A Supplemental Reading for an Economic Interpretation of Caritas in Veritate
See: “Market Economy and Ethics” (presented by Ratzinger in 1985 at a symposium entitled, “Church and Economy in Dialogue.”)
It starts off like this:
The economic inequality between the northern and southern hemispheres of the globe is becoming more and more an inner threat to the cohesion of the human family. The danger for our future from such a threat may be no less real than that proceeding from the weapons arsenals with which the East and the West oppose one another. New exertions must be made to overcome this tension, since all methods employed hitherto have proven themselves inadequate. In fact, the misery in the world has increased in shocking measure during the last thirty years. 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.
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By the way, I resisted the urge to emphasize certain aspect of that block quote, but surely we all know that it is pregnant with meaning that challenges us all…
I found the contrast between parts of this excerpt and parts of Caritas in Veritate to be interesting. Here is (then) Cardinal Ratzinger in in 1985:
In fact, the misery in the world has increased in shocking measure during the last thirty years.
And here he is in 2009:
It is true that growth has taken place, and it continues to be a positive factor that has lifted billions of people out of misery.
That is interesting, to be sure, but not necessarily contradictory. The general sense I get from 1985 is the same ambivalence to “progress” that the Church has had for all of modernity; in 2009 I get the basic sense that the Church prefers not to have polio (to put it crudely).
There’s no contradiction (a lot has happened between 1985 and 2009).
There’s no contradiction (a lot has happened between 1985 and 2009).
Yes, but I don’t think Obama should get all of the credit.
Not a contrast at all to anyone who is paying attention.