00 21/05/2013 15:27


Regarding the statements made last week by Pope Francis about the contemporary crisis in which the failure of banks or investments is considered a major tragedy while the death of thousands because of hunger is habitually ignored, let me quote the lead paragraph from a May 19 story by Andrea Tornielli, http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/vaticano/dettaglio-articolo/articolo/papa-el-papa-pope-24945/
for which the INSIDER does not provide an English translation:
Pope Francis, before a crowd of faithful, repeated yesterday evening that the Church is not a political organization nor an NGO. But he also pronounced judgments that were very blunt and clear on poverty, on the economic crisis and its causes, in a way that so far, no political leader has been able to make.
Hello! Didn't one Benedict XVI write a 30,000-word encyclical about this in 2009, an encyclical that quickly topped the Italian bet-seller lists in its first few weeks of release? And that was just less than four years ago!

Now, I know Tornielli was not only a fair and objective chronicle- commentator of Benedict XVI's Pontificate, but was also one of the few who did not hesitate to show he admired Benedict XVI and what he did as Pope - for which we can all be thankful.

However, having been the very first author in the world to come out with a book about Pope Francis (within three weeks of his election), based primarily on interviews he had done in Rome previously with Cardinal Bergoglio, Tornielli has also turned into the new Pope's leading cheerleader among the Vaticanistas. I have no quarrel with that, except that in doing so, he has virtually ignored what Benedict XVI said and did as Pope, and much like the legion of personages (including all the cardinal electors) who developed a terminal case of Benedict-amnesia after March 13, 2013, he has since held out Pope Francis as the only valid standard, as it were, for Popes, whose every gesture and statement is a 'first' or an 'only' in papal history.

Granted, Tornielli is technically truthful when he writes that Pope Francis spoke out about the crisis "in a way that so far, no political leader has been able to make}. But that would have been the perfect opening for him to say that, unlike political leaders, Benedict XVI did speak out, more than once, and most memorably and categorically, in the encyclical Caritas in veritate, in which he analyzed in detail the causes and consequences of the economic crisis and called specifically for a man-centered ethical approach to development, economics and finance. But he does not even mention Benedict XVI in the whole story!

Strangely, when I tried to look back at whatever Tornielli had written in the past about CIV, I only found two - an article in April 2009 about the forthcoming release of the encyclical; and after it was released, a brief chapter-by-chapter synthesis of the encyclical which was published in Vatican Insider. There were so many excellent as well as controversial commentaries in the Anglophone media at the time - I rounded them up in the CARITAS IN VERITATE thread of this forum - that I was not even aware Tornielli had chosen to take a pass on CIV. Which is perhaps understandable, for any run-of-the-mill reporter - which Tornielli is not - because CIV is so wide-ranging that no one article or commentary can encompass its scope other than by Tornielli's ploy of a brief chapter-by-chapter synthesis.

However, before we take a look at what Tornielli wrote in April 2009, let me quote the catechesis of Benedict XVI that prompted the article. On April 23, 2009, during his continuing catecheses on early and medieval Christian writers who made seminal contributions to Catholic thought, Benedict XVI spoke about the little-known 8th century monk Ambrose Autpert, a Frenchman who became a Benedictine monk at the great medieval Benedictine abbey of Benevento in Italy (between Montecassino and Naples). As he always did in his catecheses, Benedict did not fail to apply the teaching to actual conditions in our time:
A small ascetic tract entitled Conflictus vitiorum et virtutum (Conflict between vices and virtues) had the same purpose. It was a great success in the Middle Ages and was republished in 1473 in Utrecht (Holland) under the name of Gregory the Great, and one year later, in Strasbourg, under the name of St. Augustine.

In it, Ambrose Autpert intended to teach monks concrete ways on how to face spiritual combat in day to day life. In a significant manner, he applied the statement from 2 Tim 3,12: "All who want to live religiously in Christ Jesus will be persecuted" - no longer to external persecution, but to the assault from the forces of evil that the Christian must confront within himself.

Twenty-four pairs of combatants are presented in a kind of dispute: each vice seeks to hook the soul with subtle reasonings, while its opposite virtue rebuts these insinuations, preferably using the words of Scripture.

In this tract on the conflict between vices and virtues, Autpert countered cupiditas (greed) with contemptus mundi (contempt for the world) which would become an important element in monastic spirituality.

This contempt for the world is not contempt for Creation, of the beauty and goodness of Creation and the Creator, but a contempt for a false vision of the world presented and insinuated to us by greed itself.

Greed insinuates that 'to have' is the peak value of our being, of living in the world with the appearance of being 'important'. Thus, greed falsifies creation and destroys the world.

Autpert notes that the greed for profit among the rich and powerful in the society of his time also existed in the souls of monks, and therefore, he wrote another tract entitled De cupiditate (about greed), in which, following the Apostle Paul, he denounces greed from the start as the root of all evil.

He wrote: "Many thorns sprout from the ground from different roots. But in the hearts of men, the sharp points of all vices come from one root only, greed" (De cupiditate 1: CCCM 27B, p. 963).

I point this out especially since it is revealed in all its actuality in the light of the present world economic crisis. We see that it is from this very root of greed that such a crisis is born.
And here is what Tornielli wrote for Il Giornale the day after:

The Pope rewrites his encyclical:
'Greed was at the root of the global crisis'
by Andrea Tornielli
Translated from

April 24, 2009

The present global economic crisis arose out of 'greed'. " Greed insinuates that 'to have' is the peak value of our being, of living in the world with the appearance of being 'important'," Pope Benedict XVI said yesterday during his Wednesday General Audience, speaking about the 8th century monk, St. Ambrose Autpert.

And it is precisely this crisis that brought the economy of the whole world to is knees which is at the center of crucial paragraphs in the new encyclical of Benedict XVI, Caritas in veritate, on social issues and globalization, the release of which has been delayed a number of times. It is now expected to come out on June 29, Feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul...

It is known that Benedict XVI wants the encyclical not to be vague in any way, especially not about the current crisis, that it must not use generic slogans, and that it will contribute something original in terms of what the crisis means for the faith and for people in general...

The Pope began writing it in 2007, during the 40th anniversary year of Paul VI's Populorum progressio, hoping to release it in March 2008... [This was postponed initially to the end of summer, and when the economic crisis erupted in October 2008, it had to be further postponed.] Now, it is expected to be released on June 29, Feast of Saints Peter and Paul...

The encyclical will deal with the social problems that plague humanity today (globalization, poverty, access to resources, care of the environment) approached through the social doctrine of the Church, and therefore it will advocate justice, fraternal solidarity, and changing not just laws and public structures but the lives of every human being.

Benedict XVI has often said that "The Church always needs men who are able to make great renunciations, and communities that create the foundations for social justice".

In Benedict's first encyclical, Deus caritas est, the term 'justice' is used 50 times, as he underscores that commitment to justice is a way of giving witness to Christian love.

Thus, he emphasizes 'global solidarity' which will treat the poorest and the neediest as a priority, along with protecting the rights of families, creating stable work opportunities, and the recovery of ethics in finance and business through appropriate rules and controls.

Enroute to Africa in March 2009, the Pope told newsmen: "The cause of the worldwide recession is above all ethical in nature, because where there is no ethics, no morality, there can never be any rightness in human relationships".
In his 'synthesis' of CIV on July 8, 2009, the day after the encyclical was published, Tornielli certainly did not fail to pick out the essentials, even if he took the easy way out by choosing not to comment on the encyclical.

The subhead: 'Benedict XVI confronts the most serious problems of the globalized society: from development to poverty'The boxed heads: 'ETHICS: The Pontiff warns against the exclusive goal of profit which destroys resources'
'DENUNCIATION: Hunger is 'a scandal'. One must denounce practices of demographic control'


Now, one can understand a Vaticanista forgetting what a Pope may have said four years ago or that he even said it if he had done so a number of times on various occasions, but surely, he cannot completely forget that Benedict XVI wrote CIV - after all, he only wrote 3 encyclicals! Considering what he himself had written about CIV, Mr. Tornielli's amnesia is very strange, to say the least, and certainly, most unworthy of a newsman with his reputation.

Caritas in veritate was, of course, hailed by many leading secular economists for its realistic overview of the global economic and financial crisis, and by Catholic intellectuals for its re-statement of Christian humanism in contemporary terms, its no-nonsense exhortation for the ethic of the common good as the only way to bring back sense to the global economic system, and its emphasis on the logic of giving freely, without expectation of payment or reward,

The crisis is approaching its fifth anniversary this year; CIV was published about 9 months after its onset - its long-anticipated release was delayed precisely because the crisis erupted fullblown in the autumn of 2008 and its unprecedented magnitude and extent became quickly evident, so it had to be factored into the encyclical.) Among the many commentaries at the time about CIV, let me use this one from a leading British economist.



If the Nobel Prize juries weren't so ideologically driven, I would send this article as a nominating letter for Benedict XVI to be considered for the 2009 Nobel Prize in Economics. 2013 P.S. Ettore Gotti Tedeschi actually brought up the Nobel Prize idea in one of his many articles about CIV.

Pope Benedict is
the man on the money
The best analysis yet of the global economic crisis,
tells how people, not just rules, must change
by Brian Griffiths

July 13, 2009

Lord Griffiths of Fforestfach is a trustee of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lambeth Trust and Vice-Chairman of Goldman Sachs International. He was an economic adviser to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. A devout evangelical Christian, he is, by virtue of his title, a member of the House of Lords.

When Cardinal Ratzinger was elected Pope, his strengths and weaknesses seemed clear. Here was an eminent theologian, philosopher and guardian of Christian truth, but a man unlikely to make the Church’s message relevant to the world today.

How simplistic this now looks in the light of his third encyclical, in which Pope Benedict XVI confronts head-on the financial crisis that has rocked the world.

The language may be dense, but the message is sufficiently rewarding. The encyclical analyses modern capitalism from an ethical and spiritual perspective as well as a technical one.

As a result it makes the (UK) Government’s White Paper on financial reforms published two days later look embarrassingly one-dimensional and colourless.

It is highly critical of today’s global economy but always positive. Its major concern is how to promote human development in the context of justice and the common good.

Despite heavy competition from some of the world’s finest minds, it is without doubt the most articulate, comprehensive and thoughtful response to the financial crisis that has yet appeared. It should strike a chord with all who wish to see modern capitalism serving broader human ends.

The Pope makes it clear that the encyclical takes its inspiration from Populorum Progressio, the encyclical published by Paul VI in 1967, at the height of anti-capitalism in Europe. It attacked liberal capitalism, was ambivalent about economic growth, recommended expropriation of landed estates if poorly used and enthused about economic planning.

It was in stark contrast to Centesimus Annus (1991), the most recent encyclical dealing with economic matters, published after the fall of communism by a Polish Pope.

John Paul II affirmed the market economy as a way of producing wealth by allowing human creativity and enterprise to flourish.

Pope Benedict is highly critical of modern capitalism.
- He believes that the international economy is marked by “grave deviations and failures”.
- Economic growth is weighed down by “malfunctions and dramatic problems”.
- Businesses that are answerable almost exclusively to their investors have limited social value.
- The financial system has been abused by speculative financial dealing and has wreaked havoc on the real economy.
- Globalisation has undermined the rights of workers, downsized social security systems and exploited the environment.
- As global prosperity has grown, so has “the scandal of glaring inequalities”.

Despite these criticisms, the encyclical has a positive view of profit, providing it is not an exclusive goal.
- It recognises that more labour mobility resulting from deregulation can increase wealth.
- It accepts that economic growth has lifted billions out of poverty and enabled some developing countries to become effective players in international politics.
- Globalisation offers an unprecedented chance of large-scale redistribution of wealth worldwide.

The kind of market economy Pope Benedict defends is much closer to the European social model than the “spontaneous order” of Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek.

For him, market capitalism can never be conceived of in purely technical terms. Development is not just about freeing up markets, removing tariffs, increasing investment and reforming institutions. It is not even about social policies to accompany economic reforms.

At the heart of the market is the human person, possessing dignity, deserving of justice and bearing the divine image. The market needs to be infused with a morality emanating from Christian humanism, which respects truth and encourages charity.

The encyclical suggests six major ways to make global capitalism more human.

First, it calls for “the management of globalisation” and a reform of international economic institutions. They are needed “to manage the global economy, to revive economies hit by the crisis, to avoid any deterioration of the present crisis . . . to guarantee the protection of the environment and to regulate migration”.

Not surprisingly, for this huge task we need “a true world political authority” through reform of the United Nations.

Next, there needs to be greater diversity among the enterprises that create wealth: mutual societies, credit unions and hybrid forms of commercial organisation.

Third, globalisation has weakened the ability of trade unions to represent the interests of workers, something that needs to be reversed.

Fourth, the scandal of inequality requires countries to increase the proportion of GDP given as foreign aid.

Fifth, because the environment is the gift of the Creator we have an inter-generational responsibility to tackle climate change.

Finally, everyone involved in the market, traders, producers, bankers — even consumers — must be alert to the moral consequences of their actions.

“Development is impossible without upright men and women, without financiers and politicians whose consciences are finely attuned to the common good.”

Pope Benedict’s words are not just platitudes. They affect every person at work every day. In the City [London's financial center], they are a challenge to management to create a culture of prudence, responsibility and integrity.

There has to be zero tolerance for misleading clients, fudging conflicts of interest and inflating valuations. However great the revenue they produce, those who deviate must be disciplined. This kind of ethos cannot be imposed by regulation alone.

And just to show Benedict's active awareness of the problems of society and the Church's obligations to the poor, let me quote from a brief address he gave last year on May 19, 2012, to three major Italian lay Catholic associations, in which he cites some of the principles he laid out in CIV. (I didn't use this as a lookback feature yesterday only because the major event to mark was Pentecost.)



The Pope to Italian lay associations:
'True giving is at the heart of being Christian'

May 19, 2012




The Ecclesial Movement of Cultural Engagement, the Federation of Christian Organizations for International Voluntary Service and the Movement of Christian Workers are Italian-based lay associations founded between 1932 and 1972.

Their mission is to spread the Gospel through volunteer work aiding the needy in Italy and in other countries throughout the world, as well as defending human rights, promoting social justice and education.

Speaking to the three associations gathered at the Aula Paolo VI on the occasion of their respective anniversaries, Pope Benedict underlined that fact that their establishment can be attributed to the inspiration of Pope Paul the VI who as a priest and then as Pope had been a vocal supporter of ecclesial associations such as these.
Here is the body of his address:
I am happy to welcome you today at this gathering together of the Movimento Ecclesiale di Impegno Culturale (MEIC), the Federazione Organismi Cristiani di Servizio Internazionale Volontario (FOCSIV), and the Movimento Cristiano Lavoratori (MCL)....

This year, your associations are celebrating the anniversaries of your founding: 80 years for MEIC, 40 for FOCSIV and MCL. All three owe their existence to the wise work of the Servant of God Paul VI, who, when he was the National Assistant of Italian Catholic Action in 1932, supported the first steps of the Movimento Laureati (movement of graduates) in Catholic Action, and as Pope, recognized the FOCSIV and assisted at the birth of MCL in 1972...

Anniversaries are propitious occasions to re-think your respective charisms with gratitude but also with a critical eye, mindful of your historic origins and the new signs of the times.

Culture, voluntariate, and work constitute an indissoluble trinomial in the daily commitment of the Catholic laity, who wish their belonging to Christ and to the Church to have an impact both in the private as well as the public spheres of society.

The lay faithful play a role whenever they act in these spheres, and when in their cultural service and their solidarity with those who are in need and have work concerns, they strive to promote human dignity.

These three spheres of action are bound by a common denominator: the gift of oneself.

Cultural involvement, especially at the school and university levels, oriented towards the formation of future generations, is indeed not limited to the transmission of technical and theoretical ideas, but implies the gift of oneself with words and through example.

Volunteer work, an irreplaceable resource for society, means not so much giving things, but giving oneself while concretely aiding those who are in need. Work is not just an instrument for individual profit, but an occasion to express one's own abilities, exerting oneself, in the spirit of service, in professional activity, whether one is a laborer, a farmer, a scientist or any other occupation.

For you, all this has a special connotation - the Christian one. Your activities must be inspired by charity. This means learning to see with the eyes of Christ and giving to others much more than what they need externally - to give them the look of caring, the gesture of love that they need.

This is born from the love that comes from God, who loved us first; it is born from our intimate encounter with him (cfr Deus Caritas est, 18).

St. Paul, in his farewell talk to the elders of Ephesus, recalls a truth expressed by Jesus: "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20,35).

Dear friends, it is the logic of giving, a logic that is often mistreated, but which you appreciate and bear witness to. To give your own time, your own abilities and competencies, your own education, your professionalism. In a word, to pay attention to others, without expecting any reward in this world. And I thank you for this great witness. Doing so, one does not just do good for others, but can discover profound happiness, according to the logic of Christ, who gave all of himself.

The family is the first place where one experiences free love. When this does not happen, then the family is denatured, it goes into crisis. When it is lived in the family, giving oneself without reservations for the good of others is a fundamental educational moment to learn to live as Christians - even in our relations with culture, with volunteer service and with the workplace.

In the encyclical Caritas in veritate, I wanted to extend the family model of the logic of gratuitousness and of giving to a universal dimension. Justice alone is not sufficient.

In order for there to be true justice, that 'something more' is necessary which only gratuity and solidarity can give: "Solidarity is first and foremost a sense of responsibility on the part of everyone with regard to everyone, and it cannot therefore be merely delegated to the State. While in the past it was possible to argue that justice had to come first and gratuitousness could follow afterwards, as a complement, today it is clear that without gratuitousness, there can be no justice in the first place" (No. 38).

Gratuitousness is not acquired on the market, nor can it be prescribed by law. Yet both the economy and politics need gratuitousness, persons capable of reciprocal giving (cfr ibid. 39)

Our meeting today proves two elements: the affirmation on your part of the need to continue to follow the way of the Gospel, faithful to the social doctrine of the Church and loyal to your Pastors; and on the other hand, my encouragement, the Pope's encouragement, who invites you to persevere constantly in your commitment on behalf of your brothers.

This commitment also includes the task of pointing to injustice, and to bear witness to the values on which the dignity of persons is based, promoting forms of solidarity which promote the common good.

The MEIC cultural movement, in the light of its history, is called to renewed service in the world of culture, which presents urgent and complex challenges, for the dissemination of Christian humanism. Reason and faith are allied in the journey towards the Truth.

May the FOCSIV volunteers federation continue to trust above all in the power of charity that comes from God, carrying forward your commitment against every form of poverty and exclusion, and working in behalf of the more disadvantaged populations.

And may the MCL movemen bring light and Christian hope to the workplace in order to gain even more social justice. Moreover, may you look always at the world of the young who, today more than ever, are seeking ways of involvement that bring together idealism and concreteness.

Dear friends, I wish each of you to proceed with joy in your personal and associative commitments, bearing witness to the Gospel of giving and gratuitousness...




[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 21/05/2013 15:39]