Joseph Cardinal Höffner CHRISTIAN SOCIAL ... - Ordo Socialis

a) No Objection to Pioneer Profits
No objections are to be raised against the so-called ‘pioneer profit’, which ultimately stands in
the service of the consumer, provided that this profit is invested in an economically meaningful
way. Here one can refer to Quadragesimo anno, where it says that „expending larger incomes
so that opportunity for gainful work may be abundant...ought to be considered...an outstanding
exemplification of the virtue of munificence and one particularly suited to the needs
of the times“(n.51) The emphatic affirmation given by the Second Vatican Council to the dynamic
economy and to business initiative drew much attention: with an aim „at making provision
for the growth of a people and at meeting the rising expectations of the human
race...technical progress must be fostered, along with a spirit of initiative, an eagerness to create
and expand enterprises, the adaptation of methods of production, and the strenuous efforts
of all who engage in production - in a word, all the elements making for such development“
(Gaudium et spes, 64).
b) Rejection of Monopoly profits
Monopoly profits have been rejected by Christian social teaching for centuries as usurious. In
the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, the expression ‘monopoly’, , must have had
an emotionally charged ring similar to that of the word ‘capitalism’ in the last hundred years.
Monopolists are „usurpers“ since they illegally make themselves the authors of prices (Franciscus
Sylvius, † l649); they undertake an „attack upon public freedom“, since people „are
forced by monopoly to pay a higher price“ than would be the case without the monopoly (Cajetan,
† l534). One should drive monopolists out of the country, since they are more harmful
„than crop failures and locusts“ (Juan de Medina, † l546). 73
c) Marketing Profit and Distribution of Wealth
Inasmuch as market profits have accrued to entrepreneurs on the basis of the economic policy
set by the government since the monetary reform, the conscience of the individual entrepreneur
should not be disturbed on account of these profits. As presented above, however, it is
urgently necessary to take appropriate measures without delay that will render possible a
broad dissemination of wealth in the capital sector.
d) Business Profits and the Sense of Service
Business profits must be purified and ennobled by a sense of service to the community as a
whole. If this willingness to serve is disregarded, there remains, according to Thomas Aquinas,
the mere pursuit of profit, which „has a certain debasement attaching to it“ (II-II, 77, 4),
and which, as Domingo de Soto († l560) writes, provokes an „unquenchable thirst“ and makes
the entrepreneur like the „gambler.“ 74
e) The Ethos of Advertising
In order to increase sales and profits, businessmen make use of advertising, which should give
factual information to the buyer, as is common among businesses themselves, for example,
when purchasing machine tools. The broad stratum of ultimate consumers, however, is not
informed in the correct manner, but, especially in illustrated sex magazines, confused and
befogged by constant exposure to suggestive stimuli. Consumers seem to be happy about this;
they have the advertising they deserve and pay for. Businessmen are obligated in conscience
to advertise factually and truthfully and to exclude destructive publications as advertising vehicles.
73
Cf. Joseph Höffner, Wirtschaftsethik und Monopole im 15. u. 16. Jh., 2nd ed. (Darmstadt, 1969), 135f.
74
Ibid., 106.
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