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Rerum Novarum, Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical on capital and labor, was written in response to the social changes brought about by industrialization. Against the claims of socialism, it reaffirms the right to hold property, but emphasizes the limits to that right, rejecting the idea that moral considerations have no place in the free market. Its discussion of the rights and duties of labor and...

They are, moreover, emphatically unjust, for they would rob the lawful possessor, distort the functions of the State, and create utter confusion in the community. 5. It is surely undeniable that, when a man engages in remunerative labor, the impelling reason and motive of his work is to obtain property, and thereafter to hold it as his very own. If one man hires out to another his strength or skill, he does so for the purpose of receiving in return what is necessary for the satisfaction of his needs;