In this issue, David Hart commends Pope Francis as a critic of global capitalism. I’m less enthusiastic. Yes, there’s a great deal about the global economic system to criticize, but the Holy Father tends to use a rhetorical machete rather than an analytical scalpel. He bloodies topics like global warming, integral human development, and the culture of consumption. I’d prefer more careful dissection with the instruments of Catholic social doctrine.
By Hart’s reading, Laudato Si provides unobjectionable statements of self-evident fact and uncontroversial Christian principles. Perhaps, but I’m struck by an apocalyptic tone uncharacteristic of post–Vatican II magisterial teaching. As I’ve written elsewhere, Francis seems to be channeling the spirit of Pius IX, the great nineteenth-century pope who could well have spoken of modernity reeking with “the stench of . . . ‘the dung of the devil,’” a vivid image from the Church Fathers that Francis recently used to describe the spiritual consequences of making an idol of capitalism. His depictions of environmental disaster, economic exploitation, and a “throwaway” culture are dark and dire. The urgency of his denunciations agitates conservatives like me. It encourages the media to say, “Pope slams capitalism.”
A perfectly normal and necessary response has been to fix on the substance of the pope’s statements, which can usually be parsed as appropriate criticisms of greed and exploitation. He isn’t rejecting capitalism; he’s critiquing its excesses. I’ve done some of that myself. But that ignores the challenging rhetoric, which may end up being the most important aspect of this papacy. Francis is a man of bold words and striking gestures.
