By Nathan Schneider
Publication Date: 2026-05-26 13:24:00
With the publication of his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas on May 25, 2026, Pope Leo
Since the first act of his papacy – the choice of his name – the current pope has repeatedly invoked Leo’s earlier 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum. This document, which addressed the political and economic debates of the time, denounced the excesses of the Gilded Age and pointed to a more just social order. Now Leo XIV has used his first major declaration to the world to present a new Rerum Novarum for the age of AI.
Rerum Novarum was more than just a theological text. It helped reshape economic policy around workers’ rights and served as the spiritual foundation for European social democracy and the New Deal programs of the 1930s, which continue to shape the economic lives of working Americans today.
