Dr Sandie Cornish—a theologian at Australian Catholic University who specialises in Catholic Social Teaching—says she was pleased when she first heard the name chosen by the new pope.
The name ‘Leo’ signals continuity not only ‘with Pope Francis and his concern for social and ecological justice but with the entire tradition of Catholic Social Teaching in the modern period’, she says, ‘because Leo XIII was the first pope of the modern period to really engage in this area.’
On 15 May 2025—less than a week after the election of Pope Leo XIV—the Church celebrates the 134th anniversary of Rerum novarum. Issued by Pope Leo XIII in 1891, it is arguably one of the most significant encyclicals of the modern era.
While the document is often described as marking the beginning of Catholic Social Teaching, Dr Cornish explains that ‘there has always been social teaching by the Church, for as long as there has been a Church,’ pointing out its roots go back even further, to the Hebrew Scriptures.
Rerum novarum is important, however, as the first encyclical ‘to focus entirely on social issues in the modern period’ and to engage seriously with modernity. So while previous encyclicals might have occasionally addressed political questions, Pope Leo XIII’s contribution is ‘the beginning of a modern encyclical tradition on social justice,’ she says, and ‘a very strong vindication of the importance of the social dimension of mission’.
Focusing on the condition of the working classes in the wake of the industrial revolution, and critiquing both capitalist and communist responses, Leo XIII produced a document that, while very much of its time, remains surprisingly relevant.
As Dr Cornish notes, his emphasis on just wages and industrial relations retains a powerful currency in many parts of the world that are still industrialising and where ‘a market economy is only just really emerging’—in contrast to Australia’s post-industrial society and predominantly service-based economy.
People were at the mercy now of employers, and what they were paid would determine whether they could eat, so a just wage was seen as the most crucial element of a just society by Leo at that time.
‘Rerum novarum actually means “of new things”,’ Dr Cornish explains, ‘and the tradition is always facing new things, so we can’t read this document in an ahistorical way. We have to understand what motivated Leo to speak at that time, and we have to understand what he said in the context of the time.
‘One of the key things that Leo talked about was the rights of workers,’ she says, pointing out that the concept of wage labour is relatively recent. ‘Before the industrial revolution, most people’s work and their home were the same thing. The household economy was the economy in a feudal system. People worked the land. They didn’t do it for wages; they did it for their subsistence.’
With industrialisation, the emergence of wage labour caused significant disruption. ‘People no longer had a way of surviving directly from their work in their household. They were at the mercy now of employers, and what they were paid would determine whether they could eat,’ Dr Cornish explains, ‘so a just wage was seen as the most crucial element of a just society by Leo at that time.’
Leo XIII also addressed the relationship between employers and employees, critiquing the idea, popular in early capitalism, of a ‘free’ employment contract between equal parties.
‘Leo understood the importance of the dimension of power here and said very clearly that if working people accepted a wage that was less than they needed for their subsistence because there was no better offer, then they were the victims of force and violence,’ Dr Cornish says. ‘And he backed the right of workers to associate to form “various associations of working men”’, what we would call unions, allowing them to bargain and organise for their mutual benefit.
The Sunshine Harvester case used almost exactly the words from Rerum novarum about what constitutes a just wage. These were very real struggles in Australian history.
Many of the principles articulated by Leo XIII remain central to the union movement today, Dr Cornish says, ‘things like having sufficient time for rest and recreation and worship’, and the idea that ‘people shouldn’t be pushed beyond their endurance’.
As industrialisation progressed and workers with no other means to address their situation sometimes turned to rioting, Leo XIII instructed them to respect the person of the employer and not to use violence. It’s an aspect of industrial relations we perhaps don’t think about today, Dr Cornish says. ‘We get annoyed when workers go on strike because it’s inconvenient, but we’re not having riots in the streets. He backed the right to strike as a last resort.’
In Rerum novarum, Leo XIII argued that rather than leaving everything to the market, ‘it was the duty of the state to intervene’ she says, ‘to secure the common good, and to act particularly on behalf of those who couldn’t stand up for themselves’.
This became the basis of our industrial relations system in Australia, something we sometimes forget ‘so many generations after the shearers’ strike’, the landmark 1891 Australian industrial dispute that ‘was really about being able to represent collectively and to push for a living wage’. Significantly, the Sunshine Harvester case, which in 1907 set the first national wage standard in Australia, ‘used almost exactly the words from Rerum novarum about what constitutes a just wage,’ she notes. ‘These were very real struggles in Australian history.’
Over the years, the principles of Rerum novarum have been developed by subsequent popes and applied to new circumstances.
In 1967, for example, Pope Paul VI, in Populorum progressio, expanded Leo XIII’s focus to look at the development of people during a time of decolonisation. ‘It was a very optimistic time economically for people, coming out of the postwar period, a boom in all sorts of technology, so he was asking: what is progress for people and peoples? And he actually shifted the centre of Catholic Social Teaching from a focus on just wages to a focus on integral human development—the development of the whole person … and for all peoples.’ Pope Benedict XVI would later describe Populorum progressio as ‘the Rerum novarum of our age’.
Later, to mark the 90th anniversary of Rerum novarum, Pope John Paul II released his 1981 encyclical Laborem exercens. It was also ‘about human labour’, Dr Cornish says, but it was concerned with ‘a post-industrial society and the impact of technology. What John Paul II was addressing was not the spinning jenny; it was computers and automation and the fact that there are so many other factors in the bargain between the worker and the employer now.’
The next significant development in this evolution, Dr Cornish believes, came in 2015 with Pope Francis’ Laudato si’, ‘which again reframes the question of justice. So we’ve gone from thinking about wages in a particular society to the internationalisation of justice—justice in the world, and progress for people and peoples—then to integrating the aspect of justice for the earth’ and ‘integral ecology’.
‘So the frame then has shifted to the three key relationships: with God, with one another as human beings and with the whole of creation.’
As the world continues to experience significant disruptions in the wake of dramatic technological and geopolitical developments, Catholic Social Teaching is sure to keep evolving.
Shortly after his election, for instance, Pope Leo XIV mentioned that artificial intelligence (AI) and the challenges and opportunities it presents partly inspired him in his choice of name. Dr Cornish believes this is certainly an area where we can expect to see further developments in the Catholic understanding of the nature and conditions of work.
Critical thinking and the pursuit of wisdom are really strong values for the Augustinians, so I think an Augustinian pope will be very concerned about [the challenges of AI].
‘The next big shift in work life is going to be the impact of AI, and the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development has been very interested in that topic,’ she notes. She thinks it will be particularly interesting to see how an Augustinian pope responds to these questions.
Dr Cornish says the impact of AI is ‘a huge issue for us’ in universities. It’s not just about the potential for students to cheat on their assignments, she says, ‘but how can we know that they’re learning? How can we teach them to engage critically with this new tool?’ Beyond the academy, ‘how does the average person looking for information assess what’s being presented to them?’ Dr Cornish asks. ‘Critical thinking and the pursuit of wisdom are really strong values for the Augustinians, so I think an Augustinian pope will be very concerned about that.’
Reflecting on other ways Leo XIV might draw on the legacy of Rerum novarum, Dr Cornish suspects he will be very concerned about ecological issues. And pointing out that he has been ‘very clear already that peace is a big, big focus for him’, she is curious to see how he will negotiate between two significant strands in Catholic Social Teaching—pacifism and just war theory—as he responds to questions like ‘How do we think about the use of force in the contemporary world?’ and ‘What do we do in a situation like Ukraine?’
Noting that ‘the teachings of the Church around human mobility are pretty well established’, she is pleased that Pope Leo XIV doesn’t appear to be ‘backing down on that’ in his comments on immigration.
For Pope Leo XIV personally, obedience has been a big part of his life—so that trust in the Spirit [is there]. I think that’s really a beautiful gift for the Church at this time.
One of the critiques of Catholic Social Teaching, she says, is that ‘it doesn’t really engage adequately with the experiences of a little more than 50 per cent of the population’. She wonders if Leo XIV ‘will be more proactive on this, involving more women in the development of his teachings’ and acknowledging ‘women’s views and perspectives and scholarship’.
Dr Cornish also notes that ‘having spent many more years in ministry in Latin America than in North America’, Pope Leo would have ‘direct experience of the entanglement of the Church in colonisation, and what that means then for our relationships with indigenous peoples’. She says it will be interesting ‘to see how First Nations people respond to him’ and how he ‘takes us forward in that space’.
While these are all complex and sometimes contentious issues, Dr Cornish is encouraged that, by all accounts—including those of Australians who encountered him at the synod on synodality in 2023—Pope Leo is ‘someone who listens very deeply and attentively’.
Noting the serenity he seemed to display at the time of his election, she points out that obedience is an important Augustinian value. ‘And for him personally, obedience has been a big part of his life—so that trust in the Spirit’ is there.
‘I think that’s really a beautiful gift for the Church at this time.’
Banner image: This portrait of Pope Leo XIII, pontiff from 1878 to 1903, shows him holding a quill pen. In his 1891 encyclical Rerum novarum, he wrote, ‘To defraud any one of wages that are his due is a great crime which cries to the avenging anger of heaven.’ (Photo: Library of Congress via CNS.)
