The news media have reported Pope Francis' critique of capitalism and its social Darwinism. But the news media have reported mostly soundbites. The pope is scheduled to visit the U.S. in September, at which time he will predictably repeat his critique. Now, Rob Kall and perhaps other OEN readers might generally agree with the pope's critique. But his critique deserves to be examined for more than just soundbites.

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Duluth, Minnesota (OpEdNews) July 29, 2015: Pope Francis is scheduled to visit the United States in September. It is 100% predictable that he will repeat certain points of his critique of capitalism and social Darwinism.

No doubt the pope's critique of capitalism is rooted in the social teachings of the Roman Catholic Church as officially advanced in earlier papal encyclicals. (Only a pope can issue and encyclical. An encyclical is a paper setting forth some teaching that the pope issuing it wishes to advance.)

However, if Pope Francis is drawing on his church's social teaching, his critique of capitalism thus far is a heartfelt cry questioning the social Darwinism connected with capitalism.

Thus far, the pope's heartfelt cry stops well short of being a proposal for an economic system to replace capitalism. In other words, he is calling attention to the problems as he sees them.

Now, in the past, G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936), a Catholic convert, and Hilaire Belloc (1870-1953) advanced so-called distributism based supposedly on earlier papal encyclicals. As Chesterton and Belloc saw it, their distributism was supposed to be an alternative economic system to replace both capitalism and socialism.

But Pope Francis has not yet advanced their brand of distributism as an alternative economic system to replace capitalism. Whew! We should be thankful that Pope Francis is not (yet) advancing their brand of distributism as an alternative economic system to replace capitalism.

More recently, the Canadian Jesuit philosopher and theologian Bernard Lonergan (1904-1984), who taught theology at the Jesuit-sponsored Gregorian University in Rome for a number of years, advanced his thoughts about an economic system. His two volumes have been published in the ongoing publication of the Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan, being published by the University of Toronto Press.

But Paul Krugman and other economists have not yet subscribed to Lonergan's economic theory.

Nor has Pope Francis. Whew! We should be thankful the he is not (yet) advancing Lonergan's economic theory.

So Pope Francis' critique of capitalism, thus far, is primarily directed to decrying certain aspects of social Darwinism, not to proposing an alternative economic system.

Historically in American culture, we have had no shortage of people who engage publicly in criticizing our American values. Such American critics have been so numerous that there is even a well-established name for such public criticisms -- the American jeremiad. See Sacvan Bercovitch's book The American Jeremiad, 2nd ed. (2012).

So if Pope Francis voices his critique of capitalism during his visit to the U.S. in September, he will be aligning himself with the American tradition of the jeremiad.

Now, it is instructive to note that the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), helped advance the cause of black civil rights in the 1950s and 1960s through his pulpit oratory and through his public oratory in the American jeremiad tradition.

Dr. King's public oratory in the American jeremiad tradition helped galvanize widespread support for the black civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s. As a result of his public oratory and his activism in the civil rights movement, he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. No doubt that contributed to attracting further support for the black civil rights movement.

Sadly, Dr. King was assassinated. Nevertheless, President Lyndon B. Johnson stepped up and helped guide certain civil rights legislation through Congress and into law. As a result, today we Americans no longer live with the infamous old Jim Crow laws and customs.

Now, Pope Francis' public oratory criticizing capitalism and its social Darwinism might qualify him to be a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize -- provided that his critique of capitalism and its social Darwinism moves enough people.

Now, Pope Francis, like Dr. King, is the leader of an organization. Pope Francis' organization is the Roman Catholic Church, which has a top-down governance model.

As a result of the church's top-down governance model, a certain number of practicing Catholics who are well-informed about the church's social teachings will crank out articles in the Catholic press in support of the pope's critique of capitalism and its social Darwinism.

Nevertheless, many practicing Catholics in the U.S. have been described as "cafeteria Catholics" because they tend to pick and choose which of the church's official teachings they will adhere to.

So it is 100% predictable that not all practicing Catholics in the U.S. will rally around the pope's critique of capitalism and its social Darwinism.

Of course it is also 100% predictable that the news media will report at least highlights of the pope's public statements during his visit to the U.S. in September.

Now, Rob Kall and perhaps other OEN readers such as Daniel Geery, Burl Hall, and Charles Roll may cheer on the pope's critique of capitalism and its social Darwinism.

But how might Rob Kall and perhaps other OEN readers help advance the pope's critique of capitalism and its social Darwinism leading up to his September visit to the U.S.?

One way in which Rob Kall and perhaps an assistant or two could help support the pope's critique of capitalism and its social Darwinism would be to examine the pope's thought in his encyclicals more deeply than his thought has been examined in pieces already published at OEN.

For example, because Rob Kall interviews individual persons on his radio program, perhaps he could construct an "interview" of the pope -- perhaps an "interview" in more than one published piece.

Here's a possible headline: "Rob Kall's interview of Pope Francis."

But Rob Kall may need the assistance of another OEN contributor to help select relevant passages from the pope's two encyclicals to incorporate in the "interview."

Now, because Catholic social teachings are not widely known among most non-Catholics, perhaps other OEN readers could undertake to research and write up a piece or two about the framework of Catholic social teaching that Pope Francis is drawing on in his critique of capitalism and its social Darwinism.

Now, apart from the framework of Catholic social teachings, perhaps other OEN readers could undertake to examine the pope's relevant thought in his encyclicals and write commentaries on his thought beyond the soundbites that the news media report.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Now, as everybody knows by now, Pope Francis is the first Jesuit pope and the first pope to take the name "Francis" in honor of the well-known Italian St. Francis of Assisi.

In Pope Francis' eco-encyclical he invokes St. Francis of Assisi's "Canticle of Brother Sun."

In Eloi Leclerc's book The Canticle of Creatures: Symbols of Union: An Analysis of St. Francis of Assisi, translated from the French (1970) by Matthew J. O'Connell (1977), the following English translation of St. Francis of Assisi's "Canticle" is given on pages xvii-xviii:

Most high, all-powerful, all good, Lord!

All praise is yours, all glory, all honour

And all blessing.

To you alone, Most High, do they belong.

No mortal lips are worthy

To pronounce your name.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through all that you have made,

And first my lord Brother Sun,

Who brings the day; and light you give to us through him.

How beautiful is he, how radiant in all his splendor!

Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.

How beautiful is he, my Lord, through Sister Moon and Stars;

In the heavens you have made them, bright

And precious and fair.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and air,

And fair and stormy, all weather's moods,

By which you cherish all that you have made.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Water,

So useful, lowly, precious and pure.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Brother Fire,

Through whom you brighten up the night.

How beautiful he is, how gay! Full of power and strength.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through sister Earth, our mother,

Who feeds us in her sovereignty and produces

Various fruits and colored flowers and herbs.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through those who grant pardon

For love of you; through those who endure

Sickness and trial.

Happy those who endure in peace,

By you, Most High, they will be crowned.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Death,

From whose embrace no mortal can escape.

Woe to those who die in mortal sin!

Happy those She finds doing your will!

The second death can do no harm to them.

Praise and bless my Lord, and give him thanks,

And serve him with great humility.

Because Pope Francis' parents had left Italy for Argentina, perhaps it is not surprising that he feels attracted by the St. Francis of Assisi.

Incidentally, Chesterton, mentioned above, wrote a biography of St. Francis of Assisi that, in my estimate, is still worth reading.

Now, because Pope Francis is a Jesuit, he made two 30-day retreats in silence following the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order in the Roman Catholic Church.

In the book titled The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius Loyola (1992), George E. Ganss, S.J., provides an English translation and commentary. The books consists of instructions for undertaking so-called Spiritual Exercises -- that is, imagistic meditations in which one uses one imagination. In effect, because of the instructions provided in the book, one meditations could be described as guided meditations.

At least twice in Pope Francis' life, he devoted a certain amount of time and attention to prayerfully meditating on the part titled Contemplation to Attain Love (standardized numbering 230-237). In Ganss' translation, this part of the Spiritual Exercises fills up two complete printed pages. So it is far too lengthy for me to quote in its entirety here. But I will quote the two parts numbered 235 and 236 in their entirety:

235 The Second Point. I will consider how God dwells in creatures; in the elements, giving them existence; in the plants giving them life; in the animals, giving them sensation; in human beings, giving them intelligence; and finally, how he dwells also in myself, giving me existence, life, sensation, and intelligence; and even further, making me his temple, since I am created as a likeness and image of the Divine Majesty. Then once again I will reflect on myself, in the manner described in the first point, or in any other way I feel to be better. The same procedure will be used in each of the following points.

236 The Third Point. I will consider how God labors and works for me in all the creatures on the face of the earth; that is, he acts in the manner of one who is laboring. For example, he is working in the heavens, elements, plants, fruits, cattle, and all the rest -- giving them their existence, conserving them, concurring with their vegetative and sensitive activities, and so forth. Then I will reflect on myself.

For a guidebook of instructions for non-imagistic meditation, see Manuela Mischke Reeds' new book 8 Keys to Practicing Mindfulness (2015).

CONCLUSION

In the present essay I have presupposed that Rob Kall and perhaps other OEN readers such as Daniel Geery, Burl Hall, and Charles Roll might be interested in helping to advance Pope Francis' critique of capitalism and its social Darwinism before he visits the U.S. in September. But perhaps my presupposition is wrong. Only time will tell. We'll have to wait and see.

(Article changed on July 29, 2015 at 12:08)

Authors Website: http://www.d.umn.edu/~tfarrell

Authors Bio:

Thomas James Farrell is professor emeritus of writing studies at the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD). He started teaching at UMD in Fall 1987, and he retired from UMD at the end of May 2009. He was born in 1944. He holds three degrees from Saint Louis University (SLU): B.A. in English, 1966; M.A.(T) in English 1968; Ph.D.in higher education, 1974. On May 16, 1969, the editors of the SLU student newspaper named him Man of the Year, an honor customarily conferred on an administrator or a faculty member, not on a graduate student -- nor on a woman up to that time. He is the proud author of the book WALTER ONG'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO CULTURAL STUDIES: THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF THE WORD AND I-THOU COMMUNICATION (Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 2000; 2nd ed. 2009, forthcoming). The first edition won the 2001 Marshall McLuhan Award for Outstanding Book in the Field of Media Ecology conferred by the Media Ecology Association. For further information about his education and his publications, see his UMD homepage: Click here to visit Dr. Farrell's homepage.

On September 10 and 22, 2009, he discussed Walter Ong's work on the blog radio talk show "Ethics Talk" that is hosted by Hope May in philosophy at Central Michigan University. Each hour-long show has been archived and is available for people who missed the live broadcast to listen to. Here are the website addresses for the two archived shows:

Click here to listen the Technologizing of the Word Interview

Click here to listen the Ramus, Method & The Decay of Dialogue Interview