Katherine Revello

 Opinion Editor

The Evangelii Gaudium is the Catholic Church’s equivalent of a political party platform. For the first time since ascending the papacy, Pope Francis had a chance to lay down his epistemology in terms that, though straightforward, have engendered controversy.

In his exhortation to the church’s faithful, Francis first underscores the urgency of moving the faith back towards the Christian morality outlaid in the Gospels, and then completely disregards his own message.

In extremely derogatory terms, Francis denounces trickle-down economics and its adherents, saying they express “a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the current economic system.”

He claims the disenfranchised are left marginalized and powerless by this system, that individuals allow themselves to live under the dominion of money and, perhaps most egregiously, states: “Not to share one’s wealth with the poor is to steal from them and to take away their livelihood.”

But deep-seated belief in the tenets of Catholicism, and more broadly, the moral teachings of Christ, and the capitalist mentality are not mutually exclusive, as Francis naively asserts.

Capitalism is a system of volitional transactions between individual actors. The parables that comprise Christ’s ministry, as outlined by the same Gospels, which Catholic faith is built upon, are an account of individuals choosing to act and interact depending upon whether Christ’s message resonated with them personally. There is no force in either system, only discretion.

As to the claim that rich individuals decisions to not share their wealth with the poor is a theft of their livelihood, this is bizarre and collectivistic. By Francis’ telling, individuals are powerless under the sentient machinations of a malevolent economy and those who are supposedly excluded from it are entitled to the wealth of others.

But this view has no basis in any of Christ’s teachings, which hold each person responsible for their own actions. There is no collective judgment. A collective is only formed by the coalescing of individuals around one point, which means individuals have the ability to change a majority.

And this leads into the idea that capitalism is autonomous and overbearing. It is not. In the free market, money is a value. Though it has a public value, individuals choosing to engage in a particular transaction also make discretionary judgments regarding what they consider to be of value. It is the only system that allows the consumer, by giving them free reign over what products they purchase, and thus endorse, to hold producers accountable.

Besides, money is earned through the application of talent and ingenuity. It is character strength applied. Catholics believe that they were created in the image of God and endowed with certain talents. Capitalistic transactions, wherein one plies his or her abilities in exchange for compensation, are individual merit personified. Francis’ interpretation, which rejects this idea, smacks of an omnipotent arrogance that is wholly un-Christian.

Poor also means something more than pecuniary. There are the poor and downtrodden in spirit that Christianity seeks to serve. Francis’ interpretation, however, by placing the corporeal needs of the poor above all else, delegitimizes the needs of other members of the faithful.

Capitalism, and more specifically, trickle-down economics, empowers individuals by giving them free reign to endorse the values that are most in line with their personal beliefs. Christ’s ministry focused on this same sort of volition. He did not force anyone to believe in him or follow him. He merely spoke of right and wrong and allowed others to choose whether they agreed. Nothing is a better catalyst of this than free market capitalism and trickle-down economic theory.