... in fact, I dare say, the Protestant Religious Right in America would nod their heads in agreement with “Rerum Novarum’s” economic assertions. Rerun Novarum is the papal encyclical issued as Europe was cratering to the Socialist mobs. (The name means, “Of New Things,” referring to modernism; it’s subtitle was “The Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor.”)
And yet the Rerum Novarum also states that “Among the many and grave duties of rulers who would do their best for the people, the first and chief is to act with strict justice - with that justice which is called distributive - toward each and every class alike.”
...but perhaps discussion of Papal Encyclicals in this thread is a bit OT though... :-)