Vatican watchers in Italy are getting into a fever about the new economic encyclical by Benedict XVI, due out in a month or so.

The same thing happened almost twenty years ago, in 1991, just before John Paul II issued his much-proclaimed economic encyclical "100th Year" (Centesimus Annus). Then, too, the beehive of the European left was feverishly abuzz, fantasizing in print that the pope would shortly move to the left of Willi Brandt, Neil Kinnock, and all the other famous leaders of the European left. Then John Paul II issued the most pro-enterprise, pro-human capital instruction of any pope ever (“In our time, in particular, there exists another form of ownership which is becoming no less important than land: the possession of know-how, technology and skill. The wealth of the industrialized nations is based much more on this kind of ownership than on natural resources." Centesimus Annus #32).

The hive fell unforgettably silent. . . . Continue Reading »