The Impact of Roman Catholic Church on Capitalism - Essay Example

The church helped the society to counter the vices by making moral values prevalent in their course of life. This indicates that the democratic society that has no accountability to god will finally degenerates. Thus Roman Catholic Church helped in the growth of capitalism and democracy by inculcating moral values in the Christian societies. The church and capitalism did not support the common property administered by state that is against the democracy. According to church and capitalism the socialism is against the natural justice and threatens the family life.

Pius XI explained the above mentioned ideas in Quadragesimo Anno published in 1931. The personal responsibility, institutional changes are considered by Roman Catholic Church and capitalism against the socialism. Church helped in developing the institutions that constituted the society. This made the people to understand the reality in the capitalism according to catholic ideas. The Church supported the creative subjectivity of the human person in supporting the capitalism. This can be seen from two perspectives; philosophically and theologically.

1 The impact of Church on capitalism is due to its support to the free market economy that supports capitalism. In Centesimus Annus #32 John Paul wrote that the decisive factor has changed from land to man and knowledge. According to him this came from understanding the needs of others and ability to satisfy them. As a result the freedom will be a means of harmony between personal and societal interests. Capitalism enabled the greatest opportunity to engage creatively in economic sphere. This creativity in the capitalism is due to the church and it is the one of the ways the Church affected the capitalism.

The diligence, industriousness, prudence, reliability and fidelity are the values that had shown impact on capitalism by Roman Catholic Church. The catholic ethic supports the capitalism as the human imperative that is creative and endeavor of the society to encourage the public virtue. The Roman Catholic Church as a supporter of free enterprise rejected the government's too much intervention. This is the 2nd aspect that has shown impact on capitalism from the side of Church. Catholicism contained the afore mentioned opposition for government intervention when it is extreme.

Thus Catholicism rejected too much personalism in the economy. This thought has begun with Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum in 1891. The catholic society supported capitalism in the form of having right to private property with the presence of trade unions and wages. This resulted in distributist economic system. The Roman Catholic Church defended this economic system. This resulted in widespread owner ship of land. As small scale craft production obeys natural law and catholic tradition, there is some sort of opposition from the church for large scale craft production.

As the economy has grown though effected by Catholicism, the large scale production