RCIA4 #70
The only permitted economic system is distributism! Capitalism is false… Socialism is false… Libertarianism is false! Free markets are false!
Utterly false. One shudders to think what else this poster has wrong about Catholic doctrinal teaching!
One of the first truths to learn is that Catholic teaching is not contradictory so listen, learn and love:
As Bl John Paul II teaches in
Centesimus Annus, 1991:
'CA 42. ‘
If by “capitalism” is meant an economic system which recognizes the fundamental and positive role of business, the market, private property and the resulting responsibility for the means of production, as well as free human creativity in the economic sector, then the answer is certainly in the affirmative, even though it would perhaps be more appropriate to speak of a “business economy”, “market economy” or simply "free economy".
‘
CA 43. The Church has no models to present;’ [My emphasis].
Pope Benedict XVI felt it necessary to teach that
“Society does not have to protect itself from the market, as if the development of the latter were ipso facto to entail the death of authentically human relations…Therefore it is not the instrument that must be called to account, but individuals, their moral conscience and their personal and social responsibility.” (
Caritas et Veritate, Benedict XVI, 2009, #36).
A few incisive comments reveal the confusion over redistribution.
Richard Garnett:
“It was predictable, but is nevertheless regrettable, that many pundits and partisans would respond to
Caritas in Veritate not so much by engaging Pope Benedict’s profoundly Christian humanism but instead by hunting through the text for quotations they could deploy in support of their own pet policies. (The Pope, for his part, urged “all people of good will” to “liberate [themselves] from ideologies, which often oversimplify reality in artificial ways.”) Rather than reflecting carefully on the Pope’s central proposal, namely, that “[f]idelity to man requires fidelity to the truth, which alone is the guarantee of freedom and of the possibility of integral human development,” commentators who might ordinarily roll their eyes at policy suggestions from the bishop of Rome are happy to uproot from the encyclical’s inspiring, challenging vision a few talking points about environmental stewardship, trade unionism, or the redistribution of wealth.
Richard Garnett is professor of law at Notre Dame University.
freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2289208/posts
Supreme Knight criticizes use of Pope’s encyclical for political agendas
cna ^ | July 7, 2009“When you look in Africa where you see dictators that are presidents of countries that retire from office with billions of dollars in their Swiss bank accounts while their people are living on one dollar a day, is that just redistribution?”
freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2287608/posts
“The processes of globalization, suitably understood and directed, open up the unprecedented possibility of large-scale redistribution of wealth on a world-wide scale; if badly directed, however, they can lead to an increase in poverty and inequality, and could even trigger a global crisis. It is necessary to correct the malfunctions, some of them serious, that cause new divisions between peoples and within peoples, and also to ensure that the redistribution of wealth does not come about through the redistribution or increase of poverty: a real danger if the present situation were to be badly managed. For a long time it was thought that poor peoples should remain at a fixed stage of development, and should be content to receive assistance from the philanthropy of developed peoples. Paul VI strongly opposed this mentality in
Populorum Progressio.”
(CeV #42).
Here we see the core of the Pope’s “redistributist” large-scale meaning: it is through training, entrepreneurship, work and supplying, at competitive prices through trade, what others need in other countries. Additionally we see the importance of sound management – often neglected today.
Lest any others be led astray:
On Pope Benedict XVI’s
Caritas in Veritate,
Fr. Robert Sirico, president and co-founder of the Acton Institute (U.S.A.), explains…“his encyclical contains no talk of seeking a third way between markets and socialism. [Italics added]. Words like greed and capitalism make no appearance here. But if they look to this document as a means for the moral reconstruction of the world’s cultures and societies, which in turn influence economic events, they will find much to reflect upon…. The pope is pointing to a path neglected in all the talk of economic stimulus, namely a global embrace of truth-filled charity. Benedict rightly attributes the crisis itself to ‘badly managed and largely speculative financial dealing.’ But he resists the current fashion of blaming all existing world problems on the market economy. Further: ‘Society does not have to protect itself from the market, as if the development of the latter were ipso facto to entail the death of authentically human relations…Therefore it is not the instrument that must be called to account, but individuals, their moral conscience and their personal and social responsibility.’
More, not less, trade is needed: ‘the principal form of assistance needed by developing countries is that of allowing and encouraging the gradual penetration of their products into international markets.’…
"Benedict does see a role for the state here [in wealth redistribution], but much of the needed redistribution is the result of every voluntary and mutually beneficial exchange.”
So much wasted effort and so many evils have come from a distortion of Catholic teaching.
npatrol:!!! The only permitted economic system is distributism! Capitalism is false… Socialism is false… Libertarianism is false! Free markets are false!
