Inside the Vatican: "Catholic Teaching and the Elections"

"The 2012 presidential election has brought America's economic crisis into sharp focus. Despite ephemeral gains in the stock market and manipulation of unemployment statistics, the economy continues to stagnate. Growth is limited, by and large, to the financial services industry that shifts around existing wealth, and government, which produces nothing. Ordinary people, unable to gain an adequate and secure income by their own efforts, are increasingly dependent on the State for meeting their daily needs."

— "Catholic Teaching and the Elections," Inside the Vatican, April 2012

This month's issue of Inside the Vatican, the world's most well-informed, comprehensive Catholic news magazine on events and developments within the governing body of the Catholic Church, has published "Catholic Teaching and the Elections" by contributing editor Michael D. Greaney, CPA, MBA, Director of Research for the Center for Economic and Social Justice in Arlington, Virginia, U.S.A. The article takes a hard-hitting look at what the major candidates in the upcoming American election fail to offer the citizens of the U.S. and all the people of the world to restore a sound and sustainable economy.

What all the candidates are missing is a program of economic recovery in which all citizens, not just the upper 1%, can participate and benefit. The author outlines a proposal consistent with principles of justice that underpin the social teaching of the Catholic Church and all major religions and philosophies. As Pope Leo XIII pointed out more than a century ago, true economic justice can only be achieved through an aggressive program of expanded capital ownership that does not rely on redistributing existing wealth:

"This great labor question cannot be solved save by assuming as a principle that private ownership must be held sacred and inviolable. The law, therefore, should favor ownership, and its policy should be to induce as many as possible of the people to become owners."

— Rerum Novarum, § 46

The April 2012 issue of Inside the Vatican may be ordered by phoning 1-800-789-9494 (toll free for USA & Canada); 1-270-325-5499 (for all other countries), or by sending an e-mail to: service@insidethevatican.com. Individual copies are $5.00 to U.S. addresses, and $8.00 to other countries.

Subscriptions to Inside the Vatican are $49.95 in the U.S., and $74.95 in other countries.

Permission to reprint or post "Catholic Teaching and the Elections" on your blog or website should be obtained in writing from Inside the Vatican, which holds the copyright: service@insidethevatican.com.

More information on economic recovery through expanded capital ownership can be found on the website of the Center for Economic and Social Justice under the heading "Capital Homesteading," and in the "CESJ Bookstore."

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