A Great Pope, Not So Great at Economics

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                        by Kenneth Bagnell

        

    It’s now a month or so since Pope Francis expressed both distress over extreme poverty and his proposed solution – an economic system that was fully inclusive, thereby including the poor. He spoke very candidly and at length, which I quote in more detail than I usually do:

 

“Just as the commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we have to say, ‘Thou shalt not” to an economy of exclusion and inequality… Such an economy kills. How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure but it is news when the stock market loses two points. This is a case of exclusion. Behind this attitude lurks a rejection of ethics and a rejection of God. Ethics has come to be viewed with a certain scornful derision; money must serve — not rule! The Pope loves everyone, rich and poor alike. But he is obliged in the name of Christ to remind all that the rich must help, respect and promote the poor. I exhort you to a generous solidarity and to the return of economics and finance to an ethical approach which favors human beings….”      

 

     As we now know almost too well, Francis returned to this theme recently in South America. This time, he issued a new encyclical, Laudato Si and in it is even more outspoken. One quotation he used supported the view that our economic system is “the dung of the devil”. He went on and on. “Human beings and nature must not be at the service of money,” he said, “because that economy destroys Mother Earth”. That’s not only strong but presumptuous. (I now add I much admire Pope Francis. The New York Times’ gifted columnist David Brooks is right when he says: “Pope Francis is a wonderful example of how to be a truly good person.” Right. But like Brooks I have to add that when it comes to economics he — even though he’s a Jesuit which means he’s very bright — is a bit extreme. I stress that he’s right to address the situation, indeed I welcome his decision to do so, but some of his heavy handed expression and broad negativity, has triggered justified, if unintentional, antagonism. Too bad.

        His predecessor, Pope Benedict, who retired early, was virtually silent on the issue of social responsibility to the poor, and his predecessor, Pope John Paul II was almost likewise. So Francis is to be commended for at least recognizing a major matter which the Vatican has not given the attention Christianity calls for: the fact that our faith simply by its very nature expects its people to live, act and contribute in compassionate and effective ways that will reduce or in time, remove the terrible pain of poverty. How to,  is another matter, the ideal and effective solution, a matter of opinion. Hence, Francis, fine man and fine Pope that he is, ought not to be so absolutist. As a lifelong friend of mine — and a devout Anglican — Leroy Peach, a former Ontario high school teacher, now retired back home and writing a column in Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton Post put it: “Ì believe in development with justice… the economy is a very complex thing…”

   Christians, differ, some very strongly, on this question. The distinct left is inclined to seek the answer in organized technocratic government, the firm right leans strongly to the achievement of the free market. The centrists, of which I am one, seek the answer in a mixed economy. There’s no wand to wave. But the fact is that in recent years as the market system has been given more opportunity in countries, including poverty ridden India and barren China, many thousands of victimized people have found a life in which they prospered. Whereas, 30 years or so ago, over half the world’s people lived on a little over a  dollar a day, that horror has now been reduced to under 20 percent. The trend is underway to a more prosperous world given the market’s recent economic opportunities for the under developed world.

   Not long ago, the reliable BBC news service, reported on this promising economic reality: “The World Bank predicts that by 2030 world poverty will be virtually at its end. The poverty rate in the developing world has been more than halved since 1981. Back then, 52 % of people in developing countries lived on less than 25 cents per day. That has now dropped to 15 percent. In East Africa progress has been remarkable, four out of five people, or 80 percent lived in poverty in 1981 and that rate has now dropped to 8 percent. On current trends, the fastest growing region in the world could see the end of poverty within a generation. It appears the answer to poverty is economic growth.”

    I expect much of this unfortunate eruption will blow over. (In fact the whole controversy may well turn out to be constructive.) In July on his flight back from Paraguay, he spent just over an hour taking questions from the journalists on board. They pressed him on his pointed criticism, almost as if they hoped he’d review critically what he had said. He replied in ways that virtually admitted he was a bit off base.  It was somewhat surprising in a man of his intelligence that Francis acknowledged he didn’t know much about economics. He called the excess of his language “an error of mine.” Reconsidering it all, was in his own words “something I need to do”.   He even gave the media people credit for their questions. “I think,” he said, “you’re telling me about something I need to do.” He then told them he’d study all the criticism, and following that enter dialogue with those with backgrounds in economics and holding positions of influence. (We should hope he begins his study now, well in advance of his five day visit starting September 22 to the United States — Washington, Philadelphia and New York — where the media will be waiting.) As he put it: “dialogue must ensue.”  He’s an honorable man. That’s why, with David Brooks, I hold him in such high regard, a man truly worthy of the papacy.

   

  

             

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