The article presents the key elements of John Paul II’s teaching on human labor. The Pope examines the work from the philosophical and theological perspective. Holy Father understands work as “any activity by man, whether manual or intellectual, whatever its nature or circumstances; it means any human activity that can and must be recognized as work, in the midst of all the many activities of which man is capable and to which he is predisposed by his very nature, by virtue of humanity itself”. In the subjective sense, work is an important expression of theperson, who is its subject and author. The person is the most important source of the dignity of work itself. In the objective sense, work consists of all the resources, tools and techniques, which are used by man and make changes in the surrounding world. According to John Paul II, work should be seen as a personal, social, moral, cultural, religious and economic value. Having in mind such a definition of work, the Pope formulates the principle that work has priority over capital. He also emphasizes that human work is the essential key to the whole social question.