On Eve of Obama Visit, the Pope Stands Firm Against Relativism and for Economic Freedom

James M. Roberts / July 10, 2009

Although the timing of its release may be a coincidence, Pope Benedict XVI’s recently published encyclical, “Caritas in Veritate” (Charity in Truth), sets the stage for his meeting on July 10 with President Obama. As readers around the world continue to reflect on the 30,000-word encyclical, many would like to read in it support for Obama’s all-out push for massive government intervention in the economies of the world’s nations. But the encyclical makes strong endorsements of the market-based economic principles necessary for people everywhere to enjoy economic freedom and growth.

As George Weigel notes, in the encyclical the Pope does not “regard the market as morally problematic in itself” but faults “the moral culture in which markets exists” in part for the global economic crisis. The well-being of humanity is “the source, the focus and the aim of all economic and social life,” the Pope writes, and he looks to “the market to promote [the] emancipation” of the poor. (more…)