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Laborem Exercens        ... in everyday language
On Human Work

John Paul II, 1981

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 The following text is a translation of Pope John Paul II's pastoral letter into everyday language. This is not the official text. When citing the document, you are encouraged to use the official text.

Our thanks to Orbis Books for permission to post this translation here. This text is taken from a book by Joseph Donders entitled John Paul's Encyclicals in Everyday Language.

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Created in God's image, human beings share in creation by their work. Work is a human right. It is the activity of a human person; it can never be considered as mere merchandise, as has happened in the past and still happens nowadays. Treating workers as mere tools does no justice to their personal dignity. It belies their nature and has led to the social question. The workers and rights, wages, unions, unemployment, welfare, emigration, pensions, or the workers and their families. These globally valid principles and rose the dead working at peace and justice, asking us to shoulder his yoke.

Preface

Human beings earn their daily bread through work.
Through work they contribute to science and technology
and to the enrichment of the moral and cultural level
of their society.
By work we mean any human activity,
whether manual or intellectual.
Made in the image of God,
human beings are placed on earth
to have power over it.
From the beginning
they have been called to work.
It is work that distinguishes human beings
from other creatures.
They are the only ones capable of work.
Work is something particularly human
done in a community of persons,
a characteristic that marks and, in a sense, constitutes
the very nature of work.

I. Introduction

1. Human Work on the Ninetieth Anniversary of Rerum Novarum

Since it is ninety years ago
that Leo XIII, the great pope of the "social question,"
wrote his encyclical Rerum Novarum (Of New Things),
I wish to devote this document
to human work and the human worker.
At the beginning of my papacy I wrote

"The human being is the primary route
the church must travel."
We need to return constantly to this way,
showing the riches and the toil
of human existence on earth in all its aspects.
One of these aspects is work,
a lasting and fundamental issue,
always requiring our attention
and decisive witness.
Fresh questions and new problems roused new hopes,
but also new fears and threats.
Human life is built up every day from work,
and graced by it,
but work also implies toil, suffering, harm,
and social injustice at the national and international levels.
We eat the bread made by our own hands
(not only the bread to feed our body,
but also the "bread" of science and progress,
civilization and culture),
but we do that
"by the sweat of our face"'
in the midst of tensions, conflicts, and crises
that disturb the life of societies and humanity.
We celebrate this ninetieth anniversary
on the eve of developments
in technology, economics, and politics
that experts say
will influence the world of work and production
no less than the Industrial Revolution a century ago.
The introduction of automation,
the increase in cost of energy and raw materials,
the realization that nature's resources am limited
- and that they am being polluted -
next to the demands of peoples up to now subjugated,
who want their rightful place among the nations
and their share in international decision-making;
they all require a reordering of economic structures,
and of the distribution of work.
For millions these changes may mean unemployment,
at least for a time, or the need for retraining.
For the more developed countries
the changes will probably mean
lower living standards
or slower growth of wealth.
But they also will bring relief and hope
to the millions who live
in shameful and unworthy poverty.
It is not for the church to analyze scientifically
the consequences of these changes,
but it is its task to call attention
to the dignity and rights of those who work,
to condemn their violation and to guide these changes
to ensure the true authentic progress
of the individual and society.

2. In the Organic Development of the Church's
Social Action and Teaching

Work has been at the center
of the social teaching of the church
for almost a hundred years.
These reflections continue the same tradition.
Heeding the Gospel word,
I intend to bring out "new and old."
"Work" is part of what is as "old" as human life.

"New" is our present human situation,
urging the discovery of new meanings of work
and a reformulating of the tasks
facing individuals, families, countries,
the human race, and the church itself.
The social question has never ceased
to engage the church's attention.
The very name
of the Pontifical Commission Justice and Peace
is an indication that the "social question"
calls for a commitment to justice and to peace --
a lesson learned by two world wars
and the threat of self-destruction by nuclear war.
John XXIII's letter Pacem in Terris
gave us the principles
of the church's teaching on world peace.
Up to Pius XI's encyclical Quadragesimo Anno
the church looked mainly at the "labor question"
within individual countries,
while more recently it has been calling
for a just development for all,
drawing attention to the unequal distribution
of wealth and poverty among nations and continents.
Our understanding has improved.
While we looked before at the "class" question
now we emphasize the "world" issue,
the building of justice on earth,
not hiding unjust world structures,
but demanding that they be examined and changed.

3. The Question of Work, the Key to the Social Question

In the history of the church's social teaching
the issue of work has emerged many times,
finding its source in Scripture, in the book of Genesis,
the Gospels, and the apostles' writings.
It always has been part
of the church's teaching on social morality.
I return to this question not to repeat,
but to emphasize more than ever before
that human work is the key
to the solution - or rather to the gradual solution -
of the whole "social question."
To consider work is of decisive importance
when trying to make life "more human."

II. WORK AND THE HUMAN BEING

4. In the Book of Genesis

The church is convinced that work is a fundamental dimension
of humanity's existence on earth,
a belief confirmed by science and God's revealed word.
The church believes in humanity,
not only as shown in history and science
but as shown first in and by God's word.
The book of Genesis tells how the first human beings,
created "in the image of God,"
before they sin hear the words:
"Be fruitful and multiply,
fill the earth and subdue it."
The word "work" is not mentioned
but it must have been meant.
The human being carrying out this order
reflects the very action of the Creator.
Work is an activity that begins in human beings,
and is directed to something outside them.
It presupposes dominion over the earth,
confirming and developing this dominion.
While the Bible speaks about
the dominion of the fragment of the universe
that humanity inhibits,
today we understand it
as extending to the whole of the universe.
The biblical words have an immense range.
They never cease to be relevant,
covering past civilizations, modern reality,
and future still unknown and hidden developments.
Even the acceleration in this process today
cannot alter the basic meaning
of that most ancient of biblical texts.
Spreading and confirming its dominion over the world,
humanity continues to do
what was ordered from the very beginning,
reflecting the image of God.
It is a universal process,
it embraces all human beings;
and it takes effect in each human being.

5. Work in the Objective Sense: Technology

Work is - objectively -what a human being does
when dominating the earth.
Work has been changing during the ages,
from domesticating animals
and extracting resources from earth and sea,
to cultivating the earth,
transforming, changing, and using its produce.
Agriculture remains vital
to economic activity and production.
Industry links the earths riches with human work,
whether physical or intellectual.
Today much human work has ceased to be manual;
hands and muscles are helped by machinery,
by electronics and micro-processing.
It may seem that it is the machine that "works,"
but it is the human being who works,
and who remains the subject of work.
Technology is humanity's ally;
it eases our work,
it perfects, accelerates, and increases it.

5.Technology sometimes becomes almost an enemy,
supplanting workers,
taking away personal satisfaction, creativity, and responsibility,
causing unemployment,
or making workers mere slaves of the machine.
Technology is definitely covered
by the biblical word "subdue the earth,"
and it has been correctly seen
as a basic aid to economic progress,
but it also raises many social and ethical questions
on how to relate to work and even to each other-
questions challenging states, governments,
international organizations, and the church.

6. Work in the Subjective Sense: The Worker as Subject

We must pay more attention to the one who works
than to what the worker does.
The self-realization of the human person
is the measure of what is right and wrong.
This basic truth has always been
the heart of Christian teaching on human work.
The ancient world divided people into classes
according to the type of work people did.
Manual work was done by slaves
and considered to be unworthy of free people.
Broadening what the Bible had said
and seeing it in the light of the Gospel,
Christianity changed this idea.
The one who, while being God,
became equal to us in all things
spent most of his life at the carpenter's bench,
showing that the value of work
does not depend on the type of work done,
but on the person who is doing the work.
Human persons and not what they do
determine the dignity of work.
This does away with the division
of people into classes
according to the work they do.
Work can be classified and rated,
but the measure of the value of any work
remains the human being, who is its "subject."
Work is in the first place "for the worker"
and not the worker "for work."
Work itself can have greater or lesser objective value,
but all work should be judged
by the measure of dignity
given to the person who carries it out.
Work has no meaning by itself;
it is always the human being who counts,
even if the work done is the most monotonous or alienating.

7. A Threat to the Right Order of Values

This Christian "gospel of work"
had to oppose the materialistic and economist thought
of the modem age.
Work was understood as "merchandise"
sold by the workers to their employer,
the one who owned everything necessary for production.
These nineteenth-century ideas
have given way to a more human thinking about work,
but the danger of treating work as "merchandise"
-or as an impersonal "work force"-
remains as long as economics is understood
in a materialistic way.
It is this one-sided approach
that concentrates on work as the prime thing,
leaving the worker in a secondary place.
This is a reversal of the order
laid down in the book of Genesis.
The worker is treated as a tool
whereas the worker ought to be treated
as the subject of work,
as its maker and creator.
This reversal - whatever other name it gives itself-
should be called 'capitalism"-
an economic and social system
that historically has been known
as opposed to "socialism" or "communism."
The error of early capitalism
can be repeated
wherever the worker is treated
as a mere means of production,
as a tool and not as a subject.
To consider work and the worker
in the light of humanity's dominion over the earth
goes to the very heart of the ethical and social question.
It is in insight that should be applied
to all social and economic policy,
within each country, but also internationally,
to the tensions between East and West,
North and South.

8. Worker Solidarity

It is useful to recall the changes of the last ninety years.
Although the "worker" remained the same, "work" changed.
New forms of work appeared and disappeared.
Though this is normal,
it is necessary to watch out
for ethical and social irregularities.
It was such an irregularity that gave rise -in the last century-
to the "worker question" or the "proletariat question,"
provoking a great burst of solidarity
among workers, mainly in industry.
It was a reaction
against the degradation of the workers, their exploitation
with regard to their working conditions and security;
against an unjust system
that safeguarded the economic initiative of the owners
but did not pay attention to the rights of the workers.
This reaction is in line with the church's teaching
and justified from a social morality point of view.
Worker solidarity has brought profound changes.
Various new systems have been thought out.
Workers often share in running and controlling businesses,
influencing working conditions, wages, and social legislation.
But new systems have arisen
that allow old injustices to continue
and new injustices to appear.
New developments and communication
reveal forms of injustices
more extensive than the ones
that aroused workers' solidarity
in the last century,
not only in industrialized societies
but also in agricultural countries.
Solidarity movements can also be needed for
social groups not previously mentioned
but who find themselves in a "proletariat" situation.
It can be true of the working "intelligentsia,"
people with degrees and diplomas, who cannot find work-
a situation that arises
when education is unsuited to the needs of society,
or when there is less demand and less pay
for work that requires education.
We must consequently continue
to study the situation of the worker.
There is a need for solidarity movements
among and with the workers.
The church is firmly committed to this cause,
in fidelity to Christ,
and to be truly the "church of the poor."

9. Work and Personal Dignity
God's original intention for us
-to "work the earth" -was not canceled
when, after the fall, we were told:
"In the sweat of your face
you shall eat your bread."
It meant that work
would sometimes be a heavy burden,
a burden known everywhere
to those who work the land
or in mines and quarries,
to steel workers, builders, and construction workers,
to scientists and thinkers;
to those who carry responsibilities
affecting the whole of society,
to doctors and nurses,
and to women who bear the daily burden
of housework and bringing up their children.
But work remains a good thing,
not only because it is useful and enjoyable,
but also because it expresses and increases
the worker's dignity.
Through work we not only transform the world,
we are transformed ourselves,
becoming "more a human being."
Work, however, can also be used to lessen people's dignity,
condemning them to forced labor in concentration camps.

10. Work and Society: Family and Nation

Having looked at work as it affects the person,
we must go on to see how it affects the family.
Work is a foundation of family life;
it is a condition making a family possible,
as the family needs earnings
normally produced by work.
Work affects education in the family,
for the very reason
that it makes a person "become a human being,"
the main purpose of any education.
The family is an important element
shaping the social and ethical order of work,
as the church has always emphasized.
It is a community made possible by work,
and the family is the first school or work.
The family is part of a wider society,
a nation, which is through the family
the great "educator" of everyone,
providing a history and a culture
that has been the work of generations.
Everyone is thus a member of a nation
working to increase the common good of their society
and adding in this way to the heritage
of the whole of humanity.
Person, family, and the wider society
are always important to human work
and to the one who works.
It is the worker who comes first
and not the work.
Work is good,
and it his contributed in recent centuries
to an immense development,
yet it should not gain the upper hand,
taking away the worker's dignity and rights.

III. CONFLICT BETWEEN LABOR AND CAPITAL TODAY

11. What the Conflict Is About

The encyclical Rerum Novarum
was written in a period,
- by no means over as yet-
when the conflict arose
between "capital" and "labor,"
between the small group of owners
of the means of production
and the larger group of people
who lacked those means
and who share in production
only through their labor.
The conflict began
when workers put their powers
in the hands of the capital owners,
and these - seeking the highest profit-
tried to pay the lowest possible wages,
without further care for the safety,
the health, or the living conditions
of the workers and their families.
Some interpreted this conflict
as a class struggle and an ideological conflict
between capitalism and Marxism,
which claims to represent the working class
and the worldwide proletariat.
In this way the real conflict
was turned into a systematic class struggle,
fought not only with ideas
but also, and mainly, by political means.
We know the history of this conflict
and the demands of both sides.
Marxism believes
that class struggle is the only way
to eliminate class injustices
and classes themselves.
This will happen, Marxism holds,
when the means of production
are transferred from private hands
to the whole of society,
thus protecting human labor
against exploitation.
The goal of the Marxist struggle is to win
power in each society
-by political as well as ideological means-
in order to introduce collective ownership
and to introduce socialism
and, in the final instance, communism
throughout the world.
There is no need to enter
into further details on this issue,
as they are well known.
Let us return to the issue of human work,
in issue that can be fully explained
only by taking into account the context
of our present situation.

12. The Priority of Labor

That situation is deeply marked
by the many human conflicts
and the role of technology.
We should not forget
the possibility of a worldwide disaster
caused by a nuclear war.
But above all we must remember
the priority of labor over capital:
labor is the cause of production;
capital, or the means of production,
is its mere instrument or tool.
When the Bible says
that humanity is to subdue the earth,
it speaks about the resources of the earth,
resources that can serve us
only through our work.
To make this work possible
people take ownership
of small parts of these resources.
Whatever we do by way of production,
we do not create the resources;
they are already there,
ready to be discovered and used.
Before we begin our work
there is always this gift
leading us to the Creator.
At the beginning of humanity's work
is the mystery of creation.
This strengthens our conviction that human work comes before
what we have begun to call capital.
Capital is both the earth's resources
and all the means invented
to help us to use -and to humanize-
those resources.
From the simplest tools
to the most modern ones
-machines, factories, laboratories, and computers-
all are the result of human work.
To be able to use
this enormous collection of modern tools,
we have to master the knowledge
of the people who invented,
planned, built, and perfected them.
Sharing efficiently in production
demands ever greater preparation and proper training.
But even when no training
or special qualifications are required,
the human person remains the one who really counts,
and the whole collection of instruments
- however perfect-
is never any more than means
toward that end.
This truth has important consequences.

13. Economism and Materialism

Capital cannot be separated from labor.
You cannot oppose the two
and still less the people behind these concepts.
In a just labor system
their opposition is overcome
by being faithful to the principle
that labor comes first,
whatever the services rendered by the workers.
The opposition of labor and capital
is not caused by the way
labor and capital are organized.
In their organization
the two remain intermingled.
Whatever work one does,
one always enters into two inheritances:
the resources of nature, given to all,
and what others have already been doing with them:
the technology and tools developed to work.
By working the worker always
"enters into the labor of others" (Jn 4:3 8).
Intelligence and faith tell us
that we are masters of the things of the world,
depending on their Creator
and on the work of those who went before us.
Capital and tools may "condition" our work.
They do not make us dependent on them.
This way of looking at things has fallen apart.
Capital and labor became two opposed impersonal forces.
Labor begin to be considered
as a merely economic force,
being of greater importance
than the spiritual and the human.
From this "common" and "practical" materialism
thinkers developed a "materialist" philosophy,
and in the final instance "dialectical materialism"-
a faulty way of thinking
because it does not consider the human worker
as the "subject" of work and the cause of production,
but as a kind of "outcome" of the way
production is organized.
Treating human work as just another factor in production
was not invented by thinkers in the eighteenth century.
It was the result of how things were done
in the early years of industrialization
when profit was put first,
while the human being should have been in that place.
The worker was treated as a mere tool,
a blow against workers
that caused the social reaction we discussed.
This same error might be repeated again and again.
The only way to overcome it is to change the way
we are thinking and doing things
so that the worker is put first
and labor above capital.

14. Work and Ownership

When we speak about labor and capital,
we are speaking about people,
about those who work
without being the owners of the means of production
and about the entrepreneurs (or their representatives)
who own those means.
That is why "ownership" and "property"
enter into this process.
The church's constant teaching
on the right to private property and ownership
of the means of production
differs radically from the collectivism
proclaimed by Marxism,
but also from the capitalism practiced by liberalism
and the political systems inspired by it.
In the latter case the difference consists in the way
the right to ownership and property is understood.

Christian tradition never upheld this right
as absolute and untouchable.
It has always understood it as subordinated to the fact
that the goods of this world are meant for all.
Things cannot be owned in a way
that leads to social conflict.
Property is acquired by work,
in order to serve work.
The means of production
cannot become a separate property,
called capital, as opposed to labor.
They cannot be owned against labor
or to exploit labor.
They cannot be owned
just for the sake of owning them.
The only title to their ownership
- whether private, public, or collective-
is that they serve labor.
This means that under suitable conditions
the socialization of certain means of production
could be acceptable.
This is a teaching that goes back as far
as the writing of Saint Thomas Aquinas.
Confirming once more the church's teaching
that the worker comes first in production and in the economy,
we state that a "rigid" form of capitalism that defends the exclusive right
to own the means of production as a "dogma" is not acceptable.
The right to this ownership
must be constantly reviewed.
Capital is certainly the result
of the labor of past generations,
but it also remains true
that these means of production
are unceasingly created
by the labor done with these means of production,
manually and intellectually.
It is the reason that experts in Catholic social teaching,
popes and bishops,
made many proposals for joint ownership
of the means of production,
sharing by workers in the management
and/or the profits of businesses,
shareholding by labor, etc.
Whether these proposals can be realized or not,
it is obvious that putting the worker first
demands adaptation
of the right to own the means of production.
All this is particularly true
in view of the present-day problems
in the "Third World."
Though "rigid capitalism"
must be constantly revised and reformed,
the question is not simply about
the abolition of private ownership.
A satisfactory socialization is not achieved
by transferring ownership
simply from private owners to the state.
People who manage the means of production
in the name of society-without owning them-
may do so properly,
respecting the principle that the worker comes first;
they also may do so badly,
monopolizing the administration of those means
and even offending basic human rights.
True socialization is achieved
only when all persons, on the basis of their work,
can fully consider themselves part owners.
This could be done
by associating -as far as possible-
labor to the ownership of capital
and by creating a range of intermediate associations
with economic, social, and cultural aims,
independent from the public powers
and acting for the common good.

15. The "Personalist"Argument

Labor prevails over capital.
The two are inseparable,
but the ones who use the means of production
also wish the fruit of their work
to be used by themselves and by others.
Workers not only want fair pay,
they also want to share
in the responsibility and creativity
of the very work process.
They want to feel
that they are working for themselves -
an awareness that is smothered
in a bureaucratic system
where they only feel themselves
to be "cogs" in a huge machine
moved from above.
The church has always taught
that work concerns not only the economy,
but also, and mainly, personal values.
All will profit when these values are respected.
This was for Saint Thomas Aquinas
the principal reason
to favor the private ownership of capital.
While we accept exceptions
to the principle of private ownership
- in our time we see the introduction
of several types of social ownership-
Saint Thomas's "personalist" argument
remains valid both in theory and practice.
If socialization is to be fruitful,
it must ensure that workers feel
that they are working "for themselves."

IV. RIGHTS OF WORKERS

16. Within the Broad Context of Human Rights
Work is an obligation;
work is also a source of the workers' rights-
rights that must be seen in the wider context
of the human rights proclaimed by many international organizations
and increasingly guaranteed by states,
rights that are fundamental to peace today,
as often has been stated by the church,
especially since the encyclical Pacem in Terris.
Though part of these wider human rights,
the rights given by work are specific.
Work is a duty, because our Creator demanded it
and because it maintains and develops our humanity.
We must work out of regard for others,
especially our own families,
but also because of the society we belong to
and in fact because of the whole of humanity.
We inherit the work of the generations before us,
and we share in the building of the future
of all those who will come after us.
All this should be kept in mind
when considering the rights that come with work
or the duty to work.
Yet when thinking of the workers' rights,
our first thoughts go out to the relationship
between the workers and their employers,
directly and indirectly.
The difference between a direct employer
and an indirect employer is very important.
Direct employers are the persons or institutions
with whom one enters directly into a working contract.
Indirect employers are the many other factors
that enter the work contract and that can create
just or unjust relationships in the field of human labor.

17. Direct and Indirect Employer

Indirect employers are
the persons and institutions of many kinds,
as well as the collective labor contracts
and the rules of conduct they lay down
that shape the whole economic and social system.
The indirect employer conditions the conduct
of the direct employer.
The concept of indirect employer can be applied to every society, .
and especially to every state.
The state must have a just labor policy.
As everyone knows,
there are many economic links between states,
because of import and export, for instance,
that create mutual dependence.
Even the most powerful state is not
completely self-sufficient.
Though in itself normal, this dependence
can easily lead to exploitation and injustice
and influence the labor policies of individual states,
thus affecting the worker who is the proper subject of labor.
For instance, highly industrialized countries
and even more "transnational' companies
fix the highest possible prices for the products they sell,
while trying to fix the lowest possible prices
for the raw materials of semi-manufactured goods they buy.
This is one of the causes of the ever growing gap
between the incomes of different countries.
It obviously affects local labor policies
and the situation of the workers in poorer countries.
In a system thus conditioned
the direct employer fixes working conditions
that are below the workers' real needs,
especially when the employer
wishes to obtain the highest possible profits
from the business.
Thus it is clear that society's economic life
- created by all the different forms of dependence-
is enormously extensive and complicated.
Yet the workers' rights cannot be doomed
to be the mere result
of economic systems aimed at maximum profits.
The thing that must shape the whole economy
is respect for the workers' rights
within each country and all through the world's economy.
International organizations, beginning with the United Nations,
the International Labor Organization,
and the Food and Agricultural Organization,
should exercise their influence in this direction.
Ministries and social institutions
are set up for this purpose
within individual countries.

18. The Employment Issue

When considering workers' rights
in relation to the "indirect' employer,
the fundamental issue is
finding work for all who are capable of it.
Unemployment, either in general or in certain sectors,
is the opposite of a just and right situation.
It is the indirect employer's task to act against unemployment,
which is always evil and can become a real social disaster.
It is particularly painful when it affects the young,
who after their preparation see their wish to work
and their readiness to take on their own responsibility
sadly frustrated.
The obligation to provide unemployment benefits
is a duty springing from the common use of goods,
or -to put it in a simpler way -
arising from the right to life and subsistence.
The indirect employer must engage in planning
the different kinds of work by which not only the economic
but also the cultural life of a society is shaped,
organizing them correctly and rationally.
Though in final analysis this is the state's responsibility,
it should not be unduly centralized,
but done within the framework
of individual and group initiatives.
Action must also be taken internationally,
by means of treaties and agreements,
preserving each society's and each state's sovereignty.
Work is a fundamental right of all human beings,
and the international organizations
have an enormous part to play
in reducing unjust differences of living standards
of workers in different countries,
differences that can be the cause
of violent reactions.
It is possible to draw up a plan
for universal and just progress
following the guidelines
of Paul VIs encyclical On the Progress of Peoples,
constantly looking at the purpose of human work
and at the dignity of the human being.
Rational planning and the proper organization of work
should help us to discover
the right balance between different kinds of employment:
work on the land, in industry, in the various services,
and white-collar, artistic, and scientific work,
taking into account individual talents
and the common good of society.
This should be accompanied by a suitable system
of education and instruction.
When we look at the world,
we cannot but be struck
by the huge number of people
who are unemployed, underemployed,
and even suffering from hunger,
while many natural resources remain unused
facts that demonstrate
that there is something wrong with our world.

19. Wages and Social Benefits
After all we have said about the indirect employer,
highlighting the place of morality in this question,
the key issue in this matter
is that of just pay for work,
whether work is done
for a private owner of the means of production,
or in a "socialized" system.
19The justice of a social and economic system
is finally measured
by the way in which a person's work is rewarded.
According to the principle
of the common use of goods,
it is through the remuneration for work
that in any system most people have access to these goods,
both the goods of nature and those manufactured.
A just wage is a concrete measure
-- and in a sense the key one--
of the justice of a system.
The just wage for an adult
responsible for a family
is one that allows the establishment of a family,
its proper maintenance, and provision for the security of its future.
This can take the form of a "family wage,"
which is a single salary
given to the head of the family for that person's work,
or of other measures such as family allowances
or grants to mothers devoting themselves exclusively
to their families.
Experience confirms that we must reevaluate
the role of the mother in society,
her toil and the need children have
for care, love, and affection.
It will profit society
to make it possible for a mother
-without curtailing her freedom,
without psychological or practical discrimination,
without handicapping her in any way whatsoever
in regard to other women-
to dedicate herself to the care and education
of her children.
Having to abandon these tasks
to take up work outside the home
is wrong for society and for the family
when it hinders these main goals
of a mother's mission.
The labor process must be organized in a way
that it respects the needs of all persons
and their roles in life
according to their age and sex.
In many societies women work
in nearly every sector of life.
They must be able to do so
without discrimination or exclusion from jobs,
and also without having to give up
their specific role in family and society.
Apart from wages, other social benefits
should be available to the worker
medical assistance,
the right to rest
(at least on Sunday and during annual vacations),
the right to a pension and to insurance for old age
and for accidents at work,
the right to working conditions
that are not harmful to health
or to the workers' moral integrity.

20. Importance of Unions

To secure these rights,
the workers need the right to association
in labor or trade unions.
These organizations should reflect
the particular character
of each work or profession.
In a sense these unions go back
to the guilds of the Middle Ages,
which organized people
on the basis of their work.
Modern unions differ from these guilds
because they grew from the workers' struggles
to protect their rights
in their relation to the owners
of the means of production.
History teaches us that organizations of this type
are an indispensable element in social life,
especially in industrialized societies.
This does not mean
that only industrial workers
can form these associations.
Every profession can use them:
agricultural workers, white-collar workers,
and employers.
Catholic social teaching does not see unions
as reflecting only a "class"' structure,
and even less as engaged in a "class" struggle.
They are indeed engaged in the struggle
for social justice,
but this is a struggle for the common good,
and not against others.
Its aim is social justice
and not the elimination of opponents.
Work unites people;
its social power builds community.
Those who work
and those who manage or own
the means of production
must in one way or another
unite in this 'working' community.
Even if people unite to secure their rights as workers,
their unions remain constructive factors
of social order and solidarity,
impossible to overlook.
Workers' unions should take into account
the economic situation of the country.
They cannot be turned into a kind
of group or class "egoism,"
though they can and should correct
the defects in the system of ownership and management
of the means of production.
The social and economic life
is like a system of "connected vessels,"
and the particular groups
should take that into consideration.
It is not the role of unions to "play politics"
in the sense as it is understood nowadays.
Unions are not political parties;
they should not even have close links with them.
In that case they would soon lose their specific role,
which is to secure the just rights of workers
in the context of the common good
of the whole of society.
They would become instruments
used for other purposes.
One of the methods used by unions
is the strike, or work stoppage -
a means that is recognized by Catholic social teaching
as legitimate under the proper conditions and within proper limits.
Workers should be assured
of the right to strike
without fear of penalty.
The strike is an extreme means
that must not be abused
and definitely not be used for "political purposes."
When essential community services are in question
they must be ensured,
if necessary by means of appropriate legislation.
Abuse of the right to strike
can lead to the paralysis of social and economic life,
contrary to the common good of society.

21. Dignity of Agricultural Work

All that has been said so far
about the dignity of human work
can be applied to agricultural work
and the agricultural worker.
Agriculture-providing goods needed to sustain society-
is of fundamental importance.
The conditions of agriculture
and agricultural work
differ from country to country
according to the level of agricultural development
and the recognition of the rights of the rural workers.
Agricultural work is difficult,
often physically exhausting,
and sometimes not appreciated
by the rest of society,
to the point that agricultural people
feel that they are social outcasts,
which accelerates the exodus from the countryside
to the cities.
Added to this are
the lack of proper training and equipment,
the spread of individualism,
and unjust situations.
In certain developing countries
millions of people are forced to work
on land belonging to others.
They are exploited by the big landowners
without any hope
of even a small piece of land of their own.
They lack legal protection
for themselves and their families.
Long days of hard physical work
are paid miserably.
Land is abandoned by the owners;
the entitlement to land cultivated for years
is disregarded against the "land hunger"
of more powerful individuals and groups.
Even in technically advanced countries
farm workers are denied their share in decision-making
and refused the right to free association.
In many places radical and urgent changes
are needed to give agriculture and the rural people
their just place in the community.

22. Disabled Persons and Work

Disabled people are fully human in spite of their limitations.
They should be supported so that they can share
in all aspects of social life.
It would be unworthy to admit to work
only those who are fully functional.
This would mean discriminating the healthy
against the weak and the sick.
It would be putting economic gain
above the human person.
Direct and indirect employers
should foster the right of disabled people
to professional training and work.
This poses many practical, legal, and economic problems,
but the community should pool ideas and resources
to offer disabled people work according to their capabilities,
in ordinary, adapted, or "protected' jobs.
Attention must be paid
to ensure them just wages,
promotion possibilities,
and the elimination of obstacles.
Disabled people should feel
that they are not cut off from work,
that they count in society,
and that they are called
to contribute to the progress and welfare
of their families and societies.

23. Work and Emigration

Emigration is an age-old phenomenon,
today widespread because of the complexity of modern life.
Emigration is not without problems.
It means a loss to the country left behind.
Those who could have contributed to its common good
are now offering their efforts to another society
- united by another culture and often speaking another language-
which in a sense, has less right to them than their own.
If emigration is in some aspects an evil,
it is often a necessary evil
and everything should be done
to prevent even greater moral harm.
Every possible effort should be made
to ensure that it benefits
the emigrants 'personal, family, and social lives,
both in their home country
and in the country that receives them.
Just legislation should see to all this.
Emigrants should not be placed
at a disadvantage.
Emigration should not become
in opportunity for exploitation.
The same criteria should be applied
to immigrant workers as to all the workers in a society,
disregarding differences of nationality, race or religion.
Here too, capital should be at the service of labor,
and not labor at the service of capital.

V. ELEMENTS FOR A SPIRITUALITY OF WORK

24. A Particular Task for the Church

Since work is always done by a person,
it follows that the whole person
-body and spirit -is involved,
whether the work is manual or intellectual,
just as the good news of the Gospel,
in which we find much about work,
is addressed to the whole person.
Guided by faith, hope, and love,
we seek to understand the meaning work has
in the eyes of God
and how it is part of our salvation.
That is why the church considers it its duty
to speak out on a spirituality of work,
so that through work people come closer to God,
participate in their salvation,
and deepen their friendship with Christ,
sharing in Christ's threefold mission of
priest, prophet, and king.

25. Work Is Sharing in Creation

Through the centuries people have been working
to better their lives.
For believers there is no doubt that this is God's intention.
Created in God's image
we were given the mandate to transform the earth.
By their work people sham in God's creating activity.
We continue-within the limits of our human capabilities--
to develop that activity, advancing in the discovery
of the resources and values in creation.
In the book of Genesis (2:2-3)
God's creative activity is presented in the form of "work,"
done by God for six days, while God "rests" on the seventh day.
This theme is echoed in the last book of Sacred Scripture,
where we read in the book of Revelation (I 5:3):
"Great and wonderful are your deeds,
0 Lord God the Almighty."
Genesis gives us the first "gospel of work."
We should imitate God in working and resting,
created as we are in the image of God.
God's activity continues, as Christ witnessed when he said,
"My Father is working still" (Jn 5: I 7).
God is working still by sustaining the world
and by working with saving power in our hearts
destined for "rest,"
not only every seventh day,
but for the "rest" the Lord reserves
for his servants and friends (Mt 25:21))
in our "Father's house" (Jn 14:2).
Awareness that our work is a sharing in God's work
ought to permeate even the most ordinary daily activities.
By our labor we are unfolding the Creator's work
and contributing to the realization of God's plan on earth.
The Christian message does not stop us
from building the world
or make us neglect our fellow human beings.
On the contrary
it binds us more firmly to do just that.
The most profound motive for our work
is this knowing that we share in creation.
Learning the meaning of creation in our daily lives
will help us to live holier lives.
It will fill the world with the spirit of Christ,
the spirit of justice, charity, and peace.

26. Christ the Man of Work

Jesus Christ himself showed that to work
is to share in creation.
He not only proclaimed,
but, first and foremost, lived the "gospel of work"
by his deeds.
He was a worker,
a craftsman like Joseph.
Though warning us against too much anxiety
about work and life,
his life shows that he belongs to the working world,
loving it and seeing that to be a worker
is a facet of our likeness with God,
of whom he said:
"My Father is the vinedresser" (Jn I 5: I)
The Old Testament mentions many professions
and praises the work of women.
In his parables Jesus speaks about
shepherds, farmers,
doctors, sowers, householders,
servants, stewards, fishermen,
merchants, scholars, and laborers.
He speaks of women's work,
and he compares the task left to the apostles
to the work of harvesters and fishermen.
Paul echoes these teachings.
He boasts that he worked like a tent maker,
and that even as an apostle
he earned his own living.
He preached to people"'to do their work quietly
and to earn their own living" (2 Thes 3:12).
He wrote:
"If any will not work,
let them not eat" (2 Thes 3: 10) and
Whatever your task, work heartily,
as serving the Lord and not people,
knowing that from the Lord,
you will receive the inheritance
as your reward" (Col 3:23-24).
Those teachings have been repeated by the church
as recently as at the Second Vatican Council.
When people work they not only alter things and society;
they develop themselves as well-
a growth that has greater value than technical advances.
"A person is more precious for what he is,
than for what he has.
All that people do to obtain greater justice,
wider brotherhood,
and a more humane ordering of social relationships
has greater worth than technical advances" (GS 3 5).

27. Human Work in the Light of the Cross and the
Resurrection of Christ

All work is linked with toil.
The original blessing of work,
sharing in the mystery of creation,
being created in the image of God,
is contrasted with the curse
that sin brought with it.
"Cursed is the ground because of you,
in toil you shall eat of it,
all the days of your life" (Gn 3: I 7)-
the toil that announces
that all human life leads to death.
"In the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread
till you return to the ground
for out of it you were taken" (Gn 3:19).
The Gospel's final word on this matter
is the paschal mystery of Christ.
It contrasts his obedience to death
with humanity's disobedience.
It also tells about Christ's return in the resurrection
with the power of the Holy Spirit.
Their sweat and toil enable the followers of Christ
to share lovingly his work.
By enduring the toil of work in union with Christ's suffering
they collaborate with him in the redemption of humankind.
They show true discipleship
by carrying their cross every day.
By dying for all Christ taught us that we, too,
must shoulder the cross that the world places
on those, who work for peace and justice.
The resurrected Lord, Christ,
is now at work in people's hearts
through the power of the Holy Spirit,
purifying and strengthening them
in their struggle to make life more human
and to make the whole earth serve this goal.
The Christian finds in work
something of Christ's cross
and should accept it in the same spirit.
In work, too, thanks to the resurrection
we also find the good news
of the"'new heaven and the new earth (Rev 2 1: 1)
in which we take part precisely
through the toil of our work
In this way the cross
is indispensable to the spirituality of work,
revealing the good
that springs from work and its toil.
If work is a small part of the cross,
how does it relate to the resurrection of Christ?
Vatican II tell us
that the expectation of a "new" earth
must not weaken our concern
for cultivating the world in which we live.
It must strengthen that concern,
for it is here that a human family grows,
foreshadowing the new age.
Earthly progress must be distinguished
from the growth of the kingdom,
but to the extent that it helps
to order human society in a better way,
it is of vital concern to the kingdom of God (GS 3 9).
Let Christians realize
the importance of their work,
not only in terms of earthly progress,
but also in the development of the kingdom of God,
to which we are all called
through the power of the Holy Spirit
and the word of the Gospel.