[Servant of the Cross]

I think this Pope, like a lot in the Catholic church, are redistributionists at heart.

When the supposed definition of "Catholic" extends to Pelousy and Biden, of course you're right about "redistributionists". IMHO, I don't believe it extends to Pope Francis however. Two good articles referring to the Pope's new encyclical "Evangelii Gaudium" (The Joy of the Gospel) put additional context to his statements. Evangelii Gaudium is "a clarion call for a decisive shift in the Catholic Church's self-understanding, in full continuity with the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI." However, it has unfortunately been subjected to being "celebrated, or lamented, as if it were an Occupy Whatever position paper for a G-8 summit."

Weigel: Pope Francis the Revoutionary (sorry, WSJ subscription only)

Williamson: The Problem of Selfishness (at NRO and more about 0bama than Pope Francis)

For the record, I concur with Williamson as he points out ....

... the default Catholic position seems to be delegating economic justice to the state, under the mistaken theory that its ministers are somehow less selfish than are the men who build and create and trade for a living rather than expropriate. Strange that a man who labored under the shadow of Perón has not come to that conclusion on his own.

p.s. Happy Thanksgiving! No shopping!

[Servant of the Cross]

Catholic ping. Pope Francis encyclical ... Evangelii Gaudium.

[C. Edmund Wright]

WILLIAMSON: "... the default Catholic position seems to be delegating economic justice to the state, under the mistaken theory that its ministers are somehow less selfish than are the men who build and create and trade for a living rather than expropriate. Strange that a man who labored under the shadow of Perón has not come to that conclusion on his own." ..and I think that agreeing with Williamson on that point makes it hard to take that WSJ editorial seriously. I may be a hard ass, but by the time somone is Pope, President, a netork anchor, or even a mere congressman, I think it's inexcusable not to understand basic economics, not to mention all of world history, which is that free enterprise has lifted more people out of poverty than charity, let alone Governments, ever can or will.