Economist says Pope’s take on Catholic Social Teaching isn’t Marxist

Brian Easton noted the connection between Leo XIV and the last pope to have that name, Leo XIII (1878-1903), who issued the foundational encyclical on modern Catholic Social Teaching, Rerum Novarum.

That document’s theses have been developed by three further encyclicals, the most recent of which was St John Paul II’s 1991 Centesimus Annus: The Centenary of Rerum Novarum.

“Its publication coincided with the enactment of the Employment Contracts Act, which New Zealand’s Catholic bishops had already rejected as inconsistent with their Church’s teachings,” Mr Easton wrote.

“In 1986, a few years before, the United States Catholic bishops published a pastoral letter ‘Economic Justice for All’. Its thinking almost certainly impacted on Centesimus Annus. It certainly impacted upon Robert Provost . . .

“It is a fascinating document for even a non-Catholic economist because it is grappling with issues central to how to organise an economy, applying the social teaching to a practical challenge. . . .”

“It does not embrace any particular theory of how the economy works, nor does it attempt to resolve the disputes between different schools of economic thought. Instead, the letter turns to Scripture and the social teachings of the Church. There, we discover what our economic life must serve, what standards it must meet.”

The US bishops set down those standards as:

Every economic decision and institution must be judged in the light of whether it protects or undermines the dignity of the person; Human dignity can be realised and protected only in a community; All people have a right to participate in the economic life of society; All members of society have a special obligation to the poor and vulnerable; Human rights are the minimum conditions for life in community; Society as a whole, acting through public and private institutions, has a moral responsibility to enhance human dignity and protect human rights.

“The bishops go on, ‘In Catholic teaching, human rights include not only civil and political rights but also economic rights . . . . all people have a right to life, food, clothing, shelter, rest, medical care, education and employment’.”

Among the passages by the US bishops quoted by Easton was: “The Catholic tradition has long defended the right to private ownership of productive property.  . . . Support of private ownership does not mean that anyone has the right to unlimited accumulation of wealth. Private property does not constitute for anyone an absolute and unconditional right. No one is justified in keeping for his exclusive use of what he does not need, when others lack necessities.

“The Church’s teaching opposes collectivist and statist economic approaches. But it also rejects the notion that a free market automatically produces justice.”

Mr Easton ended by stating that “those who describe as Marxist the Catholic social teaching that Robert Prevost – now Pope Leo – espouses are demonstrating their intellectual limitations”.

He wondered how Leo XIV would apply the same principles to modern-day issues, such as intergenerational equity and sustainability.

FULL STORY

Catholic Theology on the Economy — Pundit (By Brian Easton/Pundit)