Postings from G.M. Ambrosi and Gabriel Martinez and James Ahiakpor
supporting Eugenio Pacelli give me an impression that they (one or all) MAY
believe that I am attacking him, and/or the RCC. If I were, this would not
be the venue for it. My aim, rather, is to integrate papal statements into
the dialogue on the history of economic doctrine, for they have been
influential. On this, on think all four of us agree, and I am gratified that
they have chimed in.
My own attitude toward the RCC positions, to the extent it is relevant here,
is quite shifting, as the RCC shifts. I have published an article on five
"Great Awakenings" in American reform. The last two (1933-53 and 1961-69)
had strong RCC leadership and participation. My article is in
"Counterpunch", p.1, Dec. 20 2010. I regret I have no URL set up, but will
send copy on request, and of course welcome comments.
There is also an article in press, "Going my Way? Wending through the
stumbling blocks between Georgism and Catholicism."
Again, I can send galleys on request.
Mason Gaffney
-----Original Message-----
From: Societies for the History of Economics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of GM Ambrosi
Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2012 7:40 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [SHOE] Delicate subject #2, organized religion
It should be pointed out that _Quadragesimo Anno_ was directed not
just against communism but against totalitarianism also in its fascist
form:
"Just as it is gravely wrong to take from individuals what they can
accomplish by their own initiative and industry and give it to the
community, so also it is an injustice and at the same time a grave
evil and disturbance of right order to assign to a greater and higher
association what lesser and subordinate organizations can do."
Paragraph 79,
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_
19310515_quadragesimo-anno_en.html
This passage equates the "injustice" of communism with the "injustice"
of totalitarianism. Maybe the condemnation of the Soviet system was
stronger, since it was guilty on account of both these injustices, but
Fascism and Nazism was certainly guilty of a "grave evil" at least in
this regard in Pius XI's view - which did not preclude further evils.
It is well known that this passages also is the source of the now
popular doctrine of "subsidiarity", now an integral part of the
treaties of European integration. It triggered off the philosophical
school of "Personalism", former EU commissioner Jacques Delors being
one of its past propagators as well as the former British prime
minister Tony Blair, see
http://timescolumns.typepad.com/stothard/2006/05/tony_le_persona.html
GMA
2012/7/24 Gabriel Martinez <[log in to unmask]>:
>
> Along this line, one might do well to recall that an encyclical of Pius
XI, "Mit Brennender Sorge" (March 14, 1937), was read from every pulpit in
Germany
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_
14031937_mit-brennender-sorge_en.html . Most papal documents are published
in Italian, at least at first. This one was published in German.
>
> A similar document was read from every pulpit of the Netherlands during
the war. The consequence was that the Nazis rounded up Jews who had
converted to Christianity and shipped them to Bergen-Belsen. One such Jew
was Saint Edith Stein.
>
> A little after Quadragesimo Anno, Pius XI published "Non Abbiamo Bisogno"
(June 29, 1931), which was rather disliked by Il Duce.
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_
29061931_non-abbiamo-bisogno_en.html
>
> Quadragesimo Anno itself contains a few controversial paragraphs, written
by Pius XI himself, in which the whole fascist system of organization is
sharply questioned (in somewhat veiled language), see
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_
19310515_quadragesimo-anno_en.html, paragraph 95
>
> "We are compelled to say that to Our certain knowledge there are not
wanting some who fear that the State, instead of confining itself as it
ought to the furnishing of necessary and adequate assistance, is
substituting itself for free activity; that the new syndical and corporative
order savors too much of an involved and political system of administration;
and that (in spite of those more general advantages mentioned above, which
are of course fully admitted) it rather serves particular political ends
than leads to the reconstruction and promotion of a better social order."
>
> As for Eugenio Pacelli, of whom such ill has been written, suffice it to
say that the Chief Rabbi of Rome, Israel Zolli, upon converting to
Christianity, took the Baptismal name "Eugenio" in honor of Pius XII.
>
> Gabriel Martinez
>
> ________________________________________
> From: Societies for the History of Economics [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of
James C.W. Ahiakpor [[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Monday, July 23, 2012 12:27 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [SHOE] Delicate subject #2, organized religion
>
> The tensions and conflicts between the Nazis and the Catholic church and
> its institutions, including schools and seminaries, that Georg Ratzinger
> describes in the biography, /My Brother, The Pope/ (Ignatius Press
> 2011), especially chapters 4 and 5, conflict with the complicity that
> Mason Gaffney alleges in his post. He might well find some needed
> clarifications from the book.
>
> James Ahiakpor
>
> mason gaffney wrote:
>>
>> In all the many exchanges about fascism and communism, hardly anyone
>> has mentioned the role of The Vatican. Understandably, no one wants to
>> give or take offense, and stir up questions of "faith"and sanctity,
>> and neither do I, and yet this subject demands it. I think we would
>> underestimate each other to think our fellows, of whatever sects,
>> cannot discuss and analyze this objectively.
>>
>> If I am even approximately right in defining fascism as the
>> dictatorship of the rentiers, then it was clear to Lenin et al. that
>> the Vatican was on the side of the rentiers. It was and is a major
>> rentier itself. Lenin of course was dealing directly with the Greek
>> Orthodox clerisy, but made a clean sweep of it by proclaiming Atheism
>> all around. The Vatican returned the declaration of war (or may have
>> declared first, I am not sure). This meant that as fascism/Nazism
>> evolved in Europe it naturally allied with The Vatican. They were twin
>> bulwarks against atheism/communism. The story is more complex - true
>> stories always are - but that was the general picture. All the fascist
>> dictators, including Hitler the Austrian, were cradle catholics.
>> Catholic guidance for the times was published in the 1931 Encyclical
>> of Pius XI, /Quadragesimo Anno/, which is silent about the use of
>> Blackshirted strikebreakers and beer-hall /Putschists/ but strong on
>> the sacred rights of property. It was bracketed in time by Mussolini's
>> Lateran Treaty with The Vatican (1929), and The Concordat with Germany
>> (1933). The latter was negotiated by Vatican Secy of State Eugenio
>> Pacelli. The College of Cardinals soon showed its approval by electing
>> him Pope Pius XII.
>>
>> The U.S., with its heavy Catholic population, did not join the war
>> against the Axis for a long time. They never let FDR attack Franco's
>> Falangist clerical fascism in Spain, even after the atrocity at
>> Guernica, even after we joined the war and occupied North Africa. FDR
>> had been elected with strong support by Fr. Charles Coughlin, the
>> pioneer "Radio Priest", whose mission it was to popularize
>> /Quadragesimo Anno, some /of which found its way into the first New
>> Deal, 1933-37. It is possible we never would have joined W.W. II had
>> not Japan first allied with The Axis and then, with its own agenda and
>> separate religion, attacked Pearl Harbor.
>>
>> After 1945, the U.S. promptly set about rebuilding the defeated powers
>> as part of entering the Cold War against USSR Communism. The freed-up
>> nations, south of the Baltic, were again led by Catholic leaders and
>> political parties, beneficiaries of The Marshall Plan. Catholic
>> leaders Adenauer, Schumann, and de Gasperi led the move to unite
>> (western) Europe, with strong U.S. support.
>>
>> I submit that we cannot purport to understand the aims and beliefs of
>> closeted economic theorists unless we deal openly with how they
>> interlocked with these influential Vatican movements and doctrines.
>> You may oppose or support the Vatican, but you cannot ignore it.
>>
>> Mason Gaffney
>>
>
>
> --
> James C.W. Ahiakpor, Ph.D.
> Professor
> Department of Economics
> California State University, East Bay
> Hayward, CA 94542
>
> (510) 885-3137 Work
> (510) 885-7175 Fax (Not Private)
>
--
Prof. em. Dr. Dr.h.c. G.M. Ambrosi
Jean Monnet Professor "ad personam"
University of Trier, FB IV VWL
D-54286 Trier
Fax: +49-651-201-3934
mobil: +49-178-286 2703
|
