Studia Gilsoniana (Dec 2021)
Proprietà e identità: La Dottrina sociale della Chiesa e l’unione fra cristianesimo e capitalismo
Abstract
This paper reaffirms the truth of the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church (CSD) and its impact in the socioeconomic sphere in Western Civilization. Specifically, it seeks to put in order the chaos in which secularized European society currently finds itself. Through Archbishop Giampaolo Crepaldi’s interpretation of CSD, the author dispels erroneous notions of collectivism surrounding private property, productive work, solidarity, and subsidiarity by arguing that a proper understanding of these principles supports a healthy capitalism, which in turn supports human dignity. Only through a capitalism in line with a proper understanding of CSD principles can the poor stand to gain the most, provided they have a socioeconomic framework in which they can independently thrive. Liberation theology as a cornerstone of a socioeconomic framework destroys the foundation the Church established through the centuries. In the interpretation of the relationship between the CSD and the capitalist economy provided by this paper, the concept of private property emerges as the central nucleus of any human operation, be it cultural, economic, social, or political. Ownership does not only mean possessing material things, but also spiritual elements. Thus ownership also means identity, of a person and of a people. As we enter the third decade of the twenty-first century, the ideology of political correctness—that is, the ideology of the various cultural and political movements of the left—condemns identity as dangerous, a condemnation which furthers the operation of globalization, the homogenization of humanity, and the related attempt to weaken nations in view of a supranational management. If identity is one of the consequences of the concept of property, then this latter must also be banned, as an obstacle on the way to that global dis-identification that would herald a socialization of the Western world. But from the perspective of the main spiritual foundation of the West, that is, of the Judeo-Christian tradition, property is one of the pillars of society, and therefore cannot be suppressed or even undermined. The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church, founded by Pope Leo XIII and relaunched by Pope John Paul II, is an excellent antidote to the ideological poison of socialism and progressivism now wide-spread in all Western countries.
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