Another detour while diving deeper into the encyclical of Leo XIV
- May 31
- 4 min read
I have been trying to dive into the recent encyclical Magnifica Humanatas by Pope Leo XIV on May 15th. By its length, it's timing and it's subject matter, I believe it is critical for our time. As I first dove into it, it cited the landmark encyclical Rerum Novarum. That work was released by the last Pope Leo (XIII) 135 years earlier, to the day. With that kind of context, I knew I had to read this encyclical by Pope Leo XIII.
I released this article as a summation, after I had finished reading it. Understanding the foundation of Catholic social teaching as a foundation, I now understand that it upholds private property rights and properly recognizes both the dignity and value of work. It openly rejects both the extremes of unrestrained capitalism, which protects corporate greed and Socialism which creates an even worse poverty and slavery.
Today, I set about the task of diving back into Magnifica Humanatas. It's the 2nd longest Papal encyclical ever, so it's going to take me some time.
I got as far as paragraph 3, when I ran into another detour. On the same date, May 15th, in the year 1931, Pope Pius XI released Quadragesimo Anno. Pope Pius XI had a very significant papacy that included the canonization of two of my favorite Saints whose homes I have visited- Saint Bernadette and Saint Therese of Lisieux.
Papacy of Pius XI (1922–1939) Born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti in 1857 in Desio, Italy, he was a scholar, librarian (prefect of the Vatican Library), and diplomat before his election as pope on February 6, 1922, succeeding Benedict XV. He chose the name Pius to signal continuity with earlier popes and reigned until his death on February 10, 1939.
Major Achievements and Events: Lateran Treaty (1929): A landmark concordat with Benito Mussolini’s Fascist Italy that created the independent Vatican City State, resolved the long-standing "Roman Question" from Italian unification, and recognized Catholicism as Italy’s state religion while affirming the Church’s neutrality in secular affairs.
Concordats and Diplomacy: He negotiated about 25 concordats worldwide (e.g., with Poland, Prussia, Austria, and a short-lived one with Nazi Germany in 1933) to protect Church rights amid post-WWI instability.
Opposition to Totalitarianism: He issued strong encyclicals against emerging threats: Non Abbiamo Bisogno (1931) against Fascist interference in Italy.
Mit Brennender Sorge (1937) condemning Nazi ideology, racism, and paganism (smuggled into Germany and read from pulpits).
Divini Redemptoris (1937) against atheistic communism.
Catholic Social Teaching and Missions: Beyond Quadragesimo Anno, he advanced social doctrine, education, and global missions, dramatically increasing missionary activity.
Challenges: His papacy navigated the Great Depression, rising dictatorships (Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin), persecutions (e.g., in Mexico and Spain), and tensions with regimes he initially sought agreements with. He grew increasingly critical of fascism and Nazism toward the end of his life.
Pius XI was a vigorous, scholarly leader who sought to restore the Church’s moral authority in a turbulent era, emphasizing "the peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ." His successor was Pius XII. His social encyclical remains a foundational text in CST, influencing later popes on issues of economics, justice, and human dignity.
Quadragesimo Anno expands on the challenges facing the working family in 1931 and it is eerily prophetic in its foretelling of the storm clouds of the coming economic destruction of the family.
Let me cite an important section.
71. In the first place, the worker must be paid a wage sufficient to support him and his family.[46] That the rest of the family should also contribute to the common support, according to the capacity of each, is certainly right, as can be observed especially in the families of farmers, but also in the families of many craftsmen and small shopkeepers. But to abuse the years of childhood and the limited strength of women is grossly wrong. Mothers, concentrating on household duties, should work primarily in the home or in its immediate vicinity. It is an intolerable abuse, and to be abolished at all cost, for mothers on account of the father's low wage to be forced to engage in gainful occupations outside the home to the neglect of their proper cares and duties, especially the training of children. Every effort must therefore be made that fathers of families receive a wage large enough to meet ordinary family needs adequately. But if this cannot always be done under existing circumstances, social justice demands that changes be introduced as soon as possible whereby such a wage will be assured to every adult workingman. It will not be out of place here to render merited praise to all, who with a wise and useful purpose, have tried and tested various ways of adjusting the pay for work to family burdens in such a way that, as these increase, the former may be raised and indeed, if the contingency arises, there may be enough to meet extraordinary needs.
To state that his worry was warranted is certainly an understatement. So precient was this prediction of intolerable abuse, that I shudder to return to the work of Leo XIV's work to see what it will fortell.
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