Indeed, capitalism should earn yet additional moral points from the Pope, given his insistence that “all of us can cooperate as instruments of God for the care of creation, each according to his or her own culture, experience, involvements and talents.”
No institution in history comes close to capitalism’s success at inspiring multitudes of strangers, from different countries and with different talents, to cooperate for the betterment of humanity and of the natural environment.
The production and distribution of the very encyclicals in which Francis criticizes capitalism are capitalist achievements. They require the efforts of tree farmers (perhaps in Germany), of paper-mill workers (perhaps in Slovenia), of ink producers (perhaps in Canada), and of printers (perhaps in Italy).
And each of these suppliers relies upon countless delivery vehicles (perhaps made in Japan), investors (perhaps in New York), insurers (perhaps in London) and designers of computer hardware (perhaps in China) and software (perhaps in Seattle).
A true marvel of capitalism is its continual weaving together of the efforts of billions of individuals from around the world into a unified global economy, with each person — as producer and as consumer — more free than under any other economic system to choose just how to participate.
This process is peaceful, stupendously productive and requires no commands issued by any overseeing strongman or politburo.
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