The Catholic Church Has Issues

Pope Paul VI and Pope Leo VIII: The Issue of Resource Sharing In Modern Social Times

John Arnold
Poli Sci 355
11/11/99

Just as Pope John Paul II addresses the delicate issue of property, Pope Paul VI condemns the intolerable injustices caused by the misappropriation of property and governments that do not recognize earthly goods are meant for everyone, as did his predecessor Pope Leo VIII whose teachings directed to the rich was “to own money is distinct form the just use of money (34).” Each Pope was in agreement that the economic system of their respective times were the same systems which were allowing and encouraging various forms of human exploitation, i.e., low wages and denial of workers’ human dignity.

Each Pope built their respective teaching on, and took license with, the teachings of Pope Leo VIII who insisted God gave the earth for man to enjoy. “He intended indiscriminate ownership of it by all, but because He assigned no part to anyone in ownership, leaving the limits of private possession to be fixed by the industry of men and the institutions of peoples (14).” This is the point of contention throughout the ages, i.e., the sharing of the resources between the rich and the poor.

In the encyclical teachings Populorum Progressio, The Development of Peoples, Pope Paul VI addresses governments on the question of property, the conflicts between the classes, the new world order; and the alarming disproportions in developing economies. In this “Third World” text Pope Paul VI is building directly on the earlier teachings of his antecedent, Pope Leo XIII, who saw an urgent need for Catholics to have a presence in political life. In Pope Paul VI’s 1967 teachings, he justified the church encouraging political involvement by referencing the second Vatican Ecumenical Council, as “a renewed consciousness of the demands of the Gospel making it her duty to put herself at the service of all, to help them (the wealthy) grasp their serious problem in all its dimensions and to convince them that solidarity in action at this turning point in human history is a matter of urgency.” Pope Leo VIII’ s teachings were in relationship to the Industrial Revolution.

Pope Paul VI’s teaching may have been related to the New World Order. However, both Pope Paul VI’s and Pope Leo VIII’s teachings were addressing the complex social issue of the rich and the poor, during each Pope’s respective time and place.
Pope Leo XIII offered ideas and methods for giving rise to liberalism and at the same time models of sensible socialism to meet the need for fundamental rights and obligations of humanity (Marxist?). His years of diplomatic experience had given him a certain flexibility; Leo XIII reversed much of the conservative political policy of Pope Pius IX. However, Rerum Novarum ((1891), was especially important for the leadership he gave on the social question of the condition of individual workers in the modern world. This teaching was necessary to document and outlined the duties of improved behaviors of individual employers as well as the responsibility of workers. Pope Leo VIII went further in upholding the principles of collective bargaining, just wages, and private property, “All human beings are born equal in dignity and rights.” Seventy-five years later, Pope Paul VI wrote, “Inequality is normal.” Again, In Populorum Progressio, Pope Paul VI’s teachings deal with the hard reality of modern economics and the imbalance between the rich and the poor.

In 1967, Pope Paul VI wrote, “Local and individual undertakings are no longer enough. The present condition of the world demands concerted action, based on a clear vision of all economic social and cultural and spiritual aspects. We have a duty, since we have benefited from people who came before us, to make life better for those who come after us (13).” Pope Paul VI makes it clear he is including all men of God's will (Nostra Aetate) including non-Catholics (82) and, in chapter (5) he brings together Catholic sons and Christian brothers to address the issues of government making certain the big countries would not exploit smaller countries, and rich landowners would not continue to treat workers and the poor inhumanly.

Pope Paul VI specifically addresses the rich people in chapter seven: Colonizing powers have furthered their own interest, power and glory, with one kind of crop. But he also praises the landowners because they brought their science and technical knowledge, and left beneficial results of their presence in under-privileged regions; brining improved living conditions. Nevertheless, because the wealthy often have vast influence within governments and continue to “not see” the plight of the poor, Pope Paul VI encourages the press to present “efforts to promote mutual assistance among peoples as well as the spectacles of the miseries which men tend to forget in order to quiet their consciences, “Thus at least the wealthy will know that the poor stand outside their doors waiting to receive some leftovers from their banquets.”
Pope Paul VI appears to instruct governments to become the It is obvious this pope was leaning more to the Marxist ideology. Pope Paul VI goes so far as to encourage governments to make the wealthy “accept the necessary taxes on their luxuries and their wasteful expenditures, in order to bring about development and to save peace. “ This is very similar to Pope Leo XIII teachings regarding wages and the ability to earn a living (70). Pope Leo VIII suggest the state should be the arbitrary between the poor and those who own the resources (25).

Just as written in Rerum Novarum, because the lowest cannot be made equal with the highest, in civil society, because of their individual talents and skills, overseers of the rich to make certain the wealth is shared with the workers. The socialists presuppose that the different classes in society are automatically hostile to one another. There will always be those differences in the conditions of citizens without which society could neither exist nor be conceived.

Pope Leo XIII would be in agreement with Pope Paul VI in that the poor must be taken care of. Pope Leo XIII did not support the socialists idea of taking from the rich and giving to the poor, because it violates the rights of “lawful landowners, and throws the state government into confusion.” This is an area Pope Leo XIII suggests we all should approach very carefully, after all, the reason the poor people work is to save enough money to buy some land of their own. If the system was changed, there would be no incentives for the poor to continue to work, and this could lead to anarchy.