Who was Pope Leo XIII?

VATICAN CITY, Italy

Even before he stepped out on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica and spoke May 8, Pope Leo XIV's choice of a name was a powerful statement.

Following Pope Francis, who chose a completely new name in church history, Pope Leo opted for a name steeped in tradition that also conveys an openness to engaging with the modern world.

The pope's choice of name is a "direct recall of the social doctrine of the church and of the pope that initiated the modern social doctrine of the church," Matteo Bruni, director Vatican press office told reporters after the election of the new pope.

Pope Leo XIII, who was pope from 1878-1903, is known for publishing the encyclical "Rerum Novarum" on worker's rights -- considered the foundational document for the church's social teaching. The document emphasized the dignity of workers and condemned the dangers of unchecked capitalism and socialism.

Pope Leo XIII born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci (2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903.

He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the Apostle, Pius IX (his immediate predecessor), and John Paul II.

He is well known for his intellectualism and his attempts to define the position of the Catholic Church with regard to modern thinking.

In his famous 1891 encyclical Rerum novarum, Pope Leo XIII outlined the rights of workers to a fair wage, safe working conditions, and the formation of trade unions, while affirming the rights to property and free enterprise, opposing both socialism and laissez-faire capitalism.

With that encyclical, he became popularly called the "Social Pope" and the "Pope of the Workers", also having created the foundations for modern thinking in the social doctrines of the Catholic Church, influencing his successors.

He influenced the Mariology of the Catholic Church and promoted both the rosary and the scapular. Upon his election, he immediately sought to revive Thomism, the theological system of Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas, wishing to make it the official political, theological, and philosophical foundation of the Catholic Church.

As a result, he sponsored the Editio Leonina in 1879.

Leo XIII is particularly remembered for his belief that pastoral activity in political sociology is also a vital mission of the church as a vehicle of social justice and maintaining the rights and dignities of the human person.

He issued a record eleven papal encyclicals on the rosary, earning him the title "Rosary Pope".