's profit out of the need
of another, is condemned by all laws, human and
divine. To defraud any one of wages that are his
due is a great crime which cries to the avenging
anger of Heaven. "Behold, the hire of the
laborers . . . which by fraud has been kept back
by you, crieth; and the cry of them hath entered
into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath."[6] Lastly,
the rich must religiously refrain from cutting
down the workmen's earnings, whether by force, by
fraud, or by usurious dealing; and with all the
greater reason because the laboring man is, as a
rule, weak and unprotected, and because his
slender means should in proportion to their
scantiness be accounted sacred.
Were these precepts carefully obeyed and followed
out, would they not be sufficient of themselves
to keep under all strife and all its causes?
21. But the Church, with Jesus Christ as her
Master and Guide, aims higher still. She lays
down precepts yet more perfect, and tries to bind
class to class in friendliness and good feeling.
The things of earth cannot be understood or
valued aright without taking into consideration
the life to come, the life that will know no
death. Exclude the idea of futurity, and
forthwith the very notion of what is good and
right would perish; nay, the whole scheme of the
universe would become a dark and unfathomable
mystery. The great truth which we learn from
nature herself is also the grand Christian dogma
on which religion rests as on its foundation --
that, when we have given up this present life,
then shall we really begin to live. God has not
created us for the perishable and transitory
things of earth, but for things heavenly and
everlasting; He has given us this world as a
place of exile, and not as our abiding place. As
for riches and the other things which men call
good and desirable, whether we have them in
abundance, or are lacking in them -- so far as
eternal happiness is concerned -- it makes no
difference; the only important thing is to use
them aright. Jesus Christ, when He redeemed us
with plentiful redemption, took not away the
pains and sorrows which in such large proportion
are woven together in the web of our mortal life.
He transformed them into motives of virtue and
occasions of merit; and no man can hope for
eternal reward unless he follow in the
blood-stained footprints of his Savior. "If we
suffer with Him, we shall also reign with
Him."[7] Christ's labors and sufferings, accepted
of His own free will, have marvelously sweetened
all suffering and all labor. And not only by His
example, but by His grace and by the hope held
forth of everlasting recompense, has He made pain
and grief more easy to endure; "for that which is
at present momentary and light of our
tribulation, worketh for us above measure
exceedingly an eternal weight of glory."[8]
22. Therefore, those whom fortune favors are
warned that riches do not bring freedom from
sorrow and are of no avail for eternal happiness,
but rather are obstacles;[9] that the rich should
tremble at the threatenings of Jesus Christ --
threatenings so unwonted in the mouth of our
Lord[10] -- and that a most strict account must
be given to the Supreme Judge for all we possess.
The chief and most excellent rule for the right
use of money is one the heathen philosophers
hinted at, but which the Church has traced out
clearly, and has not only made known to men's
minds, but has impressed upon their lives. It
rests on the principle that it is one thing to
have a right to the possession of money and
another to have a right to use money as one ills.
Private ownership, as we have seen, is the
natural right of man, and to exercise that right,
especially as members of society, is not only
lawful, but absolutely necessary. "It is lawful,"
says St. Thomas Aquinas, "for a man to hold
private property; and it is also necessary for
the carrying on of human existence.''[11] But if
the question be asked: How must one's possessions
be used? -- the Church replies without hesitation
in he words of the same holy Doctor: "Man should
not consider his material possessions as his own,
but as common to all, so as to share them without
hesitation when others are in need. Whence the
apostle saith, 'Command the rich of this world .
. to offer with no stint, to apportion
largely'."[12] True, no one is commanded to
distribute to others that which is required for
his own needs and those of his household; nor
even to give away what is reasonably required to
keep up becomingly his condition in life, "for no
one ought to live other than becomingly."[13]
But, when what necessity demands has been
supplied, and one's standing fairly taken thought
for, it becomes a duty to give to the indigent
out of what remains over. "Of that which
remaineth, give alms."[14] It is duty, not of
justice (save in extreme cases), but of Christian
charity -- a duty not enforced by human law. But
the laws and judgments of men must yield place to
the laws and judgments of Christ the true God,
who in many ways urges on His followers the
practice of almsgiving -- "It is more blessed to
give than to receive";[15] and who will count a
kindness done or refused to the poor as done or
refused to Himself -- "As long as you did it to
one of My least brethren you did it to Me."[16]
To sum up, then, what has been said: Whoever has
received from the divine bounty a large share of
temporal blessings, whether they be external and
material, or gifts of the mind, has received them
for the purpose of using them for the perfecting
of his own nature, and, at the same time, that he
may employ them, as the steward of God's
providence, for the benefit of others. "He that
hath a talent," said St. Gregory the Great, "let
him see that he hide it not; he that hath
abundance, let him quicken himself to mercy and
generosity; he that hath art and skill, let him
do his best to share the use and the utility
hereof with his neighbor."[17]
23. As for those who possess not the gifts of
fortune, they are taught by the Church that in
God's sight poverty is no disgrace, and that
there is nothing to be ashamed of in earning
their bread by labor. This is enforced by what we
see in Christ Himself, who, "whereas He was rich,
for our sakes became poor'';[18] and who, being
the Son of God, and God Himself, chose to seem
and to be considered the son of a carpenter --
nay, did not disdain to spend a great part of His
life as a carpenter Himself. "Is not this the
carpenter, the son of Mary?"[19]
24. From contemplation of this divine Model, it
is more easy to understand that the true worth
and nobility of man lie in his moral qualities,
that is, in virtue; that virtue is, moreover, the
common inheritance of men, equally within the
reach of high and low, rich and poor; and that
virtue, and virtue alone, wherever found, will be
followed by the rewards of everlasting happiness.
Nay, God Himself seems to incline rather to those
who suffer misfortune; for Jesus Christ calls the
poor "blessed";[20] He lovingly invites those in
labor and grief to come to Him for solace;[21]
and He displays the tenderest charity toward the
lowly and the oppressed. These reflections cannot
fail to keep down the pride of the well-to-do,
and to give heart to the unfortunate; to move the
former to be generous and the latter to be
moderate in their desires. Thus, the separation
which pride would set up tends to disappear, nor
will it be difficult to make rich and poor join
hands in friendly concord.
25. But, if Christian precepts prevail, the
respective classes will not only be united in the
bonds of friendship, but also in those of
brotherly love. For they will understand and feel
that all men are children of the same common
Father, who is God; that all have alike the same
last end, which is God Himself, who alone can
make either men or angels absolutely and
perfectly happy; that each and all are redeemed
and made sons of God, by Jesus Christ, "the
first-born among many brethren"; that the
blessings of nature and the gifts of grace belong
to the whole human race in common, and that from
none except the unworthy is withheld the
inheritance of the kingdom of Heaven. "If sons,
heirs also; heirs indeed of God, and co-heirs
with Christ."[22]
Such is the scheme of duties and of rights which
is shown forth to the world by the Gospel. Would
it not seem that, were society penetrated with
ideas like these, strife must quickly cease?
26 But the Church, not content with pointing out
the remedy, also applies it. For the Church does
her utmost to teach and to train men, and to
educate them and by the intermediary of her
bishops and clergy diffuses her salutary
teachings far and wide. She strives to influence
the mind and the heart so that all may willingly
yield themselves to be formed and guided by the
commandments of God. It is precisely in this
fundamental and momentous matter, on which
everything depends that the Church possesses a
power peculiarly her own. The instruments which
she employs are given to her by Jesus Christ
Himself for the very purpose of reaching the
hearts of men, and drive their efficiency from
God. They alone can reach the innermost heart and
conscience, and bring men to act from a motive of
duty, to control their passions and appetites, to
love God and their fellow men with a love that is
outstanding and of the highest degree and to
break down courageously every barrier which
blocks the way to virtue.
27 On this subject we need but recall for one
moment the examples recorded in history. Of these
facts there cannot be any shadow of doubt: for
instance, that civil society was renovated in
every part by Christian institutions; that in the
strength of that renewal the human race was
lifted up to better things -- nay, that it was
brought back from death to life, and to so
excellent a life that nothing more perfect had
been known before, or will come to be known in
the ages that have yet to be. Of this beneficent
transformation Jesus Christ was at once the first
cause and the final end; as from Him all came, so
to Him was all to be brought back. For, when the
human race, by the light of the Gospel message,
came to know the grand mystery of the Incarnation
of the Word and the redemption of man, at once
the life of Jesus Christ, God and Man, pervaded
every race and nation, and interpenetrated them
with His faith, His precepts, and His laws. And
if human society is to be healed now, in no other
way can it be healed save by a return to
Christian life and Christian institutions. When a
society is perishing, the wholesome advice to
give to those who would restore it is to call it
to the principles from which it sprang; for the
purpose and perfection of an association is to
aim at and to attain that for which it is formed,
and its efforts should be put in motion and
inspired by the end and object which originally
gave it being. Hence, to fall away from its
primal constitution implies disease; to go back
to it, recovery. And this may be asserted with
utmost truth both of the whole body of the
commonwealth and of that class of its citizens --
by far the great majority -- who get their living
by their labor.
28. Neither must it be supposed that the
solicitude of the Church is so preoccupied with
the spiritual concerns of her children as to
neglect their temporal and earthly interests. Her
desire is that the poor, for example, should rise
above poverty and wretchedness, and better their
condition in life; and for this she makes a
strong endeavor. By the fact that she calls men
to virtue and forms them to its practice she
promotes this in no slight degree. Christian
morality, when adequately and completely
practiced, leads of itself to temporal
prosperity, for it merits the blessing of that
God who is the source of all blessings; it
powerfully restrains the greed of possession and
the thirst for pleasure -- twin plagues, which
too often make a man who is void of
self-restraint miserable in the midst of
abundance;[23] it makes men supply for the lack
of means through economy, teaching them to be
content with frugal living, and further, keeping
them out of the reach of those vices which devour
not small incomes merely, but large fortunes, and
dissipate many a goodly inheritance.
29. The Church, moreover, intervenes directly in
behalf of the poor, by setting on foot and
maintaining many associations which she knows to
be efficient for the relief of poverty. Herein,
again, she has always succeeded so well as to
have even extorted the praise of her enemies.
Such was the ardor of brotherly love among the
earliest Christians that numbers of those who
were in better circumstances despoiled themselves
of their possessions in order to relieve their
brethren; whence "neither was there any one needy
among them."[24] To the order of deacons,
instituted in that very intent, was committed by
the Apostles the charge of the daily doles; and
the Apostle Paul, though burdened with the
solicitude of all the churches, hesitated not to
undertake laborious journeys in order to carry
the alms of the faithful to the poorer
Christians. Tertullian calls these contributions,
given voluntarily by Christians in their
assemblies, deposits of piety, because, to cite
his own words, they were employed "in feeding the
needy, in burying them, in support of youths and
maidens destitute of means and deprived of their
parents, in the care of the aged, and the relief
of the shipwrecked."[25]
30 Thus, by degrees, came into existence the
patrimony which the Church has guarded with
religious care as the inheritance of the poor.
Nay, in order to spare them the shame of begging,
the Church has provided aid for the needy. The
common Mother of rich and poor has aroused
everywhere the heroism of charity, and has
established congregations of religious and many
other useful institutions for help and mercy, so
that hardly any kind of suffering could exist
which was not afforded relief. At the present day
many there are who, like the heathen of old, seek
to blame and condemn the Church for such eminent
charity. They would substitute in its stead a
system of relief organized by the State. But no
human expedients will ever make up for the
devotedness and self-sacrifice of Christian
charity. Charity, as a virtue, pertains to the
Church; for virtue it is not, unless it be drawn
from the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ; and
whosoever turns his back on the Church cannot be
near to Christ.
31 It cannot, however, be doubted that to attain
the purpose we are treating of, not only the
Church, but all human agencies, must concur. All
who are concerned in the matter should be of one
mind and according to their ability act together.
It is with this, as with providence that governs
the world; the results of causes do not usually
take place save where all the causes cooperate.
It is sufficient, therefore, to inquire what part
the State should play in the work of remedy and
relief.
32 By the State we here understand, not the
particular form of government prevailing in this
or that nation, but the State as rightly
apprehended; that is to say, any government
conformable in its institutions to right reason
and natural law, and to those dictates of the
divine wisdom which we have expounded in the
encyclical On the Christian Constitution of the
State.[26] The foremost duty, therefore, of the
rulers of the State should be to make sure that
the laws and institutions, the general character
and administration of the commonwealth, shall be
such as of themselves to realize public
well-being and private prosperity. This is the
proper scope of wise statesmanship and is the
work of the rulers. Now a State chiefly prospers
and thrives through moral rule, well-regulated
family life, respect for religion and justice,
the moderation and fair imposing of public taxes,
the progress of the arts and of trade, the
abundant yield of the land -- through everything,
in fact, which makes the citizens better and
happier. Hereby, then, it lies in the power of a
ruler to benefit every class in the State, and
amongst the rest to promote to the utmost the
interests of the poor; and this in virtue of his
office, and without being open to suspicion of
undue interference -- since it is the province of
the commonwealth to serve the common good. And
the more that is done for the benefit of the
working classes by the general laws of the
country, the less need will there be to seek for
special means to relieve them.
33. There is another and deeper consideration
which must not be lost sight of. As regards the
State, the interests of all, whether high or low,
are equal. The members of the working classes are
citizens by nature and by the same right as the
rich; they are real parts, living the life which
makes up, through the family, the body of the
commonwealth; and it need hardly be said that
they are in every city very largely in the
majority. It would be irrational to neglect one
portion of the citizens and favor another, and
therefore the public administration must duly and
solicitously provide for the welfare and the
comfort of the working classes; otherwise, that
law of justice will be violated which ordains
that each man shall have his due. To cite the
wise words of St. Thomas Aquinas: "As the part
and the whole are in a certain sense identical,
so that which belongs to the whole in a sense
belongs to the part."[27] Among the many and
grave duties of rulers who would do their best
for the people, the first and chief is to act
with strict justice -- with that justice which is
called distributive -- toward each and every
class alike.
34. But although all citizens, without exception,
can and ought to contribute to that common good
in which individuals share so advantageously to
themselves, yet it should not be supposed that
all can contribute in the like way and to the
same extent. No matter what changes may occur in
forms of government, there will ever be
differences and inequalities of condition in the
State. Society cannot exist or be conceived of
without them. Some there must be who devote
themselves to the work of the commonwealth, who
make the laws or administer justice, or whose
advice and authority govern the nation in times
of peace, and defend it in war. Such men clearly
occupy the foremost place in the State, and
should be held in highest estimation, for their
work concerns most nearly and effectively the
general interests of the community. Those who
labor at a trade or calling do not promote the
general welfare in such measure as this, but they
benefit the nation, if less directly, in a most
important manner. We have insisted, it is true,
that, since the end of society is to make men
better, the chief good that society can possess
is virtue. Nevertheless, it is the business of a
well constituted body politic to see to the
provision of those material and external helps
"the use of which is necessary to virtuous
action."[28] Now, for the provision of such
commodities, the labor of the working class --
the exercise of their skill, and the employment
of their strength, in the cultivation of the
land, and in the workshops of trade -- is
especially responsible and quite indispensable.
Indeed, their co-operation is in this respect so
important that it may be truly said that it is
only by the labor of working men that States grow
rich. Justice, therefore, demands that the
interests of the working classes should be
carefully watched over by the administration, so
that they who contribute so largely to the
advantage of the community may themselves share
in the benefits which they create -- that being
housed, clothed, and bodily fit, they may find
their life less hard and more endurable. It
follows that whatever shall appear to prove
conducive to the well-being of those who work
should obtain favorable consideration. There is
no fear that solicitude of this kind will be
harmful to any interest; on the contrary, it will
be to the advantage of all, for it cannot but be
good for the commonwealth to shield from misery
those on whom it so largely depends for the
things that it needs.
35 We have said that the State must not absorb
the individual or the family; both should be
allowed free and untrammeled action so far as is
consistent with the common good and the interest
of others. Rulers should, nevertheless, anxiously
safeguard the community and all its members; the
community, because the conservation thereof is so
emphatically the business of the supreme power,
that the safety of the commonwealth is not only
the first law, but it is a government's whole
reason of existence; and the members, because
both philosophy and the Gospel concur in laying
down that the object of the government of the
State should be, not the advantage of the ruler,
but the benefit of those over whom he is placed.
As the power to rule comes from God, and is, as
it were, a participation in His, the highest of
all sovereignties, it should be exercised as the
power of God is exercised -- with a fatherly
solicitude which not only guides the whole, but
reaches also individuals.
36. Whenever the general interest or any
particular class suffers, or is threatened with
harm, which can in no other way be met or
prevented, the public authority must step in to
deal with it. Now, it is to the interest of the
community, as well as of the individual, that
peace and good order should be maintained; that
all things should be carried on in accordance
with God's laws and those of nature; that the
discipline of family life should be observed and
that religion should be obeyed; that a high
standard of morality should prevail, both in
public and private life; that justice should be
held sacred and that no one should injure another
with impunity; that the members of the
commonwealth should grow up to man's estate
strong and robust, and capable, if need be, of
guarding and defending their country. If by a
strike of workers or concerted interruption of
work there should be imminent danger of
disturbance to the public peace; or if
circumstances were such as that among the working
class the ties of family life were relaxed; if
religion were found to suffer through the workers
not having time and opportunity afforded them to
practice its duties; if in workshops and
factories there were danger to morals through the
mixing of the sexes or from other harmful
occasions of evil; or if employers laid burdens
upon their workmen which were unjust, or degraded
them with conditions repugnant to their dignity
as human beings; finally, if health were
endangered by excessive labor, or by work
unsuited to sex or age -- in such cases, there
can be no question but that, within certain
limits, it would be right to invoke the aid and
authority of the law. The limits must be
determined by the nature of the occasion which
calls for the law's interference -- the principle
being that the law must not undertake more, nor
proceed further, than is required for the remedy
of the evil or the removal of the mischief.
37. Rights must be religiously respected wherever
they exist, and it is the duty of the public
authority to prevent and to punish injury, and to
protect every one in the possession of his own.
Still, when there is question of defending the
rights of individuals, the poor and badly off
have a claim to especial consideration. The
richer class have many ways of shielding
themselves, and stand less in need of help from
the State; whereas the mass of the poor have no
resources of their own to fall back upon, and
must chiefly depend upon the assistance of the
State. And it is for this reason that
wage-earners, since they mostly belong in the
mass of the needy, should be specially cared for
and protected by the government.
38. Here, however, it is expedient to bring under
special notice certain matters of moment. First
of all, there is the duty of safeguarding private
property by legal enactment and protection. Most
of all it is essential, where the passion of
greed is so strong, to keep the populace within
the line of duty; for, if all may justly strive
to better their condition, neither justice nor
the common good allows any individual to seize
upon that which belongs to another, or, under the
futile and shallow pretext of equality, to lay
violent hands on other people's possessions. Most
true it is that by far the larger part of the
workers prefer to better themselves by honest
labor rather than by doing any wrong to others.
But there are not a few who are imbued with evil
principles and eager for revolutionary change,
whose main purpose is to stir up disorder and
incite their fellows to acts of violence. The
authority of the law should intervene to put
restraint upon such firebrands, to save the
working classes from being led astray by their
maneuvers, and to protect lawful owners from
spoliation.
39. When work people have recourse to a strike
and become voluntarily idle, it is frequently
because the hours of labor are too long, or the
work too hard, or because they consider their
wages insufficient. The grave inconvenience of
this not uncommon occurrence should be obviated
by public remedial measures; for such paralyzing
of labor not only affects the masters and their
work people alike, but is extremely injurious to
trade and to the general interests of the public;
moreover, on such occasions, violence and
disorder are generally not far distant, and thus
it frequently happens that the public peace is
imperiled. The laws should forestall and prevent
such troubles from arising; they should lend
their influence and authority to the removal in
good time of the causes which lead to conflicts
between employers and employed.
40. The working man, too, has interests in which
he should be protected by the State; and first of
all, there are the interests of his soul. Life on
earth, however good and desirable in itself, is
not the final purpose for which man is created;
it is only the way and the means to that
attainment of truth and that love of goodness in
which the full life of the soul consists. It is
the soul which is made after the image and
likeness of God; it is in the soul that the
sovereignty resides in virtue whereof man is
commanded to rule the creatures below him and to
use all the earth and the ocean for his profit
and advantage. "Fill the earth and subdue it; and
rule over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of
the air, and all living creatures that move upon
the earth."[29] In this respect all men are
equal; there is here no difference between rich
and poor, master and servant, ruler and ruled,
"for the same is Lord over all."[30] No man may
with impunity outrage that human dignity which
God Himself treats with great reverence, nor
stand in the way of that higher life which is the
preparation of the eternal life of heaven. Nay,
more; no man has in this matter power over
himself. To consent to any treatment which is
calculated to defeat the end and purpose of his
being is beyond his right; he cannot give up his
soul to servitude, for it is not man's own rights
which are here in question, but the rights of
God, the most sacred and inviolable of rights.
41. From this follows the obligation of the
cessation from work and labor on Sundays and
certain holy days. The rest from labor is not to
be understood as mere giving way to idleness;
much less must it be an occasion for spending
money and for vicious indulgence, as many would
have it to be; but it should be rest from labor,
hallowed by religion. Rest (combined with
religious observances) disposes man to forget for
a while the business of his everyday life, to
turn his thoughts to things heavenly, and to the
worship which he so strictly owes to the eternal
Godhead. It is this, above all, which is the
reason and motive of Sunday rest; a rest
sanctioned by God's great law of the Ancient
Covenant -- "Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath
day,''[31] and taught to the world by His own
mysterious "rest" after the creation of man: "He
rested on the seventh day from all His work which
He had done."[32]
42. If we turn not to things external and
material, the first thing of all to secure is to
save unfortunate working people from the cruelty
of men of greed, who use human beings as mere
instruments for money-making. It is neither just
nor human so to grind men down with excessive
labor as to stupefy their minds and wear out
their bodies. Man's powers, like his general
nature, are limited, and beyond these limits he
cannot go. His strength is developed and
increased by use and exercise, but only on
condition of due intermission and proper rest.
Daily labor, therefore, should be so regulated as
not to be protracted over longer hours than
strength admits. How many and how long the
intervals of rest should be must depend on the
nature of the work, on circumstances of time and
place, and on the health and strength of the
workman. Those who work in mines and quarries,
and extract coal, stone and metals from the
bowels of the earth, should have shorter hours in
proportion as their labor is more severe and
trying to health. Then, again, the season of the
year should be taken into account; for not
infrequently a kind of labor is easy at one time
which at another is intolerable or exceedingly
difficult. Finally, work which is quite suitable
for a strong man cannot rightly be required from
a woman or a child. And, in regard to children,
great care should be taken not to place them in
workshops and factories until their bodies and
minds are sufficiently developed. For, just as
very rough weather destroys the buds of spring,
so does too early an experience of life's hard
toil blight the young promise of a child's
faculties, and render any true education
impossible. Women, again, are not suited for
certain occupations; a woman is by nature fitted
for home-work, and it is that which is best
adapted at once to preserve her modesty and to
promote the good bringing up of children and the
well-being of the family. As a general principle
it may be laid down that a workman ought to have
leisure and rest proportionate to the wear and
tear of his strength, for waste of strength must
be repaired by cessation from hard work.
In all agreements between masters and work people
there is always the condition expressed or
understood that there should be allowed proper
rest for soul and body. To agree in any other
sense would be against what is right and just;
for it can never be just or right to require on
the one side, or to promise on the other, the
giving up of those duties which a man owes to his
God and to himself.
43. We now approach a subject of great
importance, and one in respect of which, if
extremes are to be avoided, right notions are
absolutely necessary. Wages, as we are told, are
regulated by free consent, and therefore the
employer, when he pays what was agreed upon, has
done his part and seemingly is not called upon to
do anything beyond. The only way, it is said, in
which injustice might occur would be if the
master refused to pay the whole of the wages, or
if the workman should not complete the work
undertaken; in such cases the public authority
should intervene, to see that each obtains his
due, but not under any other circumstances.
44. To this kind of argument a fair-minded man
will not easily or entirely assent; it is not
complete, for there are important considerations
which it leaves out of account altogether. To
labor is to exert oneself for the sake of
procuring what is necessary for the various
purposes of life, and chief of all for
self-preservation. "In the sweat of thy face thou
shalt eat bread."[33] Hence, a man's labor
necessarily bears two notes or characters. First
of all, it is personal, inasmuch as the force
which acts is bound up with the personality and
is the exclusive property of him who acts, and,
further, was given to him for his advantage.
Secondly, man's labor is necessary; for without
the result of labor a man cannot live, and
self-preservation is a law of nature, which it is
wrong to disobey. Now, were we to consider labor
merely in so far as it is personal, doubtless it
would be within the workman's right to accept any
rate of wages whatsoever; for in the same way as
he is free to work or not, so is he free to
accept a small wage or even none at all. But our
conclusion must be very different if, together
with the personal element in a man's work, we
consider the fact that work is also necessary for
him to live: these two aspects of his work are
separable in thought, but not in reality. The
preservation of life is the bounden duty of one
and all, and to be wanting therein is a crime. It
necessarily follows that each one has a natural
right to procure what is required in order to
live, and the poor can procure that in no other
way than by what they can earn through their
work.
45. Let the working man and the employer make
free agreements, and in particular let them agree
freely as to the wages; nevertheless, there
underlies a dictate of natural justice more
imperious and ancient than any bargain between
man and man, namely, that wages ought not to be
insufficient to support a frugal and well behaved
wage-earner. If through necessity or fear of a
worse evil the workman accept harder conditions
because an employer or contractor will afford him
no better, he is made the victim of force and
injustice. In these and similar questions,
however -- such as, for example, the hours of
labor in different trades, the sanitary
precautions to be observed in factories and
workshops, etc. -- in order to supersede undue
interference on the part of the State, especially
as circumstances, times, and localities differ so
widely, it is advisable that recourse be had to
societies or boards such as We shall mention
presently, or to some other mode of safeguarding
the interests of the wage-earners; the State
being appealed to, should circumstances require,
for its sanction and protection.
46. If a workman's wages be sufficient to enable
him comfortably to support himself, his wife, and
his children, he will find it easy, if he be a
sensible man, to practice thrift, and he will not
fail, by cutting down expenses, to put by some
little savings and thus secure a modest source of
income. Nature itself would urge him to this. We
have seen that this great labor question cannot
be solved save by assuming as a principle that
private ownership must be held sacred and
inviolable. The law, therefore, should favor
ownership, and its policy should be to induce as
many as possible of the people to become owners.
47. Many excellent results will follow from this;
and, first of all, property will certainly become
more equitably divided. For, the result of civil
change and revolution has been to divide cities
into two classes separated by a wide chasm. On
the one side there is the party which holds power
because it holds wealth; which has in its grasp
the whole of labor and trade; which manipulates
for its own benefit and its own purposes all the
sources of supply, and which is not without
influence even in the administration of the
commonwealth. On the other side there is the
needy and powerless multitude, sick and sore in
spirit and ever ready for disturbance. If working
people can be encouraged to look forward to
obtaining a share in the land, the consequence
will be that the gulf between vast wealth and
sheer poverty will be bridged over, and the
respective classes will be brought nearer to one
another. A further consequence will result in the
great abundance of the fruits of the earth. Men
always work harder and more readily when they
work on that which belongs to them; nay, they
learn to love the very soil that yields in
response to the labor of their hands, not only
food to eat, but an abundance of good things for
themselves and those that are dear to them. That
such a spirit of willing labor would add to the
produce of the earth and to the wealth of the
community is self-evident. And a third advantage
would spring from this: men would cling to the
country in which they were born, for no one would
exchange his country for a foreign land if his
own afforded him the means of living a decent and
happy life. These three important benefits,
however, can be reckoned on only provided that a
man's means be not drained and exhausted by
excessive taxation. The right to possess private
property is derived from nature, not from man;
and the State has the right to control its use in
the interests of the public good alone, but by no
means to absorb it altogether. The State would
therefore be unjust and cruel if under the name
of taxation it were to deprive the private owner
of more than is fair.
48. In the last place, employers and workmen may
of themselves effect much, in the matter We are
treating, by means of such associations and
organizations as afford opportune aid to those
who are in distress, and which draw the two
classes more closely together. Among these may be
enumerated societies for mutual help; various
benevolent foundations established by private
persons to provide for the workman, and for his
widow or his orphans, in case of sudden calamity,
in sickness, and in the event of death; and
institutions for the welfare of boys and girls,
young people, and those more advanced in years.
49. The most important of all are workingmen's
unions, for these virtually include all the rest.
History attests what excellent results were
brought about by the artificers' guilds of olden
times. They were the means of affording not only
many advantages to the workmen, but in no small
degree of promoting the advancement of art, as
numerous monuments remain to bear witness. Such
unions should be suited to the requirements of
this our age -- an age of wider education, of
different habits, and of far more numerous
requirements in daily life. It is gratifying to
know that there are actually in existence not a
few associations of this nature, consisting
either of workmen alone, or of workmen and
employers together, but it were greatly to be
desired that they should become more numerous and
more efficient. We have spoken of them more than
once, yet it will be well to explain here how
notably they are needed, to show that they exist
of their own right, and what should be their
organization and their mode of action.
50. The consciousness of his own weakness urges
man to call in aid from without. We read in the
pages of holy Writ: "It is better that two should
be together than one; for they have the advantage
of their society. If one fall he shall be
supported by the other. Woe to him that is alone,
for when he falleth he hath none to lift him
up."[34] And further: "A brother that is helped
by his brother is like a strong city."[35] It is
this natural impulse which binds men together in
civil society; and it is likewise this which
leads them to join together in associations which
are, it is true, lesser and not independent
societies, but, nevertheless, real societies.
51. These lesser societies and the larger society
differ in many respects, because their immediate
purpose and aim are different. Civil society
exists for the common good, and hence is
concerned with the interests of all in general,
albeit with individual interests also in their
due place and degree. It is therefore called a
public society, because by its agency, as St.
Thomas of Aquinas says, "Men establish relations
in common with one another in the setting up of a
commonwealth."[36] But societies which are formed
in the bosom of the commonwealth are styled
private, and rightly so, since their immediate
purpose is the private advantage of the
associates. "Now, a private society," says St.
Thomas again, "is one which is formed for the
purpose of carrying out private objects; as when
two or three enter into partnership with the view
of trading in common."[37] Private societies,
then, although they exist within the body
politic, and are severally part of the
commonwealth, cannot nevertheless be absolutely,
and as such, prohibited by public authority. For,
to enter into a "society" of this kind is the
natural right of man; and the State has for its
office to protect natural rights, not to destroy
them; and, if it forbid its citizens to form
associations, it contradicts the very principle
of its own existence, for both they and it exist
in virtue of the like principle, namely, the
natural tendency of man to dwell in society.
52. There are occasions, doubtless, when it is
fitting that the law should intervene to prevent
certain associations, as when men join together
for purposes which are evidently bad, unlawful,
or dangerous to the State. In such cases, public
authority may justly forbid the formation of such
associations, and may dissolve them if they
already exist. But every precaution should be
taken not to violate the rights of individuals
and not to impose unreasonable regulations under
pretense of public benefit. For laws only bind
when they are in accordance with right reason,
and, hence, with the eternal law of God.[38] 53.
And here we are reminded of the confraternities,
societies, and religious orders which have arisen
by the Church's authority and the piety of
Christian men. The annals of every nation down to
our own days bear witness to what they have
accomplished for the human race. It is
indisputable that on grounds of reason alone such
associations, being perfectly blameless in their
objects, possess the sanction of the law of
nature. In their religious aspect they claim
rightly to be responsible to the Church alone.
The rulers of the State accordingly have no
rights over them, nor can they claim any share in
their control; on the contrary, it is the duty of
the State to respect and cherish them, and, if
need be, to defend them from attack. It is
notorious that a very different course has been
followed, more especially in our own times. In
many places the State authorities have laid
violent hands on these communities, and committed
manifold injustice against them; it has placed
them under control of the civil law, taken away
their rights as corporate bodies, and despoiled
them of their property, in such property the
Church had her rights, each member of the body
had his or her rights, and there were also the
rights of those who had founded or endowed these
communities for a definite purpose, and,
furthermore, of those for whose benefit and
assistance they had their being. Therefore We
cannot refrain from complaining of such
spoliation as unjust and fraught with evil
results; and with all the more reason do We
complain because, at the very time when the law
proclaims that association is free to all, We see
that Catholic societies, however peaceful and
useful, are hampered in every way, whereas the
utmost liberty is conceded to individuals whose
purposes are at once hurtful to religion and
dangerous to the commonwealth.
54. Associations of every kind, and especially
those of working men, are now far more common
than heretofore. As regards many of these there
is no need at present to inquire whence they
spring, what are their objects, or what the means
they imply. Now, there is a good deal of evidence
in favor of the opinion that many of these
societies are in the hands of secret leaders, and
are managed on principles ill-according with
Christianity and the public well-being; and that
they do their utmost to get within their grasp
the whole field of labor, and force working men
either to join them or to starve. Under these
circumstances Christian working men must do one
of two things: either join associations in which
their religion will be exposed to peril, or form
associations among themselves and unite their
forces so as to shake off courageously the yoke
of so unrighteous and intolerable an oppression.
No one who does not wish to expose man's chief
good to extreme risk will for a moment hesitate
to say that the second alternative should by all
means be adopted.
55. Those Catholics are worthy of all praise --
and they are not a few -- who, understanding what
the times require, have striven, by various
undertakings and endeavors, to better the
condition of the working class by rightful means.
They have taken up the cause of the working man,
and have spared no efforts to better the
condition both of families and individuals; to
infuse a spirit of equity into the mutual
relations of employers and employed; to keep
before the eyes of both classes the precepts of
duty and the laws of the Gospel -- that Gospel
which, by inculcating self-restraint, keeps men
within the bounds of moderation, and tends to
establish harmony among the divergent interests
and the various classes which compose the body
politic. It is with such ends in view that we see
men of eminence, meeting together for discussion,
for the promotion of concerted action, and for
practical work. Others, again, strive to unite
working men of various grades into associations,
help them with their advice and means, and enable
them to obtain fitting and profitable employment.
The bishops, on their part, bestow their ready
goodwill and support; and with their approval and
guidance many members of the clergy, both secular
and regular, labor assiduously in behalf of the
spiritual interest of the members of such
associations. And there are not wanting Catholics
blessed with affluence, who have, as it were,
cast in their lot with the wage-earners, and who
have spent large sums in founding and widely
spreading benefit and insurance societies, by
means of which the working man may without
difficulty acquire through his labor not only
many present advantages, but also the certainty
of honorable support in days to come. How greatly
such manifold and earnest activity has benefited
the community at large is too well known to
require Us to dwell upon it. We find therein
grounds for most cheering hope in the future,
provided always that the associations We have
described continue to grow and spread, and are
well and wisely administered. The State should
watch over these societies of citizens banded
together in accordance with their rights, but it
should not thrust itself into their peculiar
concerns and their organization, for things move
and live by the spirit inspiring them, and may be
killed by the rough grasp of a hand from without.
56. In order that an association may be carried
on with unity of purpose and harmony of action,
its administration and government should be firm
and wise. All such societies, being free to
exist, have the further right to adopt such rules
and organization as may best conduce to the
attainment of their respective objects. We do not
judge it possible to enter into minute
particulars touching the subject of organization;
this must depend on national character, on
practice and experience, on the nature and aim of
the work to be done, on the scope of the various
trades and employments, and on other
circumstances of fact and of time -- all of which
should be carefully considered.
57. To sum up, then, We may lay it down as a
general and lasting law that working men's
associations should be so organized and governed
as to furnish the best and most suitable means
for attaining what is aimed at, that is to say,
for helping each individual member to better his
condition to the utmost in body, soul, and
property. It is clear that they must pay special
and chief attention to the duties of religion and
morality, and that social betterment should have
this chiefly in view; otherwise they would lose
wholly their special character, and end by
becoming little better than those societies which
take no account whatever of religion. What
advantage can it be to a working man to obtain by
means of a society material well-being, if he
endangers his soul for lack of spiritual food?
"What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole
world and suffer the loss of his soul?"[39] This,
as our Lord teaches, is the mark or character
that distinguishes the Christian from the
heathen. "After all these things do the heathen
seek . . . Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and
His justice: and all these things shall be added
unto you."[40] Let our associations, then, look
first and before all things to God; let religious
instruction have therein the foremost place, each
one being carefully taught what is his duty to
God, what he has to believe, what to hope for,
and how he is to work out his salvation; and let
all be warned and strengthened with special care
against wrong principles and false teaching. Let
the working man be urged and led to the worship
of God, to the earnest practice of religion, and,
among other things, to the keeping holy of
Sundays and holy days. Let him learn to reverence
and love holy Church, the common Mother of us
all; and hence to obey the precepts of the
Church, and to frequent the sacraments, since
they are the means ordained by God for obtaining
forgiveness of sin and for leading a holy life.
58. The foundations of the organization being
thus laid in religion, We next proceed to make
clear the relations of the members one to
another, in order that they may live together in
concord and go forward prosperously and with good
results. The offices and charges of the society
should be apportioned for the good of the society
itself, and in such mode that difference in
degree or standing should not interfere with
unanimity and good-will. It is most important
that office bearers be appointed with due
prudence and discretion, and each one's charge
carefully mapped out, in order that no members
may suffer harm. The common funds must be
administered with strict honesty, in such a way
that a member may receive assistance in
proportion to his necessities. The rights and
duties of the employers, as compared with the
rights and duties of the employed, ought to be
the subject of careful consideration. Should it
happen that either a master or a workman believes
himself injured, nothing would be more desirable
than that a committee should be appointed,
composed of reliable and capable members of the
association, whose duty would be, conformably
with the rules of the association, to settle the
dispute. Among the several purposes of a society,
one should be to try to arrange for a continuous
supply of work at all times and seasons; as well
as to create a fund out of which the members may
be effectually helped in their needs, not only in
the cases of accident, but also in sickness, old
age, and distress.
59. Such rules and regulations, if willingly
obeyed by all, will sufficiently ensure the
well-being of the less well-to-do; whilst such
mutual associations among Catholics are certain
to be productive in no small degree of prosperity
to the State. Is it not rash to conjecture the
future from the past. Age gives way to age, but
the events of one century are wonderfully like
those of another, for they are directed by the
providence of God, who overrules the course of
history in accordance with His purposes in
creating the race of man. We are told that it was
cast as a reproach on the Christians in the early
ages of the Church that the greater number among
them had to live by begging or by labor. Yet,
destitute though they were of wealth and
influence, they ended by winning over to their
side the favor of the rich and the good-will of
the powerful. They showed themselves industrious,
hard-working, assiduous, and peaceful, ruled by
justice, and, above all, bound together in
brotherly love. In presence of such mode of life
and such example, prejudice gave way, the tongue
of malevolence was silenced, and the lying
legends of ancient superstition little by little
yielded to Christian truth.
60. At the time being, the condition of the
working classes is the pressing question of the
hour, and nothing can be of higher interest to
all classes of the State than that it should be
rightly and reasonably settled. But it will be
easy for Christian working men to solve it aright
if they will form associations, choose wise
guides, and follow on the path which with so much
advantage to themselves and the common weal was
trodden by their fathers before them. Prejudice,
it is true, is mighty, and so is the greed of
money; but if the sense of what is just and
rightful be not deliberately stifled, their
.fellow citizens are sure to be won over to a
kindly feeling towards men whom they see to be in
earnest as regards their work and who prefer so
unmistakably right dealing to mere lucre, and the
sacredness of duty to every other consideration.
61. And further great advantage would result from
the state of things We are describing; there
would exist so much more ground for hope, and
likelihood, even, of recalling to a sense of
their duty those working men who have either
given up their faith altogether, or whose lives
are at variance with its precepts. Such men feel
in most cases that they have been fooled by empty
promises and deceived by false pretexts. They
cannot but perceive that their grasping employers
too often treat them with great inhumanity and
hardly care for them outside the profit their
labor brings; and if they belong to any union, it
is probably one in which there exists, instead of
charity and love, that intestine strife which
ever accompanies poverty when unresigned and
unsustained by religion. Broken in spirit and
worn down in body, how many of them would gladly
free themselves from such galling bondage! But
human respect, or the dread of starvation, makes
them tremble to take the step. To such as these
Catholic associations are of incalculable
service, by helping them out of their
difficulties, inviting them to companionship and
receiving the returning wanderers to a haven
where they may securely find repose.
62. We have now laid before you, venerable
brethren, both who are the persons and what are
the means whereby this most arduous question must
be solved. Every one should put his hand to the
work which falls to his share, and that at once
and straightway, lest the evil which is already
so great become through delay absolutely beyond
remedy. Those who rule the commonwealths should
avail themselves of the laws and institutions of
the country; masters and wealthy owners must be
mindful of their duty; the working class, whose
interests are at stake, should make every lawful
and proper effort; and since religion alone, as
We said at the beginning, can avail to destroy
the evil at its root, all men should rest
persuaded that that main thing needful is to
re-establish Christian morals, apart from which
all the plans and devices of the wisest will
prove of little avail.
63. In regard to the Church, her cooperation will
never be found lacking, be the time or the
occasion what it may; and she will intervene with
all the greater effect in proportion as her
liberty of action is the more unfettered. Let
this be carefully taken to heart by those whose
office it is to safeguard the public welfare.
Every minister of holy religion must bring to the
struggle the full energy of his mind and all his
power of endurance. Moved by your authority,
venerable brethren, and quickened by your
example, they should never cease to urge upon men
of every class, upon the high-placed as well as
the lowly, the Gospel doctrines of Christian
life; by every means in their power they must
strive to secure the good of the people; and
above all must earnestly cherish in themselves,
and try to arouse in others, charity, the
mistress and the queen of virtues. For, the happy
results we all long for must be chiefly brought
about by the plenteous outpouring of charity; of
that true Christian charity which is the
fulfilling of the whole Gospel law, which is
always ready to sacrifice itself for others'
sake, and is man's surest antidote against
worldly pride and immoderate love of self; that
charity whose office is described and whose
Godlike features are outlined by the Apostle St.
Paul in these words: "Charity is patient, is
kind, . . . seeketh not her own, . . . suffereth
all things, . . . endureth all things.''[41]
64. On each of you, venerable brethren, and on
your clergy and people, as an earnest of God's
mercy and a mark of Our affection, we lovingly in
the Lord bestow the apostolic benediction.
Given at St. Peter's in Rome, the fifteenth day
of May, 1891, the fourteenth year of Our
pontificate .
REFERENCES:
* 1. The title sometimes given to this
encyclical, On the Condition of the Working
Classes, is therefore perfectly justified. A few
lines after this sentence, the Pope gives a more
comprehensive definition of the subject of Rerum
novarum. We are using it as a title.
* 2. Deut. 5:21.
* 3. Gen. 1:28. 4. Summa theologiae, lla-llae, q.
x, art. 12, Answer.
* 5. Gen. 3:17.
* 6. James 5:4.
* 7. 2 Tim. 2:12.
* 8. 2 Cor. 4:17.
* 9. Matt. 19:23-24.
* 10. Luke 6:24-25.
* 11. Summa theologiae, lla-llae, q. Ixvi, art.
2, Answer. * 12. Ibid.
* 13. Ibid., q. xxxii, a. 6, Answer.
* 14. Luke 11:41.
* 15. Acts 20:35.
* 16. Matt. 25:40.
* 17. Hom. in Evang., 9, n. 7 (PL 76, 1109B).
* 18. 2 Cor. 8:9.
* 19. Mark 6:3.
* 20. Matt. 5:3.
* 21. Matt. 11:28.
* 22. Rom. 8:17.
* 23. I Tim. 6:10.
* 24. Acts 4:34.
* 25. Apologia secunda, 39, (Apologeticus, cap.
39; PLI, 533A). * 26. See above, pp. 161-184.
* 27. Summa theologiae, lla-llae, q. Ixi, art. 1,
ad 2m. * 28. Thomas Aquinas, On the Governance of
Rulers, 1, 15 (Opera omnia, ed. Vives, Vol. 27,
p. 356).
* 29. Gen. 1:28.
* 30. Rom. 10:12.
* 31. Exod. 20:8.
* 32. Gen. 2:2.
* 33. Gen. 3:19.
* 34. Eccle. 4:9-10.
* 35. Prov. 18:19.
* 36. Contra impugnantes Dei cultum et
religionem, Part 2, ch. 8
* (Opera omnia, ed. Vives, Vol. 29, p. 16).
* 37. Ibid.
* 38. "Human law is law only by virtue of its
accordance with right reason; and thus it is
manifest that it flows from the eternal law. And
in so far as it deviates from right reason it is
called an unjust law; in such case it is no law
at all, but rather a species of violence." Thomas
Aquinas, Summa theologiae, la-llae, q. xciii,
art. 3, ad 2m.
* 39. Matt. 16:26.
* 40. Matt. 6:32-33.
* 41. I Cor. 13:4-7.
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"Join me in battle, little children,
against the black beast, Masonry..."
Mother Mary [source: Father Gobbi,
Evolution & Freemasonry]
"THEIR GOD IS THE DEVIL.
THEIR LAW IS UNTRUTH.
THEIR CULT IS TURPITUDE."
Pope Pius IX, speaking of
Freemasonry
"Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of
Moloch,
and the star of your god
Remphan,
figures which ye make to worship
them; and I will carry you away
beyond Babylon." Acts 7:43 KJV
Wherefore come out from among
them, and be ye separate,
saith the Lord, and touch not
the unclean thing.." (II
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