Jesus tells a parable to capitalists about the consequences of their wealth; “a rich man dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day. And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,” whom every day the rich man walked past. Jesus goes on, “When the poor man died, he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried, and from the netherworld… he was in torment.”
Pope Leo XIV spoke with the press recently and addressed capitalism, specifically in the U.S., as he has done previously. Leo often speaks of capitalism’s consequences, asking capitalists to “use money and resources to promote the common good” rather than using “wealth against humanity” by “turning it into weapons that destroy peoples or monopolies that humiliate workers.” U.S. capitalists, who are aware of the Pope’s perspective, criticize it. Capitalists argue that capitalism provides surplus. But the facts are that capitalists own that surplus, which is often a common good, like water, which they privatize and overcharge us for its use. Capitalists argue that they redistribute surplus, like money, to people in need. But the facts are that capitalists want to buy back stocks and thus redistribute resources away from people who need health care. Capitalism’s destructiveness is apparent in its corporatism and oligarchy. Like the poor man in Jesus’ parable, we, the common people and our common goods, are perpetually threatened by capitalism, worse, we are being destroyed by capitalism. Consider, for example, the GOP threat of a government shutdown. The wealthy gain their riches from diversified investments in the stock market, generally unaffected by shutdowns, and thus periodically threaten common people with shutdowns. The GOP bill Democrats are being coerced to pass to stop the shutdown contains a destructive cut of over $490 billion in Medicare payments and ends an ACA/Obamacare tax subsidy. If the bill is not passed and the government shuts down, the Trump administration is threatening mass firings of federal workers. This extortion is one instance of not just a threat to common people and the common good, but, as Leo asserts in his many interviews, an ongoing destruction of people, our humanity and our communities, at the hands of capitalists.
The institutional Church, specifically this pope’s numbered predecessor, Leo XIII (1878-1903), helped formulate another way, Distributism. It is not a perfect way but can at least be considered as simply another way – a way to open our imaginations. Capitalism not only shuts down governments, it shuts down imaginations to conceive of alternative governing and economic models independent of capitalism. Distributism focuses on creating an economic community of cooperatives which can shut down capitalism. Distributism is concerned with sharing among the common people a community’s common goods. Distributism promotes cooperatives of independent artisans and member-owned and operated enterprises. The cooperatives are a network of services and programs, from training centers and schools across all ages to research facilities and farms across the land. Like the rich man in the Gospel, the Church – which means we the people – need to look at those who are poor and being destroyed by capitalism and offer healing solutions.
Prayer: Beautiful Spirit, help us to always see and care for those who are poor.
Question: How can Distributivism or another economic model help free us from Capitalism?
September 28, 2025 Gospel Luke 16:19-31 Twenty Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time