Written by Pope John Paul II in 1981, on the ninetieth anniversary of Rerum Novarum, Laborem Exercens (“Through Work”) is the Church’s most sustained reflection on the meaning of human labor.

John Paul distinguishes the “objective” dimension of work (what is produced) from its “subjective” dimension (the worker as a person), and insists on the priority of the latter: work exists for man, not man for work. From this follows the priority of labor over capital, the dignity of every honest kind of work, and the rights of workers — to just wages, to rest, and to association.

Drawing on Genesis, the encyclical presents work as a sharing in the Creator’s own activity and, united to Christ, even a participation in the work of redemption. It reframes the labor question not merely as economics but as a matter of the human person and his vocation.

Read the full text at Vatican.va.