Literally, Rerum Novarum means “new thing”. The title of Leo XIII’s seminal 1891 encyclical could be modified to provide a sub-title to the Review of Modern Working Practices – “another new thing”. Published this week and known as the Taylor report after its chairman, Matthew Taylor, the review looks very closely at the so-called “gig economy” – where, like pop stars hired for one-night shows (“gigs”), individuals are handed out work or not according to availability and demand; and paid, or not, accordingly. It is very different from the industrial and urbanised economy addressed by Pope Leo, and it has its own forms of exploitation.