Pope Leo: Ignorant of Economics

Pope Leo XIV

@Pontifex

·

Jun 22

It is important to resist the commodification of basic human needs. Food, water and healthcare cannot be subordinated to market considerations or geopolitical interests. Access to adequate food is a fundamental human right grounded in the dignity of every person. Meeting this need not only alleviates suffering but also addresses underlying causes of geopolitical instability. Indeed, food security is an essential component of global and integral security.

Catholic bishops are supposed to care about the poor deeply, but none of them bother to study economics. This is as absurd as saying you care deeply about the sick, but you refuse to study medicine, anatomy, pharmacology.

Condemning commodification is identical to condemning doctors for performing triage. After all,  triage disfavors some of the sick in favor of others who are less sick, and all because doctors recognize they don't have enough supplies to treat everyone!

For shame!

By using triage, doctors commodify medicine!

The condemnation is stupid. It is true that the wealthy have a duty to the poor, but it is also true that no one person nor any group has enough resources to solve everyone's problems.

Thus, some method must be found of apportioning resources to need. The most efficient method we know to correctly apportion resources to needs is precisely commodification.

Just as we need to define terms before we have a conversation, so prices are part of the definition of  how resources should be apportioned to needs. We need definitions of terms, we need defined pricesto commune properly with each other. Price is a form of communication and definition, it is as absolutely critical to resource allocation as correct term definition and grammar is to language.