Liberty in the Thought of Pope Leo XIII

Pope Leo XIII is consider the father of modern Catholic social teaching due to Rerum Novarum, his 1891 encyclical. Yet before that encyclical he wrote another one, in 1888, "on human liberty" in which he speaks of liberty as "the highest of natural endowments". Leo was a prophet of liberty, just ahead of a century in which human liberty would come under fierce attack. At a time when many are losing confidence in the potential of human freedom, Leo XIII has a timely teaching.