(HOST) Commentator Olin Robison thinks that the Pope’s recent comments in Brazil about the global effects of materialism are well worth considering.
(ROBISON) The Pope was in Brazil a few days ago. In the Roman Catholic world Brazil is an exceptionally important country. Even so, Catholicism has been losing ground badly there to Pentacostalism; so it is not surprising that the new Pope would choose Brazil as the site of his first trip to the Western Hemisphere since becoming Pope. There were, of course, big crowds, including one outdoor Mass attended by 150,000 people.
In addition to the evangelical protestants who clearly pose a problem to the Vatican, there is the additional issue of a great number of Catholic priests in Brazil having embraced, over the last several years, the concept of Liberation Theology. It is an understatement to say that the Pope is against it.
His Holiness also had some sharp words to say about both Marxism and Capitalism – both of which he pronounced to be unacceptably materialistic.
Now, truth in advertising compels me to confess some residual anti-Catholic biases. You would expect as much from someone who grew up in an evangelical protestant environment. Even so, I personally think that the Pope is “spot on,” as the British would say. Only the truly “head-in-the-sand” crowd, still support Marxism in any form, but capitalism is riding higher than ever. The newest form of capitalistic ideology is called globalization or, in the academic world, neo-liberalism. Occasionally these two labels are used interchangeably.
The new capitalistic ideology, neo-liberalism if you will, claims exceptional powers for the marketplace and a certain inevitability about the market. It strikes me as a bit odd that this new form of materialistic capitalism claims itself to be inevitable. Marxism made similar claims as you will no doubt recall.
There has long been a theological version of this. It began with Saint Paul; then, three centuries later, was embraced by Saint Augustine; then eventually, John Calvin, John Knox and a host of Protestants who came after them. Predestinarianism, it was called.
But now we have a secular version of all of this, and the Pope used his time in Brazil to say that it is yet another false god; the latest in a long line.
I agree with him. Big time.
It could be that business schools far and wide have embraced this sectarian ideology to make their young charges comfortable with the ethical legerdemain that in some cases passes for corporate accountability. After all, if it is inevitable, why fight it? It is convenient even if it is suspect.
Someone famously said that there is nothing new under the sun. Well, that sounds right, doesn’t it? Or maybe it means that what goes around, comes around.
In the meantime, three cheers for the Pope.
Olin Robison is past president of both the Salzburg Seminar and Middlebury College. He now lives in Shelburne.