Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Vatican and Economics

The Vatican may be a lot of things, but it is not especially capitalist. According to a report by the Vatican Information Service on March 30, 2012, the Bilateral Commission of the Delegations of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and the Holy See’s Commission for Religious Relations with Jews, held in Rome from March 27-29 (presided by Rabbi Shear Yashuv Cohen, and Cardinal Peter Kodwo Turkson)issued a joint statement at the end of the meeting:
At the heart of Jewish and Catholic visions for a just economic order is the affirmation of the sovereignty and providence of the Creator of the world with Whom all wealth originates and which is given to humankind as a gift for the common good ... the purpose of an economic order is to serve the well being of society, affirming the human dignity of all people, each created in the divine image ... [this concept] posits the obligation to guarantee certain basic human needs, such as the protection of life, sustenance, clothing, housing, health, education and employment ...
(emphasis added)

Very interesting, don't you think?

I have heard a traditionally minded Brazilian member of the Roman communion tell me that the Communists are trying (successfully) to infiltrate the Brazilian hierarchy to destroy the Church.  I think he's only partly right.  The Roman church's views on economics are left-leaning already.  They are not capitalist, free-market views.

-TurretinFan

7 comments:

Godith said...

The RCC was infiltrated in the early 1950's. I won't specify by whom, but if you can guess the people that brought Communism to Russia, it is one and the same.

Jonathan said...

Someone is obligated to guarantee me a house? Sweet. When do I get my house?

Nick said...

So called "Capitalist, free market" views come largely from English Protestantism and have a perverted form of the Gospel behind them.

What many people have *no idea* about is that there is no capitalist-socialist dichotomy, since they are both two sides of the same error. To say that the CC is "left-leaning" on economics is to totally misunderstand the situation. That's like saying God was left-leaning on economics when in the Torah He commanded all debts to be forgiven on regular intervals, as well as other "left-leaning" mitzvot.

Here is what the Catechism says:
"2425 The Church has rejected the totalitarian and atheistic ideologies associated in modem times with "communism" or "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 Church is not against making a profit, but it is against a system in which maximizing profits and getting rich are the highest good and even signs of election.

turretinfan said...

Rome used to be against charging interest on loans. Now there is a Vatican Bank. Go figure.

Nick said...

Rome never changed its stance on loans.

turretinfan said...

"By means of an equitable sharing of the funds allocated by the international community and low-interest loans, it is important to promote initiatives based on impartial solidarity, capable of supporting correctly targeted activities, a concrete application of the best adapted technologies and research corresponding to the needs of local peoples, thus ensuring that the fruits of technological and scientific progress do not exclusively benefit major companies and the more advanced countries."

- John Paul II, 12 March 1999

Nick said...

Show me where Vis Pervenit has been overturned. If you don't know what that document is, then please don't say I'm uninformed.