CSDC 89

In response to the first great social question, Pope Leo XIII promulgated the first social Encyclical, Rerum Novarum¹⁴³ Cf. Leo XIII, Encyclical Letter Rerum Novarum: Acta Leonis XIII, 11 (1892), 97-144.. This Encyclical examines the condition of salaried workers, which was particularly distressing for industrial labourers who languished in inhumane misery. The labour question is dealt with according to its true dimensions. It is explored in all its social and political expressions so that a proper evaluation may be made in the light of the doctrinal principles founded on Revelation and on natural law and morality. Rerum Novarum lists errors that give rise to social ills, excludes socialism as a remedy and expounds with precision and in contemporary terms “the Catholic doctrine on work, the right to property, the principle of collaboration instead of class struggle as the fundamental means for social change, the rights of the weak, the dignity of the poor and the obligations of the rich, the perfecting of justice through charity, on the right to form professional associations”¹⁴⁴ Congregation for Catholic Education, Guidelines for the Study and Teaching of the Church's Social Doctrine in the Formation of Priests, 20, Vatican Polyglot Press, Rome 1988, p. 24.. Rerum Novarum became the document inspiring Christian activity in the social sphere and the point of reference for this activity¹⁴⁵ Cf. Pius XI, Encyclical Letter Quadragesimo Anno, 39 AAS 23AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 23 (1931) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1931), 189; Pius XII, Radio Message for the fiftieth anniversary of Rerum Novarum: AAS 33AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 33 (1941) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1941), 198.. The Encyclical's central theme is the just ordering of society, in view of which there is the obligation to identify criteria of judgment that will help to evaluate existing socio-political systems and to suggest lines of action for their appropriate transformation.