Social Justice and Capitalism: An Assessment of the Teachings of Pope Francis from a Law and Macroeconomics Perspective

Abstract

Pope Francis’s application and extension of longstanding Catholic social teachings to compelling contemporary problems helps to focus attention on such problems. Global economic inequality and growing economic inequality in the United States has already imposed trillions in excess costs on the economy for the enhanced wealth of a relative handful of global elites. Now global warming promises another massive wealth transfer of trillions of dollars from the global economy and the poorest among us for the benefit of a small number of energy industry elites. This article puts the teachings of Pope Francis on inequality and the environment in macroeconomic perspective.