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. Its
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:
“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
and encroaching Communism of
the “groovy 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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