Vatican publishing house, HarperCollins republish Rerum Novarum
June 18, 2025
Libreria Editrice Vaticana and HarperCollins Italia have republished Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo XIII’s famed 1891 social encyclical.
The new edition includes an introduction by Aldo Cazzullo, an Italian journalist. He began:
Yesterday, the industrial revolution. Today, the revolution of artificial intelligence. Today, like yesterday, a Pope called Leo.
If Pope Leo XIV were to rewrite the encyclical of his predecessor Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum, “Of New Things,” the entire world would cry scandal. The left would attack him for his clear condemnation of socialism. The right would reproach him for his criticisms of inequality and the greed of capitalists, or rather of the “masters.” Everyone would accuse him of invading the field. “The Pope wants to get involved in politics,” they would say.
“If then there was the industrial revolution, in the time we have been given—as Leo XIV pointed out from the first day of his pontificate—there is the digital revolution and artificial intelligence,” Cazzullo continued. “This time it will be the middle class that sees its jobs destroyed: banks, insurance companies, professional firms. Employees, doctors, lawyers, architects, journalists will be increasingly replaced by ChatGPT or whatever it will be called in a few years.”
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