What’s in a name? With Leo, new pope shows support for workers and labor unions

On Thursday, Cardinal Robert F. Prevost was introduced to the world as the 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church and the first American pope, taking the name Leo XIV.

For Catholic theologians, the significance of the name could not be clearer, with the new pope tying himself to one of the foundational figures of modern Catholic social teaching, Pope Leo XIII, who advocated for the rights of the poor and working class amid profound economic change.

Leo XIII served as pontiff from 1878 to 1903, encompassing the Gilded Age in the U.S. and the Second Industrial Revolution across the globe.

Although Catholicism has long preached caring for the poor, Pope Leo XIII offered a spirited defense of union organizing and the rights of workers in his seminal 1891 encyclical, “Rerum Novarum.”

In it, he condemned “wealthy owners and all masters” who sought to profit off “the indigent and destitute.” His writing launched a latter-day focus by successive popes on the poor, immigrants, women, capitalism and the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of the few.

“One pope after another did an encyclical to mark further the rights of the poor,” said James F. Keenan, S.J., a Jesuit priest and professor of theology at Boston College. “We always had a long social tradition of the church ... but it wasn’t until Pope Leo XIII who started the tradition of how popes needed to address the conditions of the poor and the worker.”

Several popes have explicitly paid homage to Leo XIII’s writings.

In 1931, Pope Pius XI issued his encyclical “Quadragesimo Anno,” or “40th Anniversary,” commemorating Rerum Novarum’s release with expanded teachings on labor and how “the worker’s human dignity in it must be recognized.”

Pope Paul VI’s 1971 “Octogesima adveniens,” or “80th Anniversary,” advocates for equality and addresses youth and women. Legislation, he wrote, should recognize women’s “independence as a person, and her equal rights to participate in cultural, economic, social and political life.”

In 1991, Pope John Paul II issued “Centesimus Annus,” or “100th Anniversary,” writing about devastating poverty in developing countries along with worldwide economic, cultural and spiritual poverty caused by forces such as “consumerism.”

To Keenan, the choice of “Leo” parallels and complements the previous pope’s choice of “Francis.” When he was elected in 2013, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio said he was honoring St. Francis of Assisi, known for dedication to the destitute.

“Francis was someone who took care of the poor, ministered to them, he raised money for them, visited and anointed them,” while Leo “advocated for their rights,” said Keenan.

And thus, the new pope was signifying his desire to build upon Francis’ legacy.

“He’s picked what he’s been — an advocate — and someone who doesn’t just want to be with the poor, but advocate for them,” Keenan added.

In his first address on Thursday, standing on a balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City, Pope Leo XIV honored his immediate predecessor, speaking of building bridges and of being “a church that always seeks peace, that always seeks charity, that always seeks to be close especially to those who suffer.”

“He talked about a way of proceeding that was completely collective,” said Keenan, who viewed the new pope’s background as an asset.

In addition to serving as bishop in Peru, the Chicago-born Prevost ran the Augustinian religious order. In 2023, Pope Francis appointed him Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, which oversees the selection of bishops around the world and monitors the performance of bishops.

“This administrative capability of the new pope is very important — and it brings some of the order that people were looking for, and doesn’t remove Pope Francis’ legacy but makes it more palpable,” Keenan said.