Papal Medals

[JRocco]

I was just looking back on some older posts and pulled up this one. I really have to image a few more medals next time I dig them out of the safe box. I did find some old pics of my 1900 Pope Leo XIII medal that I haven't posted.
Pope Leo XIII was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and reigned from 1878 till his death in 1903. He is best known for his strong social stances, his intelligence and his teachings as seen in his encyclical Rerum Novarum that addressed the conditions of the working class titled  “Rights and Duties of Capital and Labour”
Let me quote directly:
“Let the working man and the employer make free agreements, and in particular let them agree freely as to the wages; nevertheless, there underlies a dictate of natural justice more imperious and ancient than any bargain between man and man, namely, that wages ought not to be insufficient to support a frugal and well-behaved wage-earner. If through necessity or fear of a worse evil the workman accept harder conditions because an employer or contractor will afford him no better, he is made the victim of force and injustice.”
If you might be interested, please check this page for more detail on Pope Leo's writings:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rerum_Novarum
But talk about something that can really choke you up please take a minute to see this youtube video of Pope Leo himself. Now in the time frame we have discussed in this thread, Pope Leo can almost be called "modern" when one considers he is the 256'th Pope with his reign continuing into the early 20th Century. What I wouldn't give to see video of some of the other Pope's we have discussed earlier. Goose bumps for sure.

First footage and audio of a pope - Leo XIII