Vatican Justice and Peace Department Issues Economic Reform Document
In October 2011, the Vatican released a formal document calling for the creation of a “global public authority” and a “central world bank” to oversee international financial institutions. The paper, titled “Towards Reforming the International Financial and Monetary Systems in the Context of a Global Public Authority,” came from the Justice and Peace department and offered unusually specific policy recommendations, including taxation on financial transactions.
The document argued that the ongoing global economic crisis demanded a fundamental re-examination of the principles and moral values underlying economic systems. It called for what it described as an “ethic of solidarity” between wealthy and developing nations.
Condemning Market Idolatry and Neo-Liberal Thinking
The Vatican paper took direct aim at what it called “the idolatry of the market,” criticizing neo-liberal economic frameworks that it said reduced complex social problems to purely technical solutions. The crisis, the document stated, had exposed patterns of “selfishness, collective greed and hoarding of goods on a great scale.”
The proposed solution was a “supranational authority” with worldwide scope and “universal jurisdiction” to guide economic policies and decisions. The document warned that without meaningful reform addressing various forms of injustice, the resulting social and political instability could “ultimately undermine the very foundations of democratic institutions, even the ones considered most solid.”
A Message to Financial Leaders
Cardinal Peter Turkson, head of the Justice and Peace department, addressed the document at a press conference. When asked whether the paper could serve as a manifesto for protest movements that had sprung up around the world criticizing global economic policies, Turkson suggested that those managing global finances needed to engage in serious self-reflection.
The cardinal stated that financial leaders needed to examine whether their stewardship of global capital was genuinely serving humanity and the common good, calling on major economic bodies and organizations to undertake a process of substantive re-evaluation.
