Pope Leo proclaims church’s best-kept secret in ‘Magnifica Humanitas’
This is the second of a series of columns by the author on Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas.” This piece focuses on Chapter 2. (RNS) — When Robert Prevost chose Leo for his papal name, he signaled that Catholic social teaching was going to be central to his papacy. Leo XIII was the 19th-century founder of Catholic social teaching, which he articulated in response to the industrial revolution. Yet, despite this teaching being around and developing for more than a century, many commentators have referred to it as “the church’s best-kept secret” because it has not been as central to the lives of most Catholics as the church’s teaching on sex and family. “We tend to think that when the church is talking about morality, that the only issue of morality is sexual,” responded Pope Leo XIV on April 23 to a reporter’s question about gay blessings. “And in reality, I believe there are much greater, more important issues, such as justice, equality, freedom of men and women, freedom of religion, that would all …
