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Pope Francis and American Economics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 May 2015

Charles M. A. Clark
Charles M. A. Clark*
Affiliation:
St. John's University, New York
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Abstract

Reaction among conservatives to Pope Francis' Evangelii Gaudium has most often been negative. Ross Douthat, however, in his 2013 New York Times op-ed, has offered a more nuanced critique. Our four Roundtable authors respond to Douthat's implied invitation to a discussion by responding from the viewpoint of Catholic social thought.

Keywords

Pope FrancisRoss Douthatconservatismcapitalismeconomics
Type
Theological Roundtable
Information
Horizons , Volume 42 , Issue 1 , June 2015 , pp. 128 - 140
Copyright
Copyright © College Theology Society 2015 

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References

16 Pope John Paul II, Encyclical Centensimus Annus, May 1, 1991, http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_01051991_centesimus-annus.html, §42.

17 Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Rerum Novarum, May 15, 1891, http://w2.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15051891_rerum-novarum.html, §18.

18 Edgeworth, Francis, Mathematical Psychics: An Essay on the Application of Mathematics to the Moral Sciences (1888; New York: Augustus M. Kelley, 1967), 16Google Scholar.

19 Bentham, Jeremy, An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, ed. Burns, J. H. and Hart, H. L. (London: Methuen, 1982), 11Google Scholar.

20 Phrases used by Pope Francis; see, e.g., his homily of September 20, 2013, http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/cotidie/2013/documents/papa-francesco-cotidie_20130920_power-money.html (“idolatry of money”), and his address to the members of the diplomatic corps, January 12, 2015, http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2015/january/documents/papa-francesco_20150112_corpo-diplomatico.html (“throwaway culture”).

21 Myrdal, Gunnar, Rich Lands and the Poor: The Road to World Prosperity (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1957)Google Scholar.

22 Centesimus Annus, §43.

23 See Clark, Charles M. A., “Where There Is No Vision, Economists Will Perish,” Econ Journal Watch 11, no. 2 (May 2014): 136–43Google Scholar, with reference to Newman's, The Scope and Nature of University Education, 2nd ed. (London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1859)Google Scholar.

24 For more, see Clark, Charles M. A., “What Can Economists Learn from Catholic Social Thought?,” Storia del Pensiero Economico 5, no.1 (2008): 25–51Google Scholar.

25 See Clark, Charles M. A., “Poverty and the Roman Catholic Church,” in The Cambridge Dictionary of Christianity, ed. Patte, Daniel (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 994–95Google Scholar.

26 Laborem Exercens, §8.

27 We have seen that rising inequality redirects the gains of economic growth away from the majority of the population, so that the gains are concentrated instead in the hands of the already affluent. See Galbraith, James Kenneth, The End of Normal: The Great Crisis and the Future of Growth (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2014)Google Scholar for an extended analysis of rising inequality.

28 A quote from Robinson's, lectures and a paraphrase of a line from her book Economic Philosophy (1962; Piscataway, NJ: AldineTransaction, 2006), 45Google Scholar: “The misery of being exploited by capitalists is nothing compared to the misery of not being exploited at all.”

29 Francis A. Chullikatt, “Interactive Exchange of Views on ‘Poverty Eradication,’” Statement to the United Nations in the Ad Hoc Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, April 18, 2013, http://www.holyseemission.org/statements/statement.aspx?id=413.