CrucisPope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII was born Vincenzo Gioacchino Pecci on 2 March 1810 at Carpineto Romano in the Papal States. A learned churchman and diplomat who served as a nuncio and bishop, he was elected pope in 1878 at the age of sixty-eight and went on to reign for twenty-five years, one of the longest pontificates in history, dying at the great age of ninety-three, and he sought throughout to reconcile the Church with the modern age without surrendering its principles.
His greatest legacy is the encyclical Rerum Novarum of 1891, "On the Condition of Labor," which laid the foundation of modern Catholic social teaching by defending the rights and dignity of workers, the just wage, and the right to private property, while rejecting both unbridled capitalism and socialism. He also fostered a great revival of the philosophy and theology of St. Thomas Aquinas, encouraged biblical scholarship, and promoted devotion to the Rosary and the Holy Spirit. He died in Rome on 20 July 1903.
Selected quotes
“So tender is the heart of Mary that she refuses no one who comes to her, and gives to her children far more than they dare to ask.”
“The riches of this world are entrusted, not for selfish hoarding, but as a stewardship to be poured out upon the poor.”
“The saints were not made of different clay than we; they simply gave to God what we so often withhold, their whole heart.”