QUESTION: Is the concept of capitalism for all advocated by sociologists of Repute?
ANSWER: No less than Pope Pius XII himself has advocated it in his encyclical on The Social Order when he said, “The Christian order cannot admit as just, a social order which either denies on principle, or renders practically impossible or vain, the natural right of possession, both over consumer goods and over the means of production.”
In the preceding sentence, Pope Pius XII talks about the natural right of possession over the means of production. What does his Holiness mean by possession? Does he mean ownership? His encyclical continues with these words:
“Defending the principle of private property then, the Church follows a lofty ethical-social aim. She does not intend purely and simply to sustain the present state of affairs, as if she saw therein the expression of Divine Will, nor to protect, as a matter of principle, the rich and the plutocrat against the poor and the destitute…“The Church aims rather to act so that the institutions of private property may become what it should be, according to the designs of Divine Wisdom and the disposition of nature: an element of social order prerequisite to private initiative, a stimulus to labor to the advantage of temporal and transcendental goals of life, and hence, of the liberty and dignity of man, created in the image of God.”…Just as it is extremely useful to a sound social economy that the increase of capital should come from the greatest number of sources, it is most desirable that the workers also should contribute with the fruits of their savings to the formation of the national capital.”
The principle of capitalism for all was further reiterated by Pope John XXIII in these words:
“Economic conditions have occasioned popular doubt as to whether, under present circumstances, a principle of economic and social life firmly enunciated and defended by our predecessors, has lost this force or is to be regarded as of lesser moment, namely: the principle whereby it is established that men have from nature a right of privately owning goods, including those of a productive kind.”
Such a doubt has no foundation. For the right of private property, including that pertaining to goods devoted to productive enterprises is permanently valid. Indeed, it is rooted in the very nature of things, whereby we learn that individual men are to society, and hence, that civil society is to be directed toward man as its end. Indeed, the right of private individuals to act freely in economic affairs is recognized in vain, unless they are at the same time given an opportunity of freely selecting and using things necessary for the exercise of this right.
Moreover, experience and history testify that where political regimes do not allow private individuals the possession also of productive goods, the exercise of human liberty is violated or completely destroyed in matters of primary importance. As Pope John XXIII previously declared, “Thus, it becomes clear that in the right of property, the exercise of liberty finds both a safeguard and a stimulus.”
Furthermore, in the encyclical, Pope John XXIII stated that
“…It is not enough then, to assert that man has from nature the right of privately possessing good as his own, including those of a productive character, unless at the same time, a continuing effort is made to spread the use of this right through all ranks of citizenry.”
For more extended quotations on the subject, the reader is referred to
Bayanikasan: The Effective Democracy for All. (To be continued)/PN
