Has the Catholic Church changed her position on the sinfulness of usury?

[javelin]

Isn’t this an example of the Church not being infallible on a position of morality?

I ask because it was proposed to me as evidence that the Church is, indeed, fallible in the area of morals.

Please help me respond to that accusation.

Peace,
javelin

 

[Jim_Blackburn]

The role of money in society has evolved and is quite different today than it was at various times in the past. Because of this changing role, charging interest on loans (which may have been immoral in the past) is morally acceptable in most cases today. The article on usuryCatholic Encyclopedia explains, “The change in the attitude of the Church is due entirely to a change in economic matters that require the present system”. However, “Lending money at interest gives us the opportunity to exploit the passions or necessities of other men by compelling them to submit to ruinous conditions; men are robbed and left destitute under the pretext of charity. Such is the usury against which the Fathers of the Church have always protested, and which is universally condemned at the present day”.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) teaches, “Those whose usurious and avaricious dealings lead to the hunger and death of their brethren in the human family indirectly commit homicide, which is imputable to them” (CCC 2269).