The Best Vatican Document on Economics for Some Time

Today, the Vatican issued a letter on economic and financial matters. Quite unlike many recent communications on those issues, it was elegantly written – almost a joy to read. It is a serious and constructive contribution to the debate and, in its earlier sections, it is, if not quite original, a vital contribution to the teaching of the Church. The document has a beginning a middle and an end and is written in such a way that you don't have to keep re-reading it to work out what the over-riding theme is. Sadly, modern Church teaching documents on economic matters have not had such elegance: this letter is more like Quadragesimo Anno or Rerum Novarum. Indeed, its content could have been written by Oswald von Nell-Breuning, the author of the former encyclical.