The Church and Revolutions: From Leo XIII to Leo XIV

Abstract

The article traces the evolution of the relationship between the Catholic Church and technological revolutions, beginning with Leo XIII's encyclical Rerum novarum and extending to the most recent magisterium, culminating in the pontificate of Leo XIV. Through an analysis of the main documents of the Social Doctrine of the Church, the article shows how the Church's magisterium has interpreted the changes brought about by industrialization, technological society, and, more recently, the digital revolution. This reflection highlights a consistent thread: the recognition of technology's positive value as an expression of human ingenuity and participation in God's creative work, combined with critical vigilance toward the risks of dehumanization, such as technocracy and the reduction of the person to a mere cog in the productive machine. In this context, categories such as integral human development and integral ecology emerge as criteria for ethically orienting technological progress in the service of human dignity and the common good.

Keywords: Technology. Social Doctrine. Development. Work. Dignity.