The Pope’s Real View of Capitalism, in Three Sentences

Pope Francis rankles critics who, seeing his campaigns against poverty and climate change, wish he would drop the economist act and stick to theology. The debate, already under way for months, should peak as the bishop of Rome starts on a six-day U.S. trip.

The pope’s take on the market economy boils down to three sentences, two of which don’t even belong to him. They do belong to the Vatican, which over the last 125 years has established a body of social doctrine intended to champion the poor and the vulnerable while protecting the natural environment. The positions of Pope Francis and his predecessors on economic matters are largely consistent and can be distilled into one statement from each of the last three popes.