Catholic Social Teaching explains how the Christian lives in society, and how a Christian is obligated to make society a more charitable one. Catholic Social Teaching explains what must be followed in order to make a charitable society possible. Pope Francis is a major advocate for Catholic Social Teaching, and thoroughly explains its works in his second encyclical: Laudato si. In this encyclical Pope Francis explains not only the principles of Catholic Social Teaching, but also uses these principles to help shed light on his view of the economic market.
Pope Francis’s theory on how the economic market go directly with the principles of Catholic Social Teaching and with the virtues to show how the economy our country is run on has strayed away from these teachings. In the Laudato si, Pope Francis harshly criticizes the Western economy. Pope Francis points out that the economy goes directly against Catholic Social Teachings. In the encyclical, Pope Francis states that “ In order to continue providing employment, it is imperative to promote an economy which favours productive diversity and business creativity. ” (129).
What Pope Francis is trying to convey here is that providing jobs for people is the right direction in regards to Catholic Social Teaching. In these principles, one of them refers to the topic of subsidiarity, which is the principle that explains how a person develops the recognition to be his/her moral agent. In that sense, subsidiarity is opposed to the idea of centralization, which is a bureaucratic-centered thinking style. What is also a factor of centralization is that it inhibits originality and creativity, which is what Pope Francis is openly against in his encyclical.
In the same manner, he showcases the fact that the economy is run in a way that does not promote productive diversity or business creativity, thus going against the principle of subsidiarity. The principle of subsidiarity is referenced multiple times in the encyclical. Adding on to how our economy goes against this principle, Pope Francis provides a direct comparison with modern and relative businesses. In one instance he uses the system of businesses in the agricultural market. The small businesses that deal with the agricultural market, such as local farmers, are more effective in the end result of feeding people.
These types of small business farmers provide the diversity that Pope Francis feels that the economy needs in order to follow the principles of subsidiarity. But, the larger businesses ruin this diversity by “devouring” the smaller farms and taking land. These larger businesses ruin the creativity by making more farms sell similar crops. Pope Francis feels as though these larger businesses need to have more restrictions in order to help maintain a healthy amount of diversity and creativity in the economic world.
The principle of participation in society is referenced as well. The principle of participation in Catholic Social Teaching is similar to subsidiarity, but is more so about an individual’s contribution to society. In that sense, Pope Francis feels as though in order to maintain global equality we need to be able to get involved with the situation. In the Laudato si, Pope Francis has a fifth section titled Global Inequality. This section references the issues developing countries face due to issues such as overpopulation and a weak economic system.
But, Pope Francis believes there is more to the issues of these countries. In this section, Pope Francis states that “To blame population growth instead of extreme and selective consumerism on the part of some, is one way of refusing to face the issues. It is an attempt to legitimize the present model of distribution, where a minority believes that it has the right to consume in a way which can never be universalized, since the planet could not even contain the waste products of such consumption. ” (50).
The point that Pope Francis is trying to get across is that by blaming the issues of these countries on factors such as overpopulation, we make excuses for types of production that does not provide for all people. We are not getting invested enough in our society in order to help pursue the good and become a charitable society. The pursuit of a virtuous economic market should be a goal that will help create that ideal economic system. Although many people want to feel as though businesses are somewhat concerned with being virtuous, the truth remains that a sole factor seems to be an increase of profit.
But a result of this type of mindset on the corporate level leads to destruction of our environment. This is explained by Pope Francis, “In the meantime, economic powers continue to justify the current global system where priority tends to be given to speculation and the pursuit of financial gain, which fail to take the context into account, let alone the effects on human dignity and the natural environment. ” (56). These types of businesses that have this mindset blatantly ignore the principle of human dignity and respect for all life.
Pope Francis explains that this kind of issue is not usually picked up on and unfortunately goes without restrictions. One main issue involving the economy that goes against the principles and teachings of Catholic Social Teaching would be the Financial Crisis that lasted from 2007-2008. This crisis was viewed as the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression. One of the main causes of this would be how major banks took advantage over people who could not be able to pay back right away.
Most banks used this through a method of using mortgages in order to demand money from people. The purpose of doing this was to help profit off of hedge fund trading with derivatives. The build-up of this proved to be a bust, and caused the banking crisis of 2007, and then a Wall Street crisis in 2008. That is what led to one of the largest recessions the world has ever seen, almost crippling the world financial system. This crisis is proof that helps support Pope Francis’ theory that the ideal economy is one that does not rely as much on consumerism.
Also, that when an economy leads to the people feeling anxious or selfish towards their own financial needs, a sense of the common good diminishes. Pope Francis is clearly against the type of capitalism that has too much centralization and does not pay attention to the principles and virtues. Pope Francis explains this in his encyclical as he says “The current global situation engenders a feeling of instability and uncertainty, which in turn becomes ‘a seedbed for collective selfishness’. [145]
When people become self-centred and self-enclosed, their greed increases. (204). This was shown in the financial crisis of 2007-2008, which has still left effects on the economy today. The banks used these subprime mortgages because of their greed to make profit from hedge fund trading. They became selfish, and it led to the recession of the economy. If businesses were concerned with following the principles of Catholic Social Teaching and were charitable, then this crisis might have been averted because the banks would not have let their greed take control of their actions.
Pope Francis’s theory on how the economic market go directly with the principles of Catholic Social Teaching and with the virtues to show how the economy our country is run on has strayed away from these teachings. Examples like the financial crisis of 2007-2008 serve to be a lesson for us to learn that when greed clouds our vision, we all suffer in the end. By being both charitable, we provide an economic system in which all people can benefit from.
Having a virtuous mindset can lead to us develop these developing countries. By doing this, we can all in all strengthen the world’s economy and thrive in it. But in order to obtain this Pope Francis explains that we must not be selfish in this manner and must follow principles such as subsidiarity and participation. This will help our society become more reliable and more aimed towards the needs of the people, rather than the corporate business owners.
