Gentle Readers,

The Holy Father, Pope Francis continues to make headlines, what with the Time Man of the Year award and all.

LTC Dan (@LTCDanR) writes:

Dear Dr. J., 

Thoughts? Comments?, 

LTC Dan

Dear LTC Dan,

Thank you for writing in.

Dr. J. thinks that the Holy Father hails from the same continent as some priests and bishops who have gone off the plantation with regard to Liberation Theology, but Dr. J. is not convinced he is one of them. Dr. J. believes that Pope Francis is a pastor first and Pope second in his own mind. His language is the language of a humble local friar rather than a religious academic or religious bureaucrat.

The original papal statement that got everyone talking was his Evangelii Gaudium. The media on the left continue to love Pope Francis as they have a problem with hearing what  they want to hear. Unfortunately they aren’t listening carefully. The ‘trashing’ of capitalism is a mistranslation.

The Vatican Mistranslation:

54. In this context, some people continue to 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.

Rocha’s ‘inexpert translation’

54. In this context, some people still defend “spillover” [“trickle-down”] theories, which suppose that all economic growth, favored by the free market, by itself brings about greater equity and social inclusion in the world.

That’s a big difference. The phrase in Spanish is ‘por sí mismo’ which means in itself.

Dr. J. interprets this in the way Catholic teachings from the Catechism has taught him that capitalism is the engine for wealth generation, but capitalism can’t in itself raise up the poor and otherwise oppressed. The capitalists, the successful must be willing to do good with the wealth they earn. This is where Ayn Rand, as brilliant a philosopher as she is, falls apart.

For her it is:
1) Unfettered Capitalism
2) Happily Ever After

For a good Catholic Capitalist
1) Unfettered Capitalism
2) Be Generous
3) Happily Ever After

It is this step two which the mysterious paragraph 54 speaks of. Your Gormogons are very charitable, indeed we’ve posted multiple times about our charities, and a couple of ones our friends support. Indeed the Church wants all her followers to be generous and help the less fortunate when we can. That’s no shocker. Pope Francis’s words are more practical than his predecessors because he’s spent more time on the front lines. He is simply a very charitable man whose example we should follow, as it is how we’ve been called by the Church long before he was Pope. Charity isn’t Marxism.

He says:

“Marxist ideology is wrong,” he told La Stampa. “But I have met many Marxists in my life who are good people, so I don’t feel offended.” Outspoken US conservatives including Rush Limbaugh, the radio talk show host, have attacked the pope for an exhortation he made in November in which Francis said it would be impossible to overcome global poverty until the structural causes of inequality and financial speculation were resolved.

In summary, he spends a lot of his time living and acting to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, a dry read if there ever was one, despite his willingness to help the poor and the sick, call out aristocratic bishops, and lead with love (some of my best friends are Marxists, who am I to judge). Despite the headlines, he has neither said nor done anything that is inconsistent with Catholic teaching. Be warned, however, the media backlash is coming, as he is and will always be staunchly pro-life.

Dr. J.