The Vatican Said What? [Document calling for 'Central World Bank' has no binding authority]

Inside the Vatican / The Moynihan Report ^ | October 24, 2011 | Dr. Robert Moynihan

[Brian Kopp DPM]

The Vatican Said What?

The important piece of news out of Rome today is that the Vatican has allegedly called for a "central world bank" in reponse to the continuing speculation and instability in the world financial system.

 

I say "allegedly" because the text in which this call appears is not by Pope Benedict, but by a Vatican office, the Council for Justice and Peace. Such an office can issue papers which do not bear the Pope's "seal of approval" in the same way that a papal encyclical would.

 

We are dealing here, then, with something on the order of a "position paper," not a text containing authoritative magisterial teaching.

 

It is a serious document, worth weighing with real attention — and this is why I include the complete text below — but not a document with binding doctrinal authority.

 

Nevertheless, after the Vatican released the document at a press conference this morning, the internet was  abuzz with reports like the following one from Reuters, suggesting that this document's call for some controls over global financial speculation links the Vatican ideologically to the US protest movement "Occupy Wall Street" (!!!).

 

That's a bit of a stretch.

 

Here are selections from the Reuters article:

 

Vatican Calls for 'Central World Bank' to Be Set Up

 

Published: Monday, 24 Oct 2011 | 6:54 AM ET

 

Text By: Reuters

The Vatican called on Monday for the establishment of a "global public authority" and a "central world bank" to rule over financial institutions that have become outdated and often ineffective in dealing fairly with crises.

A major document from the Vatican's Justice and Peace department should be music to the ears of the "Occupy Wall Street" (OWS) demonstrators and similar movements around the world who have protested against the economic downturn.

The 18-page document, "Towards Reforming the International Financial and Monetary Systems in the Context of a Global Public Authority," was at times very specific, calling, for example, for taxation measures on financial transactions. (...)

It called for the establishment of "a supranational authority" with worldwide scope and "universal jurisdiction" to guide economic policies and decisions.

Such an authority should start with the United Nations as its reference point but later become independent and be endowed with the power to see to it that developed countries were not allowed to wield "excessive power over the weaker countries." (...)

It said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) no longer had the power or ability to stabilize world finance by regulating overall money supply and it was no longer able to watch "over the amount of credit risk taken on by the system."

The world needed a "minimum shared body of rules to manage the global financial market" and "some form of global monetary management."

"In fact, one can see an emerging requirement for a body that will carry out the functions of a kind of 'central world bank' that regulates the flow and system of monetary exchanges similar to the national central banks," it said.
 

============

 

Is the Vatican "to the left of Pelosi"?

 

Likewise, in an article in USA Today, entitled "Vatican meets OWS: 'The economy needs ethics'", reporter Cathy Lynn Grossman cites Jesuit Father Thomas Reese, senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center, Georgetown University, as saying that the Vatican view is "closer to views of the 'Occupy Wall Street' movement than anyone in the U.S. Congress."

Grossman added: "Reese says it's not only to the left of President Obama, it's 'to the left of Nancy Pelosi.'"

And she repeats the point, writing a second time that "on economic issues, the Pope is to the left of Obama. He is even to the left of liberal Democrats like Nancy Pelosi."

 

====================

 

A Bit of Perspective

 

The feisty president of the Catholic League, Bill Donhue, then leaped into the fray, saying the "early chatter" has exaggerated what the document is actually saying.

 

Here is Donohue's statement:
 
VATICAN COUNCIL CALLS FOR FINANCIAL REFORM

 
The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace issued a document today titled, "Toward Reforming the International Financial and Monetary Systems in the Context of Global Public Authority." Commenting on it is Catholic League president Bill Donohue:
 
There has been much hyperventilation from some quarters over the release of this document. All of it is unwarranted.

 

To begin with, the text is not an encyclical, nor is it the work of Pope Benedict XVI. Much of what it says is consistent with long-standing Catholic social teaching: the quest for the common good should guide social and economic policy. It properly calls for "abandoning all forms of petty selfishness and embracing the logic of the global common good."
 

Much of the early chatter focuses on the document's call for a global authority to render economic justice. It says, "Benedict XVI himself expressed the need to create a world political authority." The reference is to the pope's encyclical, Caritas in Veritate.

 

The term "world political authority" appears once in the encyclical, the context of which is a plea for "international cooperation" in the pursuit of a more just "political, juridical and economic order." In the very next sentence, the Holy Father stresses that such an authority must "observe consistently the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity."
 
The document released today also emphasizes the need to follow the Catholic principle of subsidiarity. This means that solutions to social and economic problems should begin at the most local level, not at the national, much less the international, level. Indeed, the pope explicitly said in his 2009 encyclical that "subsidiarity is the most effective antidote against any form of all-encompassing welfare state."

 
Today's statement uses terms like "supranational Authority" and "supranational Institution." These neologisms are purely the creation of the authors, Cardinal Peter Turkson and Mario Toso. They are not found in the pope's encyclical. No matter, those who are comparing this text to the demands of the "Occupy Wall Street" crowd should first detail what exactly it is the urban campers want.
 
E-mail: cl@catholicleague.org
 

====================

 

No one knows

 

I then received an email which expressed outrage about the Vatican's new document, as follows:

 

Hello,

I am a practicing Catholic convert, baptized Holy Saturday 2003. I am a Jewish convert. My degrees are in mathematics and statistics but I have a great interest in economics.

I subscribe to the Austrian theory of economics. Many Austrians believe that central banking is at the root of the current financial crisis. The US Federal Reserve is not even a government agency; it is a cartel of privately owned international banking interests that disguises itself as a governmental body. (...)

 

Centralized banking is not a cure; it is the very disease itself. It was the root cause of the dot com bubble, then the housing bubble. The Federal Reserve is essentially a private piggy bank for Wall Street.

And I wake up to find the Vatican is calling for a WORLD CENTRAL BANK!

Look, the Holy Father is infallible on spiritual matters. But he needs to stay out of central banking. The Vatican is clueless on this matter.

The #1 impoverishment vehicle of the people is the Federal Reserve and other central banks. They are perpetrating the largest transfer of wealth from the bottom to the top in world history. (...)

Central banks need to be taken down, not built up further. We need less central banking, not more.

If Satan is operating anywhere in this world with impunity, central banking is the place where you'll find him. It is sucking the financial life blood from the people to prop up bankers and the global elite, and turning a blind eye to every kind of fraud imaginable. It is the #1 place where the money changers of the world gather.

And the Vatican wants MORE of it!

Unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable.

Regards,

G. Atias
 

=======================

 

"No one knows"

 

I then placed several calls to see what some of my contacts might have to say about this document.

 

I concluded that there is one positive thing and one negative thing that can safely be said.

 

The positive thing: this document, in keeping with all of the Church's social teaching, wishes to defend  honesty, transparency, truthfulness and justice in financial dealings over against dishonesty, opacity  false representations and injustice.

 

In this, the document is to be praised, and praised highly. We need honesty and truth-telling in a global economy that is seemingly careening toward a train wreck which will inevitably hurt the poor and weak most of all.

 

The negative thing: the global economy, and especially the global derivatives market, is big, enormous, in fact, so big, so opaque, so complex, that literally no one knows what the situation really is, or what measures to take to undo the financial detonator that seems ready soon to go off.

 

In this sense, the Vatican office's policy recommendations are inevitably insufficient.

 

No one knows what to do about this looming financial train wreck, not even the Vatican.

 

That said, there is no doubt that the virtues of honesty, truthfulness and fair-dealing must be at the center of any possible global solution, and we all will be well-served if thoughtful, honest, good and competent men and women can be placed in a position where they can help unravel this time-bomb before it detonates, or salvage what is left of our economy after it detonates.

 

And this is the essential, laudable meaning of the Vatican's suggestions in this document.

 

=============================================

[Campion]

Unlike a newspaper the council is largely made up of appointees of the Pope.

But like any other committee, they don't always reflect the views of the person who appointed them.

But whether they do or don't, this document has no binding teaching authority on anyone, and Cdl. Turkson made that quite clear by using words like "contribution" and "suggestion". It's a position paper wherein the council expresses an opinion on things. If it were the Pope's opinion and he wanted people to think of it that way, it would have been issued over his signature.

The skeptical can further tell that I'm right in saying that it has no binding authority by looking at Fr. Z's blistering rejection of it. Fr. Z's orthodoxy is hard to impeach.

[redgolum]

Yep.

And this will conflict a lot of Catholics about what should happen.

[Brian Kopp DPM]

paint the Vatican as just an uncontrollable herd of cats again

Anyone who thinks "the Vatican" is a monolithic institution all in lock step with the Pope has no grasp of the reality of the situation.

The Justice and Peace crap comes out of offices closely aligned with the Vatican Secratariat of State. The Vatican Secratariat of State is a political office that is the source of much of the problems in "Rome," just like the Bush administration's Secretary of State office was always a thorn in the side of Bush, and often undermined him.

We adults need to understand that "the Vatican" isn't one big entity in lockstep agreement. It is a place where the world's agenda/politics and the Church's mandate often clash; even churches have opposing factions with political agendas that are diametrically opposed.

Maybe that's something only well understood by us Catholics who have been deep in the battles for the soul of the Church.

I asked someone else if they thought the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano speaks "for the Vatican" or "for the Pope." Every time the liberal editor at L'Osservatore Romano published another liberal piece of clap trap, everyone says "the Vatican has taken a new position on x y z..."

Which is pure nonsense!

I wrote an article for L'Osservatore Romano two years ago. I know for a fact the Pope read it, but he never refuted it or repudiated it, etc...so I guess I speak for the Pope too, huh? Imagine, a right wing FReeper speaks for the Pope, and so does this Justice and Peace bureaucrat.

So much for the monolithic Vatican...

[newzjunkey]

"on economic issues, the Pope is to the left of Obama. He is even to the left of liberal Democrats like Nancy Pelosi."

Reuters positioning Obama as a moderate.

Thanks for this long primer. I'd only seen the Reuters story linked from Drudge but once I saw where at the Vatican this came from I dropped my alarm.

[count-your-change]

Whether a suggestion of having global authority to enforce someones ideas of fairness, etc. is binding or not really isn't the question at hand.

Whether it reflects the opinions of the Vatican is and I would ask whether the Pope has to put his signature on this to show acceptance, agreement, whatever with it.

Has he ever said anything that would lead anyone to assume he disagrees? or has his comments been in agreement with what is in this paper?

That might be a area to explore. Meanwhile I see little reason not to think it has his approval, signature or no.

Noteworthy is the call for a global enforcement entity and the likelihood of this enforcement causing anguish and suffering. To whom is not said.

[count-your-change]

“I asked someone else if they thought the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano speaks “for the Vatican” or “for the Pope.” “

Yes, You asked that of me and did you note my answer?

But if the “document” is just the personal opinions of its authors the whole matter could be made clear with a single sentence from the authors unless they feel that they do indeed speak for the Pope.

[stfassisi]

Thank You!

From Pope Leo XIII
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/leo_xiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_20061888_libertas_en.html

It is sufficient to recall the fact that slavery, that old reproach of the heathen nations, was mainly abolished by the beneficent efforts of the Church. The impartiality of law and the true brotherhood of man were first asserted by Jesus Christ; and His apostles re-echoed His voice when they declared that in future there was to be neither Jew, nor Gentile, nor barbarian, nor Scythian, but all were brothers in Christ. So powerful, so conspicuous, in this respect is the influence of the Church that experience abundantly testifies how savage customs are no longer possible in any land where she has once set her foot; but that gentleness speedily takes the place of cruelty, and the light of truth quickly dispels the darkness of barbarism. Nor has the Church been less lavish in the benefits she has conferred on civilized nations in every age, either by resisting the tyranny of the wicked, or by protecting the innocent and helpless from injury, or, finally, by using her influence in the support of any form of government which commended itself to the citizens at home, because of its justice, or was feared by their enemies without, because of its power

[Brian Kopp DPM]

The authors made it clear how it should be interpreted:

the very authors of the document make clear how it should be evaluated: namely, as a “contribution” (as opposed to a mandate), as a “possible path” (as opposed to a moral proscription), in line with the Magisterium’s social teaching (as opposed to introducing a new teaching), without getting into the technical issues (because the Church is an expert in humanity, not economics) while fully staying within the Church’s religious and ethical functions.

[Alex Murphy]

I wonder, how many in the Teaching Magisterium DO hold this point of view? Is that faction growing, static, or dieing out?

That is the real issue, as far as I'm concerned. There are plenty of "Vatican Officials" cited by the MSM all the time, who say all manner of leftist / socialist things. This happens so often that we all expect it. No one is surprised.

But can anyone name even three "Vatican Officials" who have issued "white papers" advocating conservative ideals like constitutional republics, free markets, private property, owner's rights, or low taxation? What is being taught/discussed in the seminaries and in the Vatican centers of learning, that so many "Vatican Officials", Bishops and Priests pump out this politically socialist nonsense day after day?

Is it the spirit of the age? Or the spirit of the religion?

[BlueDragon]

The writer offer 4 strong points against such an idea as a world "Central Bank".

If one could miraculously get past such as he outlines above, who would be the banker?

Being "St. Peter's Banker" didn't work out so well for Michele Sindona, ie., failure of Franklin Bank in Manhattan/Long Island, followed by U.S. prison, then an Italian prison where he consumed poisoned, cyanide-laced coffee.

Some years later, being "God's banker" also left Roberto Calvi conspicuously hanging around under Blackfriar's Bridge.

What were the three different currencies found in his pockets? Anyone recall?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/19/newsid_3092000/3092625.stm

[count-your-change]

Yes, I read that and what are they saying except that what they wrote is quite normal, nothing radical, “in line with the Magisterium’s social teaching”?

If that be the case why the rush to say downplay it with explanations of how unofficial it is? Of all things it doesn't mean?

Or is it some sort of intellectual warm up exercise to justify support for a U.N. type global authority to dictate economic policy and enforce it?

[Joya]

Thanks RegulatorCountry and Ping to the End Times List plus a couple other folks who might find this of interest.

The temp just went up a degree or two in that pot of water. Did the little froggy notice?

FReegards,
Joya

= = = =
p.s. A.M. asked if it’s “The spirit of the age or spirit of religion?”

If it points to the One World Everything coming soon to a town near you, then it is BOTH age/religion spirit that is a package deal when the End Times happen.

Know Jesus and then you will Know Peace

No Jesus and then you will have No Peace.

Know Him. Not just on Sunday morning. Know Him through and through, all night, all day, 24/7/365: Make it a Priority.

Grab a Bible. Read it for yourself. Pray. Search yourself to see if you have Saving Faith. Faith in the Savior of the World. Inside of you.

Don’t wait. There’s really no other way to the Father except through the Son. It’s not too late. Someday it will be. Don’t wait.

[TruthConquers]

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. NO ONE comes to the Father except though me.”

Jesus Christ, Son of God

Amen

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so much for the ping and exhortation, dear sister in Christ!

[Cronos]

Note the Magisterium is to deal with theological issues, not economical. This is economical so I would read it just as I would read something that the economic department of the government of Andorra puts out.

[Cronos]

he doesn’t care. All the Jehovah’s Witnesses, etc. want is a sound-bite in their futile war against God’s Church.

[Campion]

Meanwhile I see little reason not to think it has his approval, signature or no.

What you think you "see" is not at issue. As I said, if it were the Pope's opinion and he wanted it known as such, it would have been issued over his signature.

[Joya]

“Heavenly Father, Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory both now and forever.”

Our Lord is mighty to save: May we walk by faith and not by sight.

[Campion]

But can anyone name even three "Vatican Officials" who have issued "white papers" advocating conservative ideals like constitutional republics, free markets, private property, owner's rights, or low taxation?

How about Pius IX, Leo XIII, Pius X, Pius XI, Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI?

Presumably you understand that the opinion of a dead Pope counts for more than the opinions of any number of mid-level Vatican officials.

[wideawake]

There are more successful implementations of subsidiarity (i.e. America's federal Constitution) and less successful ones (e.g. the EU's current morass).