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Capitalism and the Vatican

More than a few Americans must have been disturbed by headlines reporting that while in Brazil, Pope Benedict XVI condemned both Marxism and capitalism. One expects that sort of judgment about an atheistic philosophy that has enslaved and murdered millions. But how in the same breath can such a wise and learned man attack an economic system that has brought prosperity and freedom to much of the globe? Capitalism's potential for wealth is such that even totalitarian states such as China and Vietnam are building and welcoming booming corporate structures.

An Internet article on the papal speech by Father Robert Sirico, president of the conservative Acton Institute, devoted only a concluding paragraph to the papal criticism of capitalism. Sirico argued that Benedict XVI was merely condemning the materialistic conception of history that Marxists and capitalists often share. Both approaches to life are flawed, the Pope was saying, because they ignore the purpose of our existence and the consequences of our moral actions. But couldn’t critics sense a deeper issue? Didn’t the Pope have reservations about capitalism itself? Weren’t there similar denunciations during the time of John Paul II? Perhaps the entire Catholic Church has a problem with the world’s most successful economic system.

In Benedict XVI’s new book Jesus Of Nazareth, there are several references to capitalism. On page 98 we read: “As we witness the abuse of economic power, as we witness the cruelties of a capitalism that degrades man to the level of merchandise, we have also realized the perils of wealth, and we have gained a new appreciation of what Jesus meant when he warned of riches, of the man-destroying divinity Mammon, which grips large parts of the world in a cruel stranglehold.” On page 165, the Pope declares, “Today there are on one hand the forces of the market, of traffic in weapons, in drugs, and in human beings, all forces that weigh upon the world and ensnare humanity irresistibly.” And he goes on to condemn “the ideology of success, of well-being,” that denies and ignores God. On pages 198-99, the Pope writes about “the cynicism of a world without God in which all that counts is power and profit…” On page 119, Benedict XVI even seems skeptical about modern freedom, declaring that it “has been transformed into an absolute secularism, for which forgetfulness of God and exclusive concern with success seem to have become guiding principles.” On page 33, the Pope condemns all economic aid offered by the West to developing countries because it has “left God out of the picture” and “has driven men away from God.” He continues, “It has thrust aside indigenous religious, ethical, and social structures and filed the resulting vacuum with its technocratic mind-set.” Capitalism, in short, appears to be as rotten as Marxism, both being systems that degrade human beings and destroy their faith in God. Ted Turner and Vladimir Lenin shake hands. Really?

In fact, while the rhetoric in Benedict XVI’s book seems a bit extreme, at least in translation, the Pope’s statements are fully within the scope of Church teaching. Pope Leo XIII’s landmark encyclical Rerum Novarum, published in 1891, not only condemned socialism but proclaimed the rights of workers to own private property, to form trade unions, and to earn a just wage. In short, the Pope wanted a type of Christian capitalism that put the individual and the family first. A century later, John Paul II’s encyclical Centesimus Annus, reflected much of the earlier view. It was sharply critical of the Marxist creed while expressing mixed feelings about capitalism. On the one hand the system had commendable features, such as the positive role of business, the free market, and private property, and seemed to be the wave of the future. But the Pope warned against a capitalism that was not “circumscribed within a strong juridical framework that places it at the service of human freedom in its totality” and has at its core ethical and religious realities. George Weigel, John Paul II’s distinguished biographer, has declared: “…it is simplistic and misleading to say that Centesimus Annus endorses capitalism, period….Centesimus Annus, while marking the end of ‘real existing socialism,’ offers a profound challenge to all forms of ‘real existing capitalism.” The challenge is moral and spiritual, rising above material benefits produced by any economic system. “No existing society exemplifies the comprehensive vision John Paul II lays out,” Weigel observed.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, number 2425, makes clear that while the Church has rejected communism and socialism, “She has likewise refused to accept, in the practice of ‘capitalism,’ individualism and the absolute primacy of the law of the marketplace over human labor. Regulating the economy solely by centralized planning perverts the basis of social bonds; regulating it solely by the law of the marketplace fails social justice, for ‘there are many human needs which cannot be satisfied by the market.’ Reasonable regulation of the marketplace and economic initiatives, in keeping with a just hierarchy of values and a view to the common good, is to be commended.”

The great majority of Americans would have little trouble accepting the Catechism statement. A reasonable regulation of the economy has been the goal of reformers in this country since the late 19th century. And a vital concern for the poor has been a powerful part of our economic and social system since the New Deal. Social Darwinism seems today to be as dead in the GOP as it is among the readers of The Nation magazine.

In short, the Church does not officially endorse any specific nation or economic system. It acknowledges the benefits of capitalism but it knows that wealth and even freedom can be destructive if they lead to secularism, immorality, and the loss of souls. There is more to life, the Church declares, than making and spending cash and acquiring power and prestige. A lot more.

Posted on Monday, June 18, 2007 at 8:09 AM | Comments (1) | Return

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