If Santorum and Gingrich are really devote Catholics then shouldn't they be on the economic left?

[white_wolf]

Santorum and Gingrich both like to talk about how devote their Catholic faith is and they cite their social conservatism as proof and yet they ignore the Church's stance on economic issues. Now, I have a lot of issues with the Catholic Church and this Pope, I am an atheist and think the Church's views on social issues are extremely outdated, but the economic views of Benedict seem to be firmly at odds with the views of Santorum and Gingrich.

In his 2009 encyclical "Charity in Truth" Pope Benedict called for a restructuring of the global economy that is guided by "an ethics that is people centered."

The Pope wrote that "Profit is not an end in itself but a means toward the common good. “Once profit becomes the exclusive goal,if it is produced by improper means and without the common good as its ultimate end, it risks destroying wealth and creating poverty.”

The quotes above are taken from the article: "Vatican’s economic statement will be way to the left of Wall Street financiers." Link: http://life.nationalpost.com/2011/10/21/vaticans-economic-statement-will-be-way-to-the-left-of-wall-street-financiers/

Santorum's and Gingrich's attacks on labor unions and other economic polices are also at odds with various encyclicals published by the Church over the years, most notably the following: Rerum Novarum(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rerum_Novarum), Quadragesimo Anno (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadragesimo_Anno), "Mater et Magistra&quot http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mater_et_Magistra), Centesimus Annus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centesimus_Annus).

Just to be very clear, I'm not saying we should endorse the Pope's economic views, I'm mainly pointing out the massive amount of hypocrisy on the part of Santorum and Gingrich who claim to be devote Catholics when it allows them to pander to their bigoted base and yet forget the Church's teachings on social justice in favor of Objectivism when it suits them.

[atreides1]

1. They're not really that devout

Both are only Catholic when it suits their agenda...and the fact that they constanly lie must mean that they're both attending confession at least every other day...if they were truly devout Catholics!

[HockeyMom]

2. Having spent 12 years in catholic school,

and parted company with them as a teenager, all they seem to think about are abortion, birth control, and gay marriage. They call people who disagree with those things "cafeteria catholics". I say THEY are cafeterial catholics too because they pick and choose too, because the faith includes ADMINISTERING to the poor, sick, and elderly, which these catholic REPUBLICANS seem to IGNORE.

You know, Gingrich and Santorm, you are no JACK KENNEDY Catholics. If the catholics of today were more like him, I might think twice about "going back".

[rurallib]

4. amen to that.

[raouldukelives]

3. Van Gogh would agree. nt

[intaglio]

5. Errrr - you mean like the Pope?

Catholicism hates actually doing anything about the rich even historically, check out Savonarola and Francis of Assisi.