The Encyclical Rerum novarum and Its Impact on the Social Views of the Roman Catholic Church in Hungary at the Turn of the Century

Abstract

This study examines the reception of Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical Rerum novarum in Hungary and its impact on the social engagement of the Roman Catholic Church. It analyses the social and ecclesiastical background of the encyclical, as well as its principal socio-political messages. The paper argues that Rerum novarum provided not only theological and moral guidance for addressing the social question but also served as a catalyst for the development of political Catholicism, Christian social movements, workers’ associations, cooperative initiatives, and charitable organizations in Hungary. Particular attention is devoted to the activities of the Catholic People’s Party, Sándor Giesswein, Ottokár Prohászka, and the Social Mission Society, all of whom transformed the principles of the encyclical into practical social action. The study concludes that Rerum novarum played a significant role in shaping modern Hungarian social policy thinking and contributed to the emergence of the Catholic Church as an active participant in addressing social problems at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.