In 1891, Pope Leo XIII produced Rerum Novarum, an encyclical on workers rights that fundamentally challenged the contemporary political discourse and approach to policymaking. Francis hopes to have a similar impact today, helping to catalyze action on climate change.

According to Phelps, Pope Leo XIII advocated a corporatist view in his 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, and Pope Pius XI amplified these ideas in his 1931 encyclical Quadragesimo Anno. But, in reading these works, I do not find a clear or persuasive statement of any economic doctrine, except for basic notions of fairness and Christian charity.

ALBERTA As the twentieth century neared, Pope Leo XIII, grieving for humanity s choice between atheistic socialism and venal liberalism, commissioned Catholic intellectuals to devise a better solution. Named Corporatism and set forth in the 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, Leo s interwar successor, Pius XI, recounted that it laid down for all mankind the surest rules to solve aright that difficult problem of human relations called the social question.