We need a new economic ‘system’ of nice people like me.
Apparently Pope Francis’ Secretary of State Cardinal Parolin had a public discussion/debate with the President of the Italian Senate where they spoke a lot about ‘economics‘.
The Holy See calls for a “financial system that works in service of society”, condemns “the war and all forms of nationalistic arrogance or egoism, including in its financial manifestations” and promotes “an ethical sense of responsibility on the part of big political or economic agents,” encouraging “the free and efficient participation of the poor in building their own economic dignity”. Cardinal Pietro Parolin outlined the Vatican line of action in the field of geopolitics and the social commitment of the Church in a public discussion he had with the President of the Italian Senate, Pietro Grasso during the presentation of a volume titled “Moneta e Impero” (Currency and Empire) and published by Lime, an Italian geopolitics magazine. The presentation took place at Palazzo Maffei-Marescotti, in Rome, in association with Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi.
Let’s try to unpack this nest of self-righteous and condemnatory gobbledegook.
Whenever someone tells you there’s something wrong with the system beware. They are usually trying to put something over on you. Isn’t a ‘financial system’ just people spending their money? If that ‘system’ doesn’t work how will you fix it? How is my giving someone money for something not serving society? The only thing that can go wrong is when laws take away people’s rights to their property, thereby oppressing them.
Before Cardinal Parolin’s first line is finished, the ‘broken’ system is linked to war. Then war is linked to nationalism, arrogance, and egoism. Next those bad things are ‘manifested’ financially. (This kind of talk only means something in college.) In Parolin’s mind the new non-broken system would ‘promote’ an ethical sense of responsibility on the part of ‘big political or economic agents.’
Does a ‘system’ promote things and create an ‘ethical sense of responsibility’ or does a system rely on on laws? Because I think what the Cardinal is dreaming of will require laws; laws that force ‘big agents’ to do something he thinks is not unethical, warlike, arrogant, egotistical, or irresponsible, and serves society.
Still running with the same sentence, Cardinal Parolin’s new system will encourage “the free and efficient participation of the poor in building their own economic dignity.”
Whenever someone considers ‘the poor’ as a group beware, because ‘the poor’ are just people who don’t have money at the moment. If you give them money they won’t be poor any more but someone else will. Poor is a fluid condition that varies based on effort. If they by definition have no money, how will ‘the poor’ participate in the new ethical financial system?
Finally the bigger question for the Catholic cardinal, “When did money ever give someone dignity?” Dignity comes from God and our cooperation with his law. If you follow Cardinal Parolin’s thinking, the Holy Family would have no dignity!
The Pope’s main collaborator pointed out the need for “an economy that is able to give life to enterprises inspired by the principle of solidarity and able to create sociality”.
What does solidarity really mean other than helping others and togetherness, and what in the world is ‘sociality?’
The cooperatives established at the end of the 19th century are to be seen as models. “They were the response to the first capitalistic globalisation” which “brought huge suffering to the people of Europe and was linked to the imperialistic disputes that led to the First World War”. Today, as was the case back then, the limit to the pact between big capital and the exercise of power is an economy “promoted by people who have nothing but the common good at heart and in their minds”.
There’s something telling here. At the core of the cardinal’s new system are nice people! It’s a system based on nice people. That’s the difference. I wonder who those people are? Certainly Cardinal Parolin is one of them.
This bare radical formula isn’t too complicated.
People with power and money = Bad, Selfish
‘New system’ decision-makers = Nice, Caring.
It’s good to know a powerful prince of the Church has such a refined moral sense.
“Big capital tends to finance established powers and the more profitable activities”; while credit is not available to the poor.” For this reason, “taking the superior dignity of man as its starting point, the Church does not give up in the face of this state of things but perseveres in stressing the dignity of mankind.” Cardinal Parolin pointed the finger at “the rather obvious link between big finance, the exercise of power and the competition between the various centres of power”. “it is difficult to establish whether priority is given to imperial objectives or finance and both fuel each other.”
I don’t know if money drives politics or politics enables money but they both have to make way, and we in the Church are just the ones to help it because we know it’s not about money at all. It’s about dignity, and the more of your money we quarantine, the more dignity we’re gonna spread around.