A moderator in "Catholics for Social Justice" posted this awesome article. Trying to summarize it herein would be a waste of time--and a disservice to the Church because this article is just perfect with no need for any summaries. Yet, there are two considerations that are pertinent herein, as follows: First of all, Rerum Novarum, the first Encyclical Letter on Catholic social issues, by Pope Leo X!!!, is from May 15, 1891. From 130 years ago. It predates the Human Rights Movement. It predates all the changes that an increase in social consciousness has been operating over the years. Therefore, it clearly shows that the Catholic Church has always been in the vanguard of the fight for equality, social and economic justice, and social sensitivity.
And that leads me to my second conclusion--which is the crucial one. The Rerum Novarum principles are a clear, eloquent, conclusive, and unambiguous condemnation of conservatism and of hard-line agendas of any sort. In plain language, they're a drastic condemnation of any and all right-wing policies and position no matter what variations they may come up with. Those principles, such as the "preferential option for the poor" and the "priority of labor over capital," just to mention only two, exactly amount to what hard-liners and right-wing supporters of all denominations dismiss as "leftist" and "socialist".
Great news!!! We can proudly be leftist and socialist--not in an atheist godless way but in a Catholic way, in light of Catholic Social Teaching.
There's no such thing as "conservative Catholicism". Because Catholicism is compassionate, socially and culturally sensitive, progressive, welcoming, and caring. That's what the lives of the Catholic saints give vibrant testimony of. That's what the martyrdom of most of them engraved in blood. That's the Catholic Church that in word and deed from very early childhood my parents and grandparents taught me to follow and love.
God bless.
(POPE LEO XIII, AUTHOR OF THE FIRST SOCIAL JUSTICE ENCYCLICAL, RERUM NOVARUM, PUBLIC DOMAIN, U.S.A.)
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