The Economic Message of Pope Francis" "Evangeli Gaudium"

By Andrew Abela, Dean of the School of Business and Economics
The Catholic University of America

The Pope’s recent Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium has some provocative things to say about the economy.  Dean Abela comments on the Pope’s words in the National Catholic Register. 

“Too narrow a focus by some commentators on  the economic aspects of Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel) risks hiding the unity of the Holy Father’s challenge to Catholics.

Francis wants the joy that “fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus” (1) to spread through evangelization, with a renewed effort to serve the poor (48). He gives us both principled and pragmatic reasons for prioritizing this concern for the poor. First, because God wills it (187). Second, because this would be the “‘the greatest and most effective presentation of the good news of the Kingdom’” (199; quoting Blessed John Paul II). Imagine the powerful impact and witness of 1.2 billion Catholics around the world working diligently and daily to improve the lives of the poor. Third, the inequality and lost productivity of the poor is a drag on the growth of the global economy and will lead to further economic crises (202).

He asks us not only to perform “small daily acts of solidarity in meeting the real needs which we encounter,” but also to “work to eliminate the structural causes of poverty and to promote the integral development of the poor” (188).

What are these structural causes, and how do we eliminate them?”   Read more here.