Joseph Cardinal Höffner CHRISTIAN SOCIAL ... - Ordo Socialis

nomic and civil progress?“ (42,1) The encyclical replies: „If by 'Capitalism' is meant an economic
system which recognizes the fundamental and positive role of business, private property
and the resulting responsibility for the means of production, as well as free human creativity
in the economic sector; then the answer is certainly in the affirmative“ (42.2) The Pope
has therefore not only given a good definition of a free economy but, in the next sentence,
clearly shown that it cannot in his view simply be called 'Capitalism ': „ It would perhaps be
more appropriate to speak of a 'business economy' or 'market economy' or simply 'free economy“',
But then comes the second part of the answer which shows that 'Capitalism 'can be
understood to mean something quite different: „ But if by 'Capitalism' is meant a system in
which freedom in the economic sector is not circumscribed within a strong juridical framework
which places it at the service of human freedom in its totality, and which sees it as a
particular aspect of that freedom, the core of which is ethical and religious, then the reply is
certainly negative.“ (42.2)
Thus the Pope rejects the idea of a market economy growing wild as it were, an economy
without a regulatory framework and not based on accepted values. He also makes distinctions
as regards „the role of the State in the economic sector“, first stating the principle: „Economic
activity, especially the activity of a market economy, cannot be conducted in an institutional,
juridical or political vacuum. On the contrary, it presupposes sure guarantees of individual
freedom and as well as a stable currency and efficient public services.“ This is the
„principle task of the State.“ (48.1) Apart from the above classical objectives of a social market
economy, the Pope insists that the state has the additional task to ensure the ecological
compatibility of all economic actions and the ethical acceptability of the global exchange of
goods for all peoples: „It is the task of the State to provide for the defense and preservation of
common goods such as the natural and human environments, which cannot be safeguarded
simply by market forces. Just as in the time of primitive Capitalism the State had the duty of
defending the basic rights of the workers, so now, with the new Capitalism, the State and all
of society have the duty of defending those collective goods which, among others, constitute
the essential framework for the legitimate pursuit of personal goals on the part of each individual.“
(40.1)
It is precisely here, he says, that we come up against „a new limit on the market: there are
collective and qualitative needs which cannot be satisfied by market mechanisms. There are
important human needs, which escape its logic. There are goods, which by their very nature
cannot and must not be bought or sold. Certainly, the mechanisms of the market offer secure
advantages: they help to utilize resources better; they promote the exchange of products;
above all, they give central place to the person's desires and preferences, which, in contract,
meet the desires and preferences of another person. Nevertheless, these mechanisms carry the
risk of an 'idolatry' of the market, which ignores the existence of goods which by their nature
are not and cannot be mere commodities.“ (40.2) With these extremely important distinctions
the Pope has deepened considerably the theory of a socially oriented market economy as regards
its anthropological rationale and the extent of its application. This is the most significant
clarification of the Church's „social teaching“ concerning economic systems since the
explanations provided by Pius XI in the encyclical „Quadragesimo anno“ (1931).
§ 2 The Economic Order According to the Ideas of Socialism
Just as Paleoliberalism judged the economic order differently from neoliberalism, so the concept
which the communist-collectivist socialism of the Eastern world has concerning the
meaning and function of the economic order are essentially distinct from those of the free
democratic neosocialism of the Western world.
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