For Work / Against Work
Debates on the centrality of work

"Laborem exercens"

by John Paul, I I (1981)

Abstract

To His Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate to the Priests to the Religious Families to the sons and daughters of the Church and to all Men and Women of good will on Human Work on the ninetieth anniversary of Rerum Novarum Laborem exercens (Latin: Through Work) is an encyclical written by Pope John Paul II in 1981, on human work. It is part of the larger body of Catholic social teaching, which traces its origin to Pope Leo XIII's 1891 encyclical Rerum novarum.

Key Passage

In fact there is no doubt that human work has an ethical value of its own, which clearly and directly remain linked to the fact that the one who carries it out is a person, a conscious and free subject, that is to say a subject that decides about himself.This truth, which in a sense constitutes the fundamental and perennial heart of Christian teaching on human work, has had and continues to have primary significance for the formulation of the important social problems characterizing whole ages. (p.6)

Keywords

Catholic, Catholic Church, Religious Views On Work, Rerum Novarum, Laborem Exercens, John Paul Ii

Themes

Catholicism, Religious Views on Work

Citation

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