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Pope John Paul II wrote Laborem Exercens (Through Work) in 1981 for the ninetieth anniversary of the famous encyclical Rerum Novarum of Leo III on the question of labor in modern economies. Laborem Exercens makes an important contribution to Catholic social doctrine. Rooted in the pontiff’s characteristic personalism, the letter seeks to expound a concept of labor that is consistent with the...

principle that has always been taught by the Church: the principle ot the priority of labour over capital. This principle directly concerns the process of production: in this process labour is always a primary efficient cause, while capital, the whole collection of means of production, remains a mere instrument or instrumental cause. This principle is an evident truth that emerges from the whole of man’s historical experience. When we read in the first chapter of the Bible that man is to subdue the