Laudato si
The Salvation of the Economy
vs.
The Economy of Salvation
If the Pope
pontificates on economics we must
ask ourselves, can an economist pontificate on the
Faith? “Of course not”, you say, “The province of expertise embodied
in an economist does not qualify him as a theologian. It's not his
job description. He may have opinions on the matter but that
is all they are: “opinions.” By the same reasoning,
neither can a pope pontificate on economics. It's not his
job description. His job description is spiritual:
proclaiming the Gospel and saving souls. In fact, his Master clearly
states that “His Kingdom is not of this world.” (“Regnum Meum non est de hoc mundo”). An economist’s job description
is temporal: to research and analyze economic issues:
it precisely pertains to the world, matter, money, and financial
assets. Would you go to Warren Buffet for spiritual advice on moral
matters? Would you go the pope for economic advice concerning your
retirement options? Really? It is a matter of competency and invested
authority. Would you attend a seminar featuring Warren Buffett on
the topic of saving your soul and going to Heaven? Would you go
to one featuring Francis on organizing your work strategy and
finances? You would cock your head in bewilderment and politely
decline both, no?. Or do I have a deal for you on ocean-front property
in Nebraska!
In the one, the Economy of
Salvation, we have a unique Catholic concept concerned with the
redemption and salvation of man through the providential ordering of
all things necessary to this end. An admirably concise definition is
provided below:
“It is
the elements and resources revealed by God as necessary for the sake
of our salvation through God’s revelation and communication of
Himself to mankind. It refers to God's creation of all things, and
of His governance of the world, especially with regards to Jesus’
part in salvation, which includes His mission being fulfilled by His
Body, the Church, and through the sacraments.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Salvation)
In the other, Economics, we
have from the same source, a definition even more concise:
“the social science
that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods
and services.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics)
The differences, we see, could not
be more distinct. They are ontological in nature — that is to
say, they are concerned with the “being”, the substance, of each
understood as “economies”. The distinction is nothing less than
metaphysical. For further clarity let us say that we predicate the
same title to two different men with the same same name, both of
whom we refer to as: “Doctor Smith”. Doctor John Smith is a
physician. Doctor Joseph Smith is a professor of economics. Because
we make no overt distinction in title does not mean that the two are
identical in function and taxonomy. The professor could not perform
an appendectomy, and the physician could not teach Adam Smith’s,
The Wealth of Nations.
In other words, the two
“Economies” that Francis conflates are really quite different, both
in scope and purpose.
Confusing our mothers
Until the pontificate of Francis we, as Catholics, had two holy
Mothers:
Our Holy Mother the Church
Our Holy Mother, Mary
... and now “our holy
Mother Earth”?
Pope Francis insists that we:
“Love the land as Mother earth”
“Make alliance with Mother Earth”
“This sister [Earth] now cries out to us because of the harm
we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the
goods which God has endowed her with. We have come to see ourselves
as her lord and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence
present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the
soil, in the water, in the air, and in all forms of life.”
This, however, is not how God Himself saw it from the beginning:
“Let us make man to our image and
likeness: and let him have dominion over the fishes of the
sea, and the fowls of the air, and the beasts, and the whole
earth, and every creeping creature that moveth upon the earth.
And God created man to his own image: to the image of God he
created him: male and female he created them. And God blessed
them, saying: Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and
subdue it, and rule over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of
the air, and all living creatures that move upon the earth.”
(Genesis 1.26-28)
“We human beings are united as brothers and
sisters on a wonderful pilgrimage, woven together by the love
God has for each of his creatures and which also unites us in
fond affection with brother sun, sister moon, brother river and
mother earth.”
“One thing is
certain: we can no longer turn our backs on reality, on our
brothers and sisters, on Mother Earth,” (speech at the
Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador)
And that,
“The system of production and distribution of food
must be radically rethought.”
(we do not know from what “school of theology” this derives, but in
the way of structure and policy it is remarkably similar to, if not
a template drawn from, Marxism.)
If much of this is reminiscent of New Age thought and the culture
of the 60’s, we are at least inclined to wonder at the correspondence.
We pray for Francis, that God lead him and guide him in His
ways — and not the ways of the world.
In our humble — and perhaps even mistaken opinion — the last truly
holy and absolutely faithful pope was Pope Pius X. The Seat of Peter
did not expire after his death. Whether or not it has been heroically
Catholic in the last 50 years is, in our opinion, very questionable.
The Church has suffered much and terribly as a consequence of Vatican
II. But just as Pope Pius X sat upon the Cathedra that Honorius
and Alexander stained, another Pope of heroic Catholic sanctity
may await us and restore what had been — once again, in our opinion
— illicitly deprived of us. In that sense we are, indeed, Faithful
to the Sacred Deposit of Faith entrusted to the Holy see in Rome
when it is exercised as such in conspectu Dei, and in complete
continuity and agreement with that 2000 year Deposit of Faith —
which is susceptible to being (illicitly) ignored or prescinded
from to the ends of man, but from which no one can deprive Catholics
—
and which none can abolish.
Remember the admonition of Saint Paul to Saint Timothy:
“For there shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine;
but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves
teachers, having itching ears: And will indeed turn away their hearing
from the truth, but will be turned unto fables.” ( 2
Tim. 4:3-4)
Remember also the deceits of the devil:
“For
our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities
and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against
the spirits of wickedness in the high places.” (Eph.
6.11-12)
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