Does the Catholic Church think capitalism is unfair to poor people?

[beren andres]

[-]

generally Christendom doesn't worry about whether or not capitalism is fair / unfair.
Christendom follow religious beliefs instead of secular teachings and isn't worried about capitalism.
sorry

[Harold]

When it treats working people badly, yes.

[Dear Dogma]

It's not so much capitalism, as it is the materialism and greed that usualy come from it, and as a rule, it is unfair to poor people so the Catholic church teaches against it.

[Robert S]

The Catholic Church is not a thinking entity.
The leadership has said that Capitalism can be unfair.

[Benotafraid]

The basis of Capitalism, the idea that each person uses their abilities to the best of their abilities and situations and earns a living, is accepted as a more ideal economic system to have. The issue with Capitalism is when a few profit off of the many without allowing them to enhance themselves. In theory Capitalism is a system that allows anyone to reach the top if they work hard and apply themselves in the right field, in actuality that is rare and the exception rather than the norm.

What the Church opposes is unbridled Capitalism that does not allow for a living wage to be given for the work that is done. If a person works a 15 hour day, each day for a week just for a loaf of bread then the system is unjust and oppressing the dignity of the human person. Yet if the work is done for 8 hours a day, allows the person the ability to spend time with family, to worship and still get by in life then the system is respecting the persons dignity.

[Rachel]

I suppose you've read this:

http://www.lds.org/liahona/2014/01/the-b...e&lang=eng

[RUKiddingtoo]

I think the Pope might. I don't think the Church nor the majority of it's members does, though.

[imacatholic2]

Yes.

Do you remember in Dickens' "The Christmas Carol" when Ebenezer Scrooge was being asked for a donation to the poor?

"Are there no prisons?" asked Scrooge.

"Plenty of prisons," said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.

"And the Union workhouses?" demanded Scrooge. "Are they still in operation?"

"They are. Still," returned the gentleman, "I wish I could say they were not."

"The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?" said Scrooge. ...

"Many can't go there; and many would rather die."

"If they would rather die," said Scrooge, "they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.

Pure Capitalism is survival of the economic fittest. The economic unfit have no place in a pure Capitalistic economy. This philosophy goes entirely against the Christian ethic of human dignity and love of neighbor.

The Catholic Church has rejected the totalitarian and atheistic ideologies associated in modern times with "communism" or "socialism."

She has likewise refused to accept, in the practice of "capitalism," individualism and the absolute primacy of the law of the marketplace over human labor.

Regulating the economy solely by centralized planning (Communism) perverts the basis of social bonds; regulating it solely by the law of the marketplace (Capitalism) fails social justice, for "there are many human needs which cannot be satisfied by the market."

Reasonable regulation of the marketplace and economic initiatives, in keeping with a just hierarchy of values and a view to the common good, is to be commended.

A theory that makes profit the exclusive norm and ultimate end of economic activity is morally unacceptable. The disordered desire for money cannot but produce perverse effects. It is one of the causes of the many conflicts which disturb the social order.

A system that "subordinates the basic rights of individuals and of groups to the collective organization of production" is contrary to human dignity. Every practice that reduces persons to nothing more than a means of profit enslaves man, leads to idolizing money, and contributes to the spread of atheism.

"You cannot serve God and mammon."

For more information, see Catechism of the Catholic Church, sections 2419 and following: http://www.nccbuscc.org/catechism/text/p...shtml#2419

With love in Christ