Debunking Catholic Socialism

Poverty and unjust working conditions are real problems, and sometimes their root lies in an unjust and dysfunctional economic system—socialism being the example par excellence. But usually, societal injustices are the result of deeper moral evils like greed, envy, indifference, and selfishness. Simply reordering society so people aren’t poor can’t eliminate these vices (and doesn’t solve poverty, either). That’s the error of liberation theology which, as we’ve seen, unsuccessfully tries to wed Marxism and Christianity. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith accordingly rebuked its central premise: that evil can be localized “principally or uniquely in bad social, political, or economic ‘structures’ as though all other evils came from them so that the creation of the ‘new man’ would depend on the establishment of different economic and socio-political structures.”

We believe that many people (including self-styled “Catholic socialists”) support socialism because they believe that whereas private citizens are mostly self-interested, governments are altruistic. “Government” becomes almost a magical entity whose vast resources could solve all our problems if it was just put to work in the right way.

But governments are really just groups of individuals who have been given weighty responsibilities. Those individuals are not immune to the effects of vice; in fact, the temptations that government officials face make them more susceptible to sin and the magnitude of the problems they face make them more prone to error. The Psalmist presciently warned us, “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no help. When his breath departs he returns to his earth; on that very day his plans perish” (146:3–4).

Christians should strive toward making governments and societies more just, but it’s fruitless to try and build a heaven on earth as long as human beings are the ones running this “heaven.” Instead, the problem of poverty must be tackled at its root in the poverty of virtue that lies in people’s hearts. In other words, we’re not just dealing with honest mistakes about the economic and political order; we’re looking at sin in the human heart. This is why the complete response to the “problem of the workers” (as Rerum Novarum is sometimes called) is both the right principles (including a rejection of socialism in all its forms) and a deeper conversion to the truth—the life of grace and the sacraments lived in the bosom of the Church.

Pope Leo opened Rerum Novarum saying that the socialists look to exploit the “poor man’s envy of the rich”. Envy, which springs from the feeling of sorrow or sadness at another person’s good, seeks to diminish the good things of another. Thus, the socialists aren’t merely jealous that some people have more than others—they seek to harness state power to take property away from those who have it and to destroy the institutions related to the protection of property. It is counted as a capital sin because of the other vices that arise from it, including hatred and violence.

What is needed in response, then, is not merely a superior system but repentance and grace. And we must begin with ourselves, examining how to live a godly life through the economic decisions we make every day.

It’s important to remember . . .

• Even today there are movements among progressive and traditional Catholics alike to rehabilitate socialism as an economic system in line with—or even required by—the gospel.
• Collectivist solutions to poverty and economic injustice substitute political fiat for the free and virtuous living-out of human interdependence.
• Government-controlled wealth redistribution exploits “the poor man’s envy of the rich” to grow the power of the state at the expense of the Church, the family, and other institutions that we should trust and love more.

Can Catholics support socialism in good conscience? In Can a Catholic Be a Socialist?, Trent Horn and Catherine R. Pakaluk cut through the confusion, examining socialism through the lens of Catholic social teaching. Get your copy of Can a Catholic Be a Socialist? today!