QUADRAGESIMO ANNO. - Encyclical of the pontiff Pius XI commemorating the Rerum novarum ("de ordine sociali instaurando et ad evangelicae legis normam perficiendo", 15 May 1931).
Its three great divisions deal respectively with the great benefits that flow from Leo XIII's encyclical to the Church, indeed to the whole of human society; with the vindication of its doctrine concerning the social and economic question against certain doubts that have arisen in recent times, and with developing it more fully on this or that point; and finally, after a careful examination of the modern economy and of socialism, with the root of the contemporary social malaise and at the same time with the only path to a salutary restoration, namely the Christian reform of morals.
Having reaffirmed the right and the duty of judging with supreme authority concerning social and economic questions, various problems are set forth and their exact solutions indicated. Thus, among other things, with regard to the dominion or right of property, its individual and social character, the duties connected with it, the powers of the State and the titles of acquisition. On the relations between capital and labor, having noted the unjust claims of both the one and the other, the guiding principle of just distribution is stated, and, with the elevation of the proletariat desired, in connection with the just wage (given that the wage is not unjust by nature), stress is laid on three points: the support of the worker and his family, the conditions of the enterprise and the necessity of the common good. The guiding principle of the economy is then stated, which is formed by social justice and charity and not, instead, by free competition alone and still less by economic supremacy.
The encyclical examines the changes that have taken place since Leo XIII, both, for example, in the economic order and in socialist movements, in order to reaffirm the necessity of the renewal of morals, the Christianization of economic life, the application of the law of charity. The difficulties of the undertaking are not passed over in silence, and, with the unification of the path to be followed, the union and cooperation of all men of good will is recommended. v. RERUM NOVARUM.
Bibliography
Ferruccio Pergolesi