The financial crisis and its aftermath have revealed the dark side of the post-cold war model, but Catholic social teaching proposes correcting the way market forces work so that they serve the public interest. It was 25 years ago this month that communism ceased to be a threat to the west and to the free Read more
Pope Francis has hinted that if he eventually retires from the papacy, he might return to live in his native Argentina. In an interview with Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia last week, the Pope was asked if he still had a room reserved in a retirement home in Buenos Aires. Pope Francis said “yes”, explaining that Read more
It’s tough to picture the future if you’re a New Zealander under 30. Your first home has never been more out of reach, if you want to live in one of the main centres – not that we have much of a choice, because high rates of unemployment and thousands of dollars of student debt Read more
The Pope’s finance chief says the working languages of the Vatican’s new Secretariat for the Economy will be English as well as Italian. Cardinal George Pell said this will mean that the new Vatican department will be able to access the best people from around the world. In late February, Pope Francis announced the secretariat Read more
Pope Francis on Tuesday criticized growing economic inequality and unfettered markets in a wide-ranging and decidedly populist teaching that revealed how he plans to reshape the Catholic Church. In an apostolic exhortation titled “Evangelii Gaudium,” or “The Joy of the Gospel,” Pope Francis has set an agenda to return the Catholic Church to the humility Read more
Pope Francis called for a global economic system that puts people and not “an idol called money” at its heart during a speech on Sunday in the Sardinian capital of Cagliari. Addressing about 20,000 people, the pontiff said that his parents had “lost everything” after they emigrated from Italy and that he understood the suffering Read more
A new study reported in the Social Psychological and Personality Science said too much religion can harm a society’s economy by undermining the drive for financial success. Religion News Service reported that the study of almost 190,000 people from 11 religiously diverse cultures is raising eyebrows among some of England’s religious leaders for suggesting Judaism Read more
British-American historian Walter Laqueur experienced the demise of the old Europe and the rise of the new. In a SPIEGEL interview, he shares his gloomy forecast for a European Union gripped by debt crisis. SPIEGEL: Mr. Laqueur, you experienced Europe and the Europeans in the best and the worst of times. Historical hot spots and Read more
Pope Francis has named an international commission of eight business and legal experts — mainly lay people, including one woman — to plan a reform of the Holy See’s economy and administrative structures. The commission’s president, Maltese economist Dr Joseph Zahra, is already an auditor of the Vatican’s budget management office. The other members come Read more
Charles Clark probably doesn’t win a lot of friends in his chosen profession when he says that most economists don’t really understand the economy. But even though he earns a living teaching economics at St. John’s University in New York, Clark believes that understanding how the economy really works requires more than just a classroom Read more