There is nothing new under the sun, even for encyclicals

In a previous life, i was a history major researching the French-Catholic migration to the Canadian Prairies between 1870 and 1915. Published in 1891, Rerum novarum is the foundational text of the Catholic church’s social doctrine. Without overstating its immediate impact, it played a part in the gradual split of the linguistic and religious identities of migrant communities, particularly because the encyclical was poorly received in French Canada, at least at first. The Catholic migrants from France found out they had more in common with other Catholics than with their French-speaking cousins. I never thought i’d live to see an update to Rerum novarum, but that’s precisely what Magnifica Humanitas is. This isn’t a surprise: Robert Prevost chose the papal name Leo XIV as a direct reference to Leo XIII’s social teaching. “While many of the historical conditions described by Leo XIII have changed”, he writes, “at least two insights remain highly relevant today: the primacy of human…