Updated: August 5, 2025
Are we really done with Rerum Novarum? Not even close.
This week, we wrap up our deep dive into Pope Leo XIII’s groundbreaking encyclical—but not before unpacking why it’s been revisited again and again by popes for over 130 years, and what it means for Catholics facing a future shaped by AI, economic shifts, and a whole lot of uncertainty.
This episode is for anyone who’s ever wondered:
- What exactly is Catholic Social Teaching?
- Why do some Church documents get follow-up encyclicals?
- How can we apply these teachings in the chaos of the modern world?
Spoiler: Rerum Novarum might be from 1891, but it reads like it was written for right now.
🧭 What We Cover in This Episode:
💬 A Final Summary of Rerum Novarum’s Key Teachings:
Amanda and Jonathan break down the big-picture takeaways, including:
- The dignity of the human person
- The right to private property and the universal destination of goods
- The role of the state in protecting workers
- Just wages and responsible stewardship of income
- The responsibilities of employers and capital owners
- The early seeds of subsidiarity
📜 Why It Sparked a Century of Teaching:
This encyclical was so important, popes have been writing about it ever since. We talk through the follow-up documents like:
- Quadragesimo Anno (Pius XI – 40 years later)
- Centesimus Annus (JP II – 100 years later)
Each one adds layers of clarity to topics like subsidiarity, justice, and how wealth is meant to serve the common good.
⚙️ Why It Still Matters—Even in an AI World:
We’re not just going through a cultural shift. We’re living through a revolution—an AI revolution that’s changing work, ethics, and power structures. And just like in the Industrial Revolution, the Church’s teachings offer anchor points and moral clarity when things feel like they’re spiraling.
🧠 A Wake-Up Call for All of Us:
“We all have a role. We all have rights. And we all have responsibilities to one another.” – Amanda
Rerum Novarum wasn’t written to stay on a dusty shelf. It’s a blueprint for living Catholic values in the world—especially when things get messy. And as Pope Leo XIII said in paragraph 62: if we don’t act now, we risk letting the problems grow too large to fix.
Should you even own anything?
In this final Part 5 of our Rerum Novarum series Jonathan and Amanda unpack what the Church really teaches about ownership, how it applies today, and why it matters more than ever in a world leaning toward extremes.
Pope Leo XIII doesn’t just defend private property in theory, he lays out why it’s essential to human dignity, family protection, and real justice.
They also zoom out to talk about what it means to live Catholic principles in an age of rapid automation and AI. Can we prepare well? Should we fear the future—or step into it with discernment and hope?
This episode will stretch how you think about economics, human dignity, and what faithful stewardship really looks like.
📝 Show Notes:
📖 Read Rerum Novarum: https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15051891_rerum-novarum.html
💌 Get our weekly Catholic money tips + podcast updates: https://walletwin.com/weekly
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🛠 Bonus Resource:
Want to go deeper? We recommend checking out the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church: a full synthesis of Catholic social teaching that builds on Rerum Novarum and its successors. It’s a gem.
Music in this episode is by Dylan Gardner – check out his album Almost Real on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you listen to great music.
