Last Friday, white smokes billowed from the chimney atop the iconic 542-year-old Sistine Chapel in the Vatican signaling the election of a new Pope, the American Robert Cardinal Prevost, who has chosen to be known as Pope Leo XIV. He succeeds Pope Francis, who died on April 21, 2025, as the chief shepherd of the largest religious group on earth, the over 1.4 billion Catholics.
I instantly suspended the subject matter I had planned to write on today once the new Pope chose the name Leo, as that choice struck a chord with me regarding something that has been of profound interest to me and on which I have copiously written including in this very column. It is the issue of social and economic justice, especially in the light of the deficiencies of the capitalist system with its amoral glorification of endless acquisition that has concentrated the bulk of the wealth of the earth in the hands of a privileged few while a vast proportion of humankind live in various degrees of deprivation.
Against this backdrop, the name Leo XIV evokes a sensational memory of an epochal moment in history, when the last Pope to use the name Leo i.e. Pope Leo XIII (February 20, 1878 – July 20, 1903) issued the famous encyclical RERUM NOVARUM (which translates to “Of the New Things”). Issued on May 15, 1891, the document had the sub-title, “On the Condition of the Working Classes.” It came at a time of socio-economic uncertainties as modern capitalism took root especially in Europe. Questions about the rights of workers were growing louder as labour movements gained momentum globally against the backdrop of the exploitative tendencies of the profit-minded capitalist enterprises. Supplying oxygen to the emerging labour movements was the Marxist ideology which was gaining widespread legitimacy amidst the growing discontent with the inequalities and deprivations of the capitalist structure.
It was the above scenario that inspired the issuance of RERUM NOVARUM by Pope Leo XIII. It was a piece of theological (and of course philosophical) treatise that challenged the deprivations and exploitations of capitalism while also repudiating the abridgment of economic freedom by socialism and communism. In other words, it renounced the unbridled liberalism that has turned the capitalist economic space into a jungle of winner-takes-it-all and the over-centralisation that circumscribes economic dignity in the communist realm.
Taking up Marxism precisely, Leo XIII rejected the idea of an inherent class struggle between owners of capital and workers, arguing that capital and labour are rather two complementary forces – and never competing forces – in the process of economic production. The two elements can coexist in mutual respect as well as in healthy and productive inter-dependence as long as the moral ideals of human dignity, love and universal brotherhood remain the overarching principles.
Then turning to capitalism, the pontiff pointed out the heavy moral burden of society (especially the government) to regulate the space of economic competition in such a way as to combat deprivation, exploitation and inequality. He made a strong case for promotion of labour movement and labour rights as a way of protecting workers against the exploitative tendencies of the profit-driven capitalist world. He advocated for less centralization of decision making such that certain decisions that affect socio-economic wellbeing of people be taken at lower, more micro-levels of social organization so as to better cater for the interest of everyone. Very importantly, RERUM NOVARUM emphasized the grave moral duty that comes with private wealth – all goods of the earth are collectively owned by the entire humankind, hence, individuals that are privileged to be in possession of such wealth have the responsibility of using it to advance the wellbeing of other individuals and society. Thus, unnecessary storing of wealth or applying it to servicing vulgarly ostentatious and wasteful purposes constitutes a grave moral evil. (This is very germane for our society of today with its culture of wild opulent displays by way of expensive burials and weddings and luxurious acquisitions).
Given its immortal relevance, it is no surprise that RERUM NOVARUM turned out to have laid the foundation for the Catholic politico-economic theology in the context of the political economy of the contemporary world. Its principles have reverberated in many other theological documents produced by the church since then, and in fact, two encyclicals, QUADRAGESIMO ANNO (Pope Pius XI, 1931) and CENTESIMUS ANNUS (Pope John Paul II, 1991) were issued to celebrate its 40th and 100th year, respectively. RERUM NOVARUM laid the foundation for Liberation Theology pioneered by Latin American theologians which sought to interpret Christian message through the lens of the politically and economically oppressed. Given that Protestant theologians eventually embraced Liberation Theology as well, the influence of Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical has been felt well beyond the boundaries of Catholicism.
Outside the Christendom, RERUM NOVARUM, rich in intellection and moral illumination, inevitably made a global impact, inspiring the rise of labour movements in some parts of the globe, and leading to the formation of Christian Democratic Parties in different countries including Germany, Belgium, and Croatia. Of course, the ideals propagated in the encyclical were later to reflect in the principles of International Labour Organisation (ILO) founded 28 years after.
There is no gainsaying the fact that our world, more than ever, needs some reflection on the principles enunciated in RERUM NOVARUM. Once, Robert Cardinal Prevost settled for Leo XIV as his papal name, I already knew his thinking and I sincerely find it welcoming. He intends to leverage the clout offered by the most powerful pulpit in the world to propagate the message of the need to fight socio-economic inequality and deprivation. With the continuing deeper entrenchment of capitalist institutions and capitalist culture, our world is gravitating further and further to the nadir of socio-economic injustice, exclusion and deprivation. For instance, according to the UBS Global Wealth Report, $454.4 trillion net private wealth (also known as household wealth) existed worldwide as at 2022; however, a whopping 45.8% of this entire wealth was in the hands of just 1.1% of the human population, leaving the rest of us (98.9% of human population) with just 54.2%! At the bottom of the pyramid were 52.5% of the entire humans who shared just 1.2% of the net private wealth available.
The foregoing emphatically underscores the devastating level of inequalities and deprivations created and continued to be nurtured by capitalism and its morality (nay, amorality) of endless acquisition. It is a pity that today’s humans have been socialized in the capitalist society and culture so much so that we have all internalized its values and no longer see anything bad about the ethos it promotes. For example, instead of viewing primitive acquisition as morally objectionable, we now – no thanks to our socialization – see it as a virtue, as evidence of hard work, as a praiseworthy success. Rarely do we observe that the wealth created by humans, as of today at least, cannot be enough to cater for needs of all individuals so long as some among us (1.1%) acquire so much as to hold close to a half of the entire wealth available for individuals. We legitimise and endorse such acquisition through rewarding people who acquire so much with awards and FORBES magazine cover appearance. We glorify opulent displays and wasteful luxuries by clapping for those that engage in them.
It is my view that while humanity has advanced so much in scientific and technological thinking, it has derailed so much in philosophical and moral reflection. Thus, it was not surprising to me seeing fellow university teachers, on a WhatsApp platform, arguing fervently to legitimize conspicuous consumption on the ground that no one should dictate to another how to spend their wealth. Poor logic, poor profundity of thought for supposed career scholars.
Now that we have another Leo as Pope, history beckons. I await the new Pope’s first encyclical or any other instrument of papal pronouncement. I am hoping for a stronger echoing of the message of RERUM NOVARUM, and hopefully he will still be the Pope by May 15, 2041 (16 years from now) to issue an encyclical celebrating the 150th year of that landmark document.
Welcome Pope Leo XIV.
Henry Chigozie Duru, PhD, teaches journalism and mass communication at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria.
