Pope Talks Economics

Saw this article in the news last night: Pope Talks Economics

Pope Benedict XVI warned Thursday at the start of a visit to crisis-hit Spain that Europe won’t be able to emerge from its economic woes unless it realizes that economic policy cannot be guided by a profit-driven mentality alone.

He said the continent must take ethics into account and look out for the common good.

Of course, who better to define the common good for the entire continent than the Pope himself, right? Sounds like a good time to revisit John Robbins’ lectures:

• The Economic Thought of the Roman Church-State, John Robbins
• The Political Thought of the Roman Church-State, John Robbins

And his book:

Ecclesiastical Megalomania: The Economic and Political Thought of the Roman Catholic Church (Paperback) $19.95

Click to enlarge John W. Robbins Trade paperback, 326 pages, indexed, [1999 ] 2006 The noted English political philosopher A. P. D’Entrèves argued that “it is hardly possible for the modern man to accept the system which St. Thomas founded…without renouncing the notion of civil and religious liberty which we have some right to consider the most precious conquest of the West.” Ecclesiastical Megalomania explains the conflict between Roman Catholicism and freedom in detail, relying on official Vatican pronouncements to demonstrate that Roman Catholicism is hostile to constitutional government, political and economic freedom, and the private property order. The “Mother Church” is the mother of feudalism, the corporative state, liberation theology, the welfare state, and fascism. Contents: Part 1: Envy Exalted. Private Property; The Universal Destination of Goods; Rerum Novarum: On the Condition of the Working Classes; Subsequent Encyclicals; Feudalism and Corporativism; Liberation Theology; The Redistributive State and Interventionism; Has the Pope Beatified Ayn Rand? Part 2: Autocracy Adored. Lord Acton on Roman Catholic Political Thought; Roman Catholic Political Theory; The Political Thought of Thomas Aquinas; Persecution, Inquisition, and Slavery; The Nineteenth Century; The Magisterium; Solidarity, Subsidiarity, and the Common Good; Fascism and Nazism; Totalitarianism; Strategy for Subverting a Republic; World Government; 2000: Jubilee, Punctuated by Apologies. Appendices: The Donation of Constantine; The Vatican Decree of 1870; Bibliography; Index; Scripture Index