Lux Lucet

Evangelii Gaudium, the recent papal exhortation by Francis I, has been seen correctly by many as an attack on capitalism. Headlines and stories on the internet speak of the pope denouncing “unfettered capitalism” (see here and here), prompting no less a personage than Rush Limbaugh to weigh in on the matter. In his comments on the pope’s exhortation, Limbaugh stated,

“You know, the pope, Pope Francis — this is astounding — has issued an offical papal proclamation, and it’s sad. It’s actually unbelievable. The pope has written, in part, about the utter evils of capitalism. And I have to tell you, I’ve got parts of it here I can share with you. It’s sad because this pope makes it very clear he doesn’t know what he’s talking about when it comes to capitalism and socialism and so forth.”

Limbaugh’s full statement shows an admirable appreciation for capitalism and its role in producing prosperity. At the same time, he also betrays a profound naivety regarding the nature of the Roman Catholic Church-State. Limbaugh, who states in the article that he is not catholic – according to one source I found, he is a non-practicing Methodist – appears genuinely shocked that the Vatican would issue such a statement, and suggests that the harsh, anti-capitalist tone of the exhortation may be due to a mistranslation by leftists. I was unable to find the original language document for Evangelii Gaudium – I assume it is in Latin – to check it against the English version. But given the papacy’s long standing hatred of laissez-faire economics, there is no good reason to assume the pope’s translators got it wrong, and every reason to think they got it right.

Trent Horn, an apologist for Catholic Answers attacked Limbaugh’s review of Evangelii Gaudium by saying that Limbaugh doesn’t understand the pope. Horn criticized Limbaugh for quoting the a Washington Post article about what the pope said rather than the pope himself. Horn quotes Limbaugh as saying, “This is just pure Marxism coming out of the mouth of the pope. Unfettered capitalism? That doesn’t exist anywhere. ‘Unfettered capitalism’ is a liberal socialist phrase to describe the United States.” Horn pounces on Limbaugh by pointing out that while the Washington Post article uses the term “unfettered capitalism”, Evangelii Gaudium does not. This much is true. But the absence of the “unfettered capitalism” in the pope’s exhortation, does not mean the idea itself is absent, or that the pope did not denounce it. In fact, Trent Horn says as much is his defense of the pope. Horn writes,

“Limbaugh later said, ‘[J]uxtaposed against the actions of Pope John Paul II, this pope and the things that he released yesterday or recently are really striking.’

No, they aren’t. In his 1991 encyclical Centesimum Annus, Pope John Paul II reflected on socialism and capitalism in light of the recent fall of the Soviet Union. Although he acknowledged that profit has a ‘legitimate role’ in the function of a business and that ‘the Marxist solution’ to economic inequality had failed, he also spoke of the ‘inadequacies of capitalism’ and said that profit is the (sic) not the only indicator that a business is doing well. The human dignity of workers matter (sic) too, and if capitalism is left unchecked it becomes ‘ruthless’ and leads to ‘inhuman exploitation.’ Pope Francis’s words are consistent with John Paul’s.”

Now let’s unpack this quote. John Paul II spoke of the “inadequacies of capitalism” and indicated that “if left unchecked” it becomes “ruthless.” If “unchecked” capitalism means the same thing as “unfettered capitalism” – and this seems to be the case – and if Francis’ words are consistent with those of John Paul II, as even Trent Horn admits, then pope Francis I did in fact denounce “unfettered capitalism” in Evangelii Gaudium as reported, even if the term did not appear in the exhortation itself. This is why the control+F function, which Horn suggested Limbaugh should have used, is not always up to the task when it comes to interpreting documents. The discerning reader will look for logically equivalent terms, not simply identical words. The headline writers, remarkably, and Rush Limbaugh seem to have understood the pope quite well indeed.