This isn't particularly Papal. This is John Locke's argument, IIRC.
--- On Mon, 4/20/09, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
> Subject: [lbo-talk] papal logic
> To: "lbo-talk" <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org>
> Date: Monday, April 20, 2009, 2:08 PM
> Michael Yates mentions the encyclical
> Rerum Novarum in his Chavez review. What delightful
> reasoning. A sample:
>
> <http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/leo_xiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15051891_rerum-novarum_en.html>
>
> Here, again, we have further proof that private ownership
> is in accordance with the law of nature. Truly, that which
> is required for the preservation of life, and for life's
> well-being, is produced in great abundance from the soil,
> but not until man has brought it into cultivation and
> expended upon it his solicitude and skill. Now, when man
> thus turns the activity of his mind and the strength of his
> body toward procuring the fruits of nature, by such act he
> makes his own that portion of nature's field which he
> cultivates - that portion on which he leaves, as it were,
> the impress of his personality; and it cannot but be just
> that he should possess that portion as his very own, and
> have a right to hold it without any one being justified in
> violating that right.___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>