Is The Pope Against Capitalism And Free Markets?

There is growing concern about what appear to be recent attacks on free markets and on capitalism itself by Pope Francis.

Mary Anastasia O'Grady has analyzed all this quite objectively in the Wall Street Journal. Here's part of what she has to say:

In the document released last week he [Pope Francis] admonished those who defend "trickle-down theories, which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world." There is no empirical evidence for this, he wrote. It is instead "a crude and naive trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system."
Millions of the world's poor and excluded who landed in the U.S. in the 19th and 20th centuries have been witnesses to the polar-opposite conclusion. Immigrants to the pope's homeland, Argentina, during the same period have not done as well—precisely because they've had to plod along in an economy not unlike the one he advocates.
Heavy state intervention was supposed to produce justice for the poor in the breadbasket of South America. We all know how that turned out.
No Christian can doubt the love expressed in the pope's message, which aims to shepherd the flock away from materialism. But the charge that grinding poverty in the world is the outgrowth of "the absolute autonomy of the marketplace" ignores reality. To be sure, even prosperous economies regulate markets. But those that have a lighter touch do better. Human history clearly demonstrates that when men and women, employing their free will and God-given talents, are able to innovate, produce, accumulate capital and trade even the weakest and most vulnerable are better off.
Instead the pope trusts the state, "charged with vigilance for the common good." Why is it then that the world's most desperate poor are concentrated in places where the state has gained an outsize role in the economy specifically on just such grounds?

O'Grady's point is well-taken. It's valid and it gives one pause for thought.
Yes, the Pope is proving to be very popular and he seems to be able to "connect" with people who've felt disconnected from or left out of Holy Mother The Church. In fact, many of our liberal friends have proclaimed that they're just delighted with Pope Francis. If they were voting, he'd win any election hands-down.
But the Pope is not a politician who runs for office and has a responsibility to "connect" with people in the same way that a politician gets votes. And this may be part of the problem. John Paul II "connected" with people but he did it with tough love. He spoke truth to rampant secularism. O'Grady's critique is dead-on: If the Pope really believes some of the things he's saying, he may actually be jeopardizing the very people he says he wants to help: The poor.
Also, consider this: The Pope says the Church shouldn't speak too much about things like abortion and the traditional definition of family -- we shouldn't obsess on them or on any one aspect of the church's teachings, he argues.  But now  he himself is coming perilously close to obsessing on what appear to be his own economic theories. Sending the Swiss Guard out into the streets to feed the poor will not curtail poverty. But it does constitute an attention-gradding PR move -- for awhile.
So maybe the Pope is simply launching a charm offensive. And such moves are perfectly legitimate and do work, again -- for awhile.
Of course the Pope has come out against greed (no surprise there) and has lambasted rich people who act like Scrooge and don' t share what they have.
OK, yes. There certainly are rich people who are like Scrooge but is that a reason to attack the entire free market system? 

It's not necessarily the system that's wrong -- it's some of the people in the system. 

In the eyes of the Church greed is a sin and they are sinning. 

But capitalism in and of itself is NOT a sin. 

In fact, capitalism has provided more upward mobility, more wealth and more opportunity for more people than any other system on earth. And many, many capitalists have been extraordinarily generous and charitable. Indeed, the Catholic Church itself has benefitted mightily from their altruism. 

So, maybe the Pope needs to clarify his message a bit or even be a bit less obsessed on one issue. 

Just something to think about as this Papacy moves forward.

Click here to read the Pope's entire apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium.

Just one more thing: Were it not for Henry Ford (a capitalist icon, to be sure) the Pope would not have that trusty, economical Ford Focus to scoot around in.