All onboard! Mario Rizzo has read Pope Benedict XVI’s enclyclical, Caritas in Veritate, and reaches the following conclusion:
Benedict XVI has made a number of judgments: (1) It is morally obligatory for those who have abundance to help others who are poor; (2) The state – welfare state – is an appropriate institution to do this; (3) Such aid should not be left largely/ mainly/exclusively) to the voluntary of other individuals or private agencies created for that purpose; (4) The free movement of capital and the greater prosperity it brings does not more than offset the value of welfare state handouts...So where is the papal encyclical? At least three out the four constituent points above are not matters of specific Church competence. Yet the pope relies on all four.
Rizzo's full analysis is here.
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