Benedict defends Francis economic critique!
The blog EthikaPolitika reports on Pope Emeritus Benedict’s vigorous defense of Pope Francis regarding accusations of Marxism stemming from anti-market language employed in Evangelii Gaudium.
The article points to a statement overlooked by the mainstream media in which Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, defended not only Francis’s remarks in EG, but also their specific context, as as well as the greater role of the Church vis-à-vis economics and morality. In his own release, Benedict wrote:
In order to find solutions that will truly lead us forward, new economic ideas will be necessary. But such measures do not seem conceivable or, above all, practicable without new moral impulses. It is at this point that a dialogue between Church and economy becomes both possible and necessary.
Let me clarify somewhat the exact point in question. At first glance, precisely in terms of classical economic theory, it is not obvious what the Church and the economy should actually have to do with one another, aside from the fact that the Church owns businesses and so is a factor in the market. The Church should not enter into dialogue here as a mere component in the economy, but rather in its own right as Church.
Benedict went on to castigate Smithian economics, in particular—a system where “voluntary ‘moral’ actions contradict market rules and drive the moralizing entrepreneur out of the game”—as a culprit against which the Church must align
The article continues with Benedict’s strong support of Francis.
By all means read this marvelous piece …. down to the last sentence!
Spoiler alert!!!!
After lengthy citations from Benedict’s support of Francis the article concludes…”As unprecedented as such a lengthy defense of a reigning pope by a former pope may be, probably the most uncanny feature is the exact timing of Benedict’s statement, which came in November of 1985—nearly thirty years before the publication of Evangelii Gaudium.
Tags: Evangelii Gaudium, Pope, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis