Leo XIII’s prophecy reread today, the Social Doctrine and modern challenges

At the 38th Turin International Book Fair, the new book by Benedetto Delle Site was presented at the stand of the publisher Historica – Giubilei Regnani, The social doctrine of the Church. The prophecy of Leo XIII in the time of Leo XIV. The volume – preface by Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco – includes an anthology of the most important encyclicals of Leo XIII, the Pope who with the New things gave rise to the modern formulation of the Social Doctrine of the Church, which has become very relevant again with the choice of the name Leo by Pope Provost.

A tradition of thought for reading the present

A tradition of thought, the one inaugurated by Leo XIII, which aims to inspire concrete action in history and which arouses renewed interest as artificial intelligence redefines work and politics; digital platforms restructure the balance of power; the demographic and ecological crises question the future and democracies oscillate between polarization and technocracy. Never before has humanity had such sophisticated tools; never before has it appeared so uncertain about its direction. In this context, the Social Doctrine of the Church, with the wisdom of the Gospel and natural law, also offers lay people principles of reflection, criteria for judgment and directives for action.

The underlying theme of the volume is that social encyclicals are not a set of episodic interventions linked to historical contingencies, but rather an organic body of thought, a true moral theology of society, capable of providing a working method: observing, judging and acting in history as Christians. Retracing the great encyclicals of Leo XIII up to the contemporary appeal of Leo XIV, a magisterium emerges that spans the centuries while maintaining its critical and proactive strength intact.

The structure of the volume: two complementary parts

The book is divided into two parts. In the first, the itineraries of the Social Doctrine of the Church are outlined, highlighting its assumptions, developments and relevance in the face of contemporary challenges. In the second part, an intuition of the philosopher Augusto Del Noce takes shape: to re-propose a selection of the texts of the nine main encyclicals of Leo XIII which constitute the “corpus leoninum” according to the logical order indicated by Pope Pecci himself, restoring to the Leonian magisterium its strong and systematic philosophical profile.

A clear message emerges: the Social Doctrine of the Church is not a generic social morality, nor a political compromise between liberalism and socialism. It is a great wisdom heritage: remember that freedom needs truth; that power finds a limit in the sacredness of the person and in the common good; that solidarity is neither sentimentality nor leveling and that society needs subsidiarity, that is, live intermediate bodies and strong families to avoid surrendering to new forms of domination.

The author: profile and associative commitment

The author, Benedetto Delle Site, Roman and born in 1989, is a first generation entrepreneur and works in the field of strategic consultancy and financial services for businesses. He has worked for numerous local and national trade associations, carrying out coordination and management roles, particularly in the credit and finance area. He is the national President of the Youth Movement of the Christian Union of Business Executives (Ucid), an association that calls its members to active commitment in the wake of the Social Doctrine of the Church and is part of Uniapac, the International Christian Union of Business Executives, which brings together associations of Christian entrepreneurs and managers from around forty countries around the world.

Rome Summit and upcoming presentations

He is also the founder and spokesperson of the Rome Summit, an economic forum that brings together institutional, ecclesial and business leaders, inspiring its activity from the social Magisterium of the Church. The book will be presented in Rome on 12 June.