IIRC, Rerum Novarum also bitterly criticized "freedom of conscience", which was anathema in much of europe at the time. Rather, the Catholic Church preferred "Throne And Altar" style government, with a divinely-appointed Catholic monarch and a Church that was largely in charge of education.
The Vatican really only started to make peace with liberal democracy around 1945, and that was only because the alternative was Soviet-style Communism. For that matter, the Church was perfectly content with the "Man On A Horse" model of government all the way through the 1970s, and, in Latin America, even after that.
IIRC, Rerum Novarum also bitterly criticized "freedom of conscience", which was anathema in much of europe at the time. Rather, the Catholic Church preferred "Throne And Altar" style government, with a divinely-appointed Catholic monarch and a Church that was largely in charge of education.
The Vatican really only started to make peace with liberal democracy around 1945, and that was only because the alternative was Soviet-style Communism. For that matter, the Church was perfectly content with the "Man On A Horse" model of government all the way through the 1970s, and, in Latin America, even after that.