Ciudadanía cristiana en encíclicas clave de León XIII (1878-1890)

The objective is to analyze the content of ten key encyclicals of Leo XIII, prior to Rerum novarum, in order to identify the ideas promoted by the Pope, on the role of catholics in the creation of civic culture and civil society, in the turn of the xix to xx century. I propose the Pope’s emphasis on a proactive policy —rather than on confronting liberal States— constituted a successful strategy to detonate widespread Catholic activism. I conclude that, throughout this series of encyclicals, via the adoption of a secular language and of various concepts of political liberalism, the Pope built an argumentation based around three ideas: a good Catholic must fully exercise their civil rights, is obliged to participate in decision-making for public affairs, and is determinant in the stability of democratic political regimes.