Editing Pope Leo XIII (section)

=== ''Rerum novarum'' ===

[[File:Charles M. Johnson, Pope Leo XIII, 1899, NGA 86079.jpg|thumb|Charles M. Johnson, ''Pope Leo XIII'', 1899, [[National Gallery of Art]]]]
[[File:Fülöp László - XIII. Leó pápa - 3206 - Hungarian National Gallery.jpg|thumb|right|170px|Portrait by [[Philip de László]], 1900]]
His encyclicals changed the church's relations with temporal authorities; the 1891 encyclical ''[[Rerum novarum]]'', for the first time, addressed social inequality and social justice issues with papal authority by focusing on the rights and duties of capital and labour. He was greatly influenced by [[Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler]], a German bishop who propagated siding with the suffering working classes in his book ''Die Arbeiterfrage und das Christentum''. Since Leo XIII, many papal teachings have expanded on the rights and obligations of workers. Leo argued that both capitalism and communism are flawed. ''Rerum novarum'' introduced the idea of [[subsidiarity (Catholicism)|subsidiarity]], the principle that political and social decisions should be taken at a local level, if possible, rather than by a central authority, into Catholic social thought.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}