Pope Leo XIII – Religion & Liberty Online

July 10, 2026

Is There a Right to Work Six Days a Week?

In Laborem Exercens, Pope John Paul II affirms that, through work, man must earn his daily bread. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, debates about human dignity in the workplace focused on slavery, forced labor, and the degrading conditions faced by millions of workers. Continue Reading...

April 28, 2026

The Economic End of History

The final dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 heralded the victory of Western democratic societies over communism and the ideologies of collectivism. Proponents of the market economy now had definitive proof that central economic planning cannot outperform a decentralized market order, in terms of creating goods that people value and distributing them in a timely, efficient manner. Continue Reading...

September 01, 2025

Commemorating Christian Labor

The first Monday in September is Labor Day in the United States and Canada, commemorating the contributions of organized labor to improved working conditions. The common story of Labor Day is typically secular: To fight for higher wages, safer workplaces, and shorter workweeks, workers formed unions to bargain collectively or, if necessary, to strike. Continue Reading...

May 16, 2025

Pope Leo XIV and Orthodox Social Thought

The new pontiff of Rome has already set a tone for his papacy with the choice of his name: I chose to take the name Leo XIV. There are different reasons for this, but mainly because Pope Leo XIII in his historic Encyclical Rerum Novarum addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution. Continue Reading...

June 17, 2021

How socialism fosters an envious, covetous worldview

It’s hard to feel happy for people who are more successful than you. It’s easier to envy them – but doing so means forgetting that high achievers pave the way for others to succeed. Continue Reading...

June 19, 2020

Seattle’s CHOP/CHAZ violates the purpose of government

The mayor and civil authorities took no action as protesters claimed a six-block section of downtown Seattle as the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone. By their indifference and complicity, political leaders have failed into carry out the most primary functions and duties for which government is established. Continue Reading...

May 23, 2017

‘Kuyperania’ in review

When it comes to responding to contemporary shifts in culture, Christians have much to learn from Abraham Kuyper, the late Dutch theologian, university president, and prime minister of the Netherlands. “If God is sovereign, then his lordship must extend over all of life,” Kuyper wrote, “and it cannot be restricted to the walls of the church or within the Christian orbit.” Continue Reading...

March 21, 2017

‘A habit of the heart’: Michael Novak on social justice

What is “social justice”? For some, it represents an ideal or a vision of a certain kind of society. For others, it’s a placeholder for particular government policies. For others, it’s a mere marker of ideology. Continue Reading...

December 28, 2016

Commentary: Power and the poor

In this week’s Acton Commentary I examine the foundations of what is today identified as the “preferential option for the poor” in writings that appeared 125 years ago, Pope Leo’s Rerum Novarum and Abraham Kuyper’s “The Social Question and the Christian Religion.” Continue Reading...

December 09, 2016

Leo XIII and Kuyper on the social question

This year marks the 125th anniversary of two key documents in the development of modern Christian social thought: the papal encyclical Rerum Novarum by Pope Leo XIII and the speech “The Social Question and the Christian Religion” by Abraham Kuyper. Continue Reading...

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