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<span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif">Please read about the Holy Father's shocking push against private property:</span> <br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div id="m_3064259494343429868gmail-m_-4059675391959478381gmail-m_5170252250759616882DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2"><h1>I’m Catholic. Can I Disagree With Pope Francis on Property? </h1>
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<span> By </span> <span><a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/author/editor/" title="View all posts by John Horvat II" rel="author" target="_blank">John Horvat II</a></span> </div>
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<div style="margin:5px"> <a title="Facebook" href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2020/10/im-catholic-can-i-disagree-with-pope-francis-on-property/?pkg=rtoe1126#" target="_blank"><span style="background-color:rgb(59,89,152);line-height:32px;height:32px;width:32px"></span></a></div></div> <a title="Twitter" href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2020/10/im-catholic-can-i-disagree-with-pope-francis-on-property/?pkg=rtoe1126#" target="_blank"><span style="background-color:rgb(29,161,242);line-height:32px;height:32px;width:32px"></span></a> <a title="Print" href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2020/10/im-catholic-can-i-disagree-with-pope-francis-on-property/?pkg=rtoe1126#" target="_blank"><span style="background-color:rgb(115,138,141);line-height:32px;height:32px;width:32px"></span></a> <a title="Email" href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2020/10/im-catholic-can-i-disagree-with-pope-francis-on-property/?pkg=rtoe1126#" target="_blank"><span style="background-color:rgb(132,132,132);line-height:32px;height:32px;width:32px"></span></a> <a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2020/10/im-catholic-can-i-disagree-with-pope-francis-on-property/?pkg=rtoe1126#" target="_blank"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,101,80);line-height:32px;height:32px;width:32px"></span></a><div><div style="margin:5px"> </div>
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<div id="m_3064259494343429868gmail-m_-4395771690829781507m_8659842134064864215gmail-attachment_24387" style="width:310px"><a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2020/10/im-catholic-can-i-disagree-with-pope-francis-on-property/?pkg=rtoe1126" target="_blank">https://www.returntoorder.org/2020/10/im-catholic-can-i-disagree-with-pope-francis-on-property/?pkg=rtoe1126</a><p id="m_3064259494343429868gmail-m_-4395771690829781507m_8659842134064864215gmail-caption-attachment-24387">I’m Catholic. Can I Disagree With Pope Francis on Property?</p></div>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>Pope Francis’s encyclical <i>Fratelli</i> <i>Tutti</i> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">presents a dilemma </span>for all who defend the right of<a href="https://www.tfp.org/private-property/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> private property.</a>
</b><b>On the one hand, </b><b><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)">t</span>he teaching document </b></span>Pope Francis signed on October 3<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">
questions </span>this right. On the other<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">, past popes, theologians, and
canonists have always taught that private ownership, as it is largely
practiced, is just and necessary for society’s proper functioning</span>. <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">This
clash of opinions </span>leaves many Catholics perplexed.</b></span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>This is no small debate. The stakes could not be higher </b></span>since the
West depends upon a system based on property, rule of law and free
markets. T<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>he pontiff </b></span>asks his readers to consider “re-envisaging the
social role of property.” He <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>would like to see great societal changes in
America and the West. He believes the world’s goods belong to everyone
and must be shared to ensure the proper dignity of all.</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>That sounds like
something vaguely similar to communism. </b></span>His broadsides against the
market and “consumerist” economic models leave little doubt that <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>he is </b></span>
not <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>calling for </b></span>a few system tweaks but <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>a massive paradigm shift.</b></span></p>
<p>Catholics need to know how to respond to this pontifical demand<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b> lest </b></span>
i<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>t sink<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"> the West </span>into a Marxist tyranny that denies</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>property rights.</b></span></p>
<p><b>The Universal Destination of Created Goods </b></p>
<p>The central argument of this “re-envisaging” is the principle of “the
universal destination of created goods.” <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>Francis declares </b></span>t<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>hat “<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)">The
principle of the common use of created goods is the ‘first principle of
the whole ethical and social order’</span>;</b></span> it is a natural and inherent right
that takes priority over others.”</p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>Indeed, the Church teaches that God made the goods of the world for
everyone</b></span>. No one contests this truth. Catholic moralists universally
accept the classic example of the right to life being of a higher order
than private property. Everyone also recognizes that <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>property has what
is called a <i>social function</i> by which owners must go beyond self-interest and also use their property to serve the common good.</b></span></p>But property rights requiring to be
“reimagined.” Such a discussion would give balance to the proposals for
dealing with the needy.
<p><b>A Correct Understanding of Property’s Social Role</b></p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">If,</span> during the discussion, Catholics were instructed<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"> in the Church’s
traditional teaching</span>, they would learn that “the universal destination
of created goods” does not mean <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">that property-owners are little better
than thieves </span></b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>who deprive the needy of the goods to which they have a
right. </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>The poor do not have the right<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"> to take arbitrarily by force
whatever they consider they need from</span> those who have property.</b></span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>Quite the contrary, the correct position posits that <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">the holding of
private property is <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)">good and </span>desired by God</span>. </b></span>It favors the good order of
society. In his 1891 encyclical <i>Rerum Novarum</i>, Leo XIII states
that “The fact that God has given the earth for the use and enjoyment
of the whole human race can in no way be a bar to the owning of private
property. <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>For God has granted the earth to mankind in general, </b></span>not in
the sense that all without distinction can deal with it as they like,
but rather that no part of it was assigned to anyone in particular, and
that <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>the limits of private possession have been left to be fixed by
man’s own industry, and by the laws of individual races …Here, again, we
have further proof that<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"> private ownership is in accordance with the law
of nature.”</span></b></span></p>
<p>Thus, private property is a means through which the common good is
well served. <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>Just because a property is held privately does not mean
that it ceases to serve the common good. All society benefits from what
private property produces<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">. </span></b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>Indeed, those who occupy and seize properties
do a disservice to</b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b> the common good.</b></span> They harm the good order of society
and frustrate the purposes of property.</p>
<p>In his 1931 encyclical <i>Quadragesimo Anno</i>, Pius XI recognizes
the “twofold character of ownership, called usually individual or
social according as it regards either separate persons or the common
good. For they [the theologians] have always unanimously maintained that
nature, rather the Creator Himself, has given man the right of private
ownership not only that individuals may be able to provide for
themselves and their families but also that the goods which the Creator
destined for the entire family of mankind may, through this institution,
truly serve this purpose. All this can be achieved in no wise except
through the maintenance of a certain and definite order.”</p>
<p>I<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>ndeed, the poor<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"> suffer when </span>private property <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">is denied.</span></b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b> The ravages
of communism prove that when <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)">property </span>is confiscated in the people’s
name, it destroys <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)">economy and culture,</span> reducing all to the most abject
misery.</b></span></p>
<p><b>A Divisive Vision of Property</b></p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>The problem wit<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)">h Francis’s</span> vision of property is that it does not
define<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"> the limitations of property’s social function</span>. </b></span>He assumes that
the universal destination of created goods and the private use of
property are in constant tension. “The priority of the universal destiny
of created goods” does not prevent its peaceful co-existence with
property ownership of every size. This priority in no way diminishes the
need to respect private property.</p>
<p>Moreover, <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>his<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"> </span></b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>urgent appeal to “re-envisage the social role of
property”</b></span> fails to recognize the economic advances by which private
property has benefited society as a whole. It <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>straightjackets <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)">all owners</span>
into an oppressor category in which <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)">they do not belong</span></b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)">.</span></p>
<h5 style="text-align:center;margin:16px auto" align="center"><a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2019/02/this-is-how-panera-found-out-that-socialism-does-not-work/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><b><span style="color:rgb(0,0,255)"></span></b></a></h5>
<p>Above all, <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>Francis expands property-owners’ obligations to the needy</b></span>.
They no longer include just the bare minimum to support their right to
life.<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b> For Pope Francis, property owners must provide the destitute with
<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">an array of undefined and open-ended </span>needs that entails ensuring that
“every person lives with dignity and has sufficient opportunities for
his or her integral development.”</b></span></p>
<p><b><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">The Wrong Foundation for</span> <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">Judgment </span></b></p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>Absent from this vision is</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>a correct understanding of the social
function of private property, which Pius XII claims “should flow to all
alike, according to the principles of justice and charity.”</b></span> In its
place, <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>the needy, aided by leftist media and social activists, become
the judges of </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>what is necessary for their “integral development.”</b></span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">The Church encourages</span> benefactors to gain merit by<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"> voluntary acts of
charity,</span> giving to the needy from their wealth. It does not <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">force</span>
charity. Likewise, the Church teaches that the needy must practice the
virtue of justice by <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">rendering gratitude, respect and assistance</span> to
their benefactors. <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">When both parties listen to the Church, it gives rise
to social harmony.</span> </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>However, in</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b><i>Fratelli Tutti</i>, <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">there is no mention</span> of the obligations in justice that the needy have toward their benefactors.</b></span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>The encyclical </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>replaces </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>these virtuous behaviors of charity and
justic</b>e</span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b> with the spirit of “liberty, equality and fraternity,” the
anti-Christian and bloody French Revolution’s trilogy.</b><b> Thus, </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>Christian
charity</b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"> </span>is replaced with that of anti-Christian “fraternity.” Such a
deterministic conception of society holds that social and economic
structures are responsible for poverty. The Marxist cry for the end of
all</b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(207,226,243)"><b> private property</b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b> finds a distant echo in the document’s appeal for
the priority of the “universal destination </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>of created goods</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>over</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>all
rights, including private property.”</b></span></p>
<p><b>A Shallow Appeal to All </b></p>
<p>Addressed to the world at large, <span style="background-color:rgb(207,226,243)"><b>Francis <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">issues </span></b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>an invitation “to
dialogue among all people of good will.” He addresses “a single human
family, as fellow travelers sharing the same flesh, as children of the
same earth which is our common home, each of us bringing the richness of
his or her beliefs and convictions, each of us with his or her own
voice, brothers and sisters all.”</b></span></p>
<p>Thus, <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>the appeal reduces everything to the lowest common denominator
so that none may be left out or offended by the other. There is nothing<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"> </span></b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>
specifically Catholic </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>about this message that tries to be all things to
all people. The result is <u>a shallow “fraternity”</u> that makes no</b></span> j<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>udgments
between</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>truth<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"> </span></b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>and</b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b> error, </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>good </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>and</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>evil,</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>virtue</b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b> and</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>sin<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">.</span> It trumpets an
empty charity that is not based </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>on the love of God </b></span>and an integral
development that is <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>unrelated to</b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b> salvation.</b></span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>The most perplexing part of the encyclical’s call for “re-envisaging
the social role of property” is that it does not explain </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(246,178,107)"><b>why the Church
needs to re-envisage.</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"><b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">The treasury of Church teaching on property’s
social function is rich,</span> if </b></span>largely unapplied in today’s secular,
godless world. <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>Why not apply the Church’s forgotten truths, which would
bring beauty, clarity and social harmony to society</b></span>?<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b> This strange
encyclical, which is addressed to everyone in general and no one</b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b> in
particular,</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>omits</b></span> the only real solution to our world’s troubles: <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>The
return of<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"> prodigal</span>s to the one true God and the one true Church.</b></span></p>
<p>Indeed, one can be forgiven for asking: “I’m Catholic. Can I disagree with Pope Francis on property?”</p>
<p><i>Updated October, 15, 2020</i></p></div>
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