Archbishop Hicks: Magnifica Humanitas is a new Rerum Novarum
June 02, 2026
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CWN Editor's Note: Archbishop Ronald Hicks of New York said in an interview that Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, like Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, will be used in a similar way “for decades and generations.”
Archbishop Hicks told Vatican News that “I just want to express my gratitude to the Holy Father for giving us in such an early stage of his pontificate, something like this, of substance and something that’s relevant and needed.”
“I look forward to where the conversations go and some of the decisions go because of it,” he added. “He’s helping to shape what the world looks like. And he’s doing so within the context of Catholic social teaching and also the mission of the Church, which comes from Jesus Christ.”
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Today 8:32 AM ET USA
It took a few decades and subsequent encyclicals by different Popes for Rerum Novarum to be accepted and quoted as a foundational text in modern Catholic social teaching. Magnifica Humanitas is a great encyclical but it will take more time than two weeks for its full and proper evaluation of its actual effect on the Church and on the world. In the time of Pope Francis, this kind of quick praises guaranteed quick promotions.
