Review article

The Catholic Church and economics

Zdenko Spajić orcid.org/0000-0001-7194-8374 ; University of Sarajevo - Catholic Theological Faculty, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

The mission of the Church in the world necessarily includes the question of
temporal goods and economics. Apart from individual cases of selling one’s own property and donating to the needy, the Church as an institution has claimed the right to
own property in order to pursue her objectives, primarily for worship, support for the
clergy, works of the apostolate, and charitable works. In the modern era, with the development of industrial society, the Church has also developed systematic teaching on
economics. While the Church’s economic teaching is rarely controversial – either because it is consistent or because it isn’t well known – the Church’s ownership and management of temporal goods is often subject to criticism and controversy. For this reason, the question of proper action in the economic sphere often arises. The challenge
is even greater in poorer societies where the needy look to the Church for assistance.
Presenting the teaching of the Church, this article seeks to achieve two goals: first, to
raise awareness of the Church’s positive view of economic activity as a response to
God’s call, and secondly, to differentiate specific roles in the economic sphere where the
Church’s position and conduct is in question. In the context of the first goal, the concept
of solidarity investment and the principle of not-for-profit are presented. With respect
to the second goal, the author presents specific actions of the Church, including the role
of lay people and the role of Church charitable work.

Keywords

Church; economics; charity organizations; lay people; solidarity investment; principle of not-for-profit.

Hrčak ID:

273445

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/273445

Publication date:

1.6.2011.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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