Vatican City, Vatican - The Vatican called on Monday for an overhaul of the world’s financial systems, and once again proposed the establishment of a supranational authority to oversee the global economy, saying it was needed to bring more democratic and ethical principles to a marketplace run amok.
In a report issued by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, the Vatican argued that “politics — which is responsible for the common good” must be given primacy over the economy and finance, and that existing multinational institutions like the International Monetary Fund had not been responding adequately to global economic problems.
The document grows out of the Roman Catholic Church’s concerns about economic instability and widening inequality of income and wealth around the world, issues that transcend the power of national governments to address on their own.
“The time has come to conceive of institutions with universal competence, now that vital goods shared by the entire human family are at stake, goods which the individual states cannot promote and protect by themselves,” Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, the president of the pontifical council, said as he presented the report on Monday. “That is what pushed us.”
The language in the document, which the Vatican refers to as a note, is distinctively strong. “We should not be afraid to propose new ideas, even if they might destabilize pre-existing balances of power that prevail over the weakest,” the document states in its conclusions. The message prompted comparisons with the rallying cries of protest movements that have been challenging the financial world order, like the indignados in Madrid and the Occupy Wall Street protesters in New York City.
Still, Vatican officials said the document was not a manifesto for disaffected dissidents.
“The document proposes ideas that seem to be in line with those proposed by the indignados, but really we are in line with the Magisterium of the church,” said Bishop Mario Toso, secretary to the pontifical council, referring to the church’s teaching authority. “It is a coincidence that we share some views. But after all, these are proposals that are based on reasonableness.”
The document is a reminder that the Catholic Church, without getting directly involved in policymaking, still seeks to shape its principles.
“To function correctly the economy needs ethics; and not just of any kind, but one that is people-centered,” the document states, paraphrasing an encyclical that Pope Benedict XVI issued in 2009 calling for greater social responsibility in the economy.
Though the pope was not involved in the drafting the document released on Monday, “the Holy Father and the Holy See are following these matters with particular concern,” said Cardinal Turkson, adding that the pope was “constantly calling not just for joint action, but for examination of every facet of the problem: social, economic, cultural and spiritual.”
Referring to the Group of 20 leading economies, the cardinal noted that the document was timed to “make a contribution which might be useful to the deliberations of the G-20 meeting” next week, but that it was also directed “to the entire world.”
The report is highly critical of “an economic liberalism that spurns rules and controls” and fuels social injustice. International institutions must become “more representative, and with greater levels of participation and legitimacy,” Bishop Toso said, to achieve “free and stable markets regulated by an appropriate legal framework and working towards sustainable development and social progress for everyone.”