Why Pope Francis is Exactly What The Church Needs

This week Pope Francis took on “unfettered” capitalism and asked world leaders to take the time to stop its explosion everywhere. It has been a long time since the Pontiff has taken on economics. His predecessors usually stayed mum on the subject. The much-lauded Pope John Paul II  didn’t tour communist countries because of economic repression but rather the religious repression and the millions of secret catholics hidden behind the iron curtain. However, economics and the Catholic Church have often intersected throughout its storied history. During the Middle Ages for example the intake of great wealth from prominent persons that were joining the church for its culture of farming, clean living, and virtue bolstered its strained coffins. As feudalism fell to mercantilism and capitalism and the church quite being supported by taxes the death of wealthy catholics and their donations grew the Catholic coffers even more. Now the Church is an economic power house and it contributes to local economies in a variety of ways. So why the sudden attack on capitalism? In the late 19th century the Church called on people to give and quoted Thomas Aquinas at length to prove their point, “To whom much is given much more is expected.” It became the battle cry of Church economics it just became awfully quiet. Pope Francis is reviving it and its a good thing.