Papal Economics

The Church and the Market

In Papal Economics, Maciej Zięba, O.P., takes readers on an enlightening tour through the Catholic Church’s social teaching regarding democratic capitalism. Father Zięba analyzes the popes’ social encyclicals from Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum (1891), through John Paul II’s Centesimus Annus a century later, and finally to Benedict XVI’s recent Caritas in Veritate.

While demonstrating the remarkable continuity among the popes over the course of 120 years, Papal Economics also reveals that the Church’s teaching has evolved in certain key respects—particularly in its judgment on socialism.