Pauvreté et propriété privée dans l’encyclique rerum novarum

The social encyclical Rerum Novarum closely links the question of poverty with that of property, and invokes Thomas Aquinas. But on closer examination, the reasoning developed in favour of property departs from the scholastic thinker, since it maintains more affinities with the liberal tradition represented by J. Locke. While Aquinas links property to the common good, for Locke property is based on the rights of the individual. A re-reading of the encyclical, in light of its sources, permits greater precision of the nature of this issue, while enriching the current debate about private property and social property.