Pope Francis has produced his first major document as Pope (the previous encyclical having been written by his predecessor). In it he launches a powerful attack on the modern world’s idolatry of money, the tyranny of capitalism and misplaced faith in the market. It also calls for a much greater sense of personal responsibility upon Christians to evangelize and not constantly to look to Rome to do their work for them.

Unsurprisingly, as with any document produced by a Catholic leader which dares to engage with economics and finance it has provoked much mocking on the comment pages of the British Press. The familiar tired old ad hominem goes something along the lines of “why don’t you start first, why doesn’t the Vatican sell all its enormous wealth and give it to the poor”. Accusations of corruption and hysterical rants that seem to picture the Pope reclining on a bed of ill-gotten gold follow a familiar pattern.

This is invariably the easy answer of our cynical modern world. The financial crisis, after an initial round of apologies of varying sincerity from politicians and financiers alike, has not caused any real challenge to the seemingly unchallengeable orthodoxy of current practice. Even now, as the economy slowly drags itself back into growth, to triumphant celebrations from the Chancellor, not enough seems to made of the fundamental question – are we all benefitting?

Big business is back to business as usual, but the poverty among those hit hardest by the crisis shows little sign of abating. Indeed, with the added costs of energy bills, living standards among Britain’s poor are getting worse and worse, even as the economy moderately improves. This problem is not simply economic, it is a moral catastrophe. Not just in that the problem should exist, but in the desperate lack of concern which so many seem to show for it. Where, amid calls to scrap jobseekers allowance for the under 25s and the continued condemnation of “benefit scroungers” is the solidarity and compassion that the Pope is calling for?

Still, it is much easier to repeat the old dismissal then to bother engaging with what should be a damning critique of society’s lack of care for its most vulnerable. Why doesn’t he just sell off all the Vatican wealth? There is a ridiculous double standard applied to the critique. It is never asked of a state leader, for example, when he or she calls for an economic reform. The state, like the Church, owns property and artistic treasures. Much as the state would struggle to function without the buildings in which it houses government departments, parliament, and other essential functions, the Catholic Church would struggle without its churches and administrative centres. The “wealth” tied up in property is hardly a saleable asset for a functioning Church.

But what of those fabulous riches, the priceless artworks built up over centuries? Couldn’t the Pope lead by example and sell those off? Well, yes and no. Certainly some pieces could be sold, but many of them have been given with the specific wish of the donor that they should belong to the Church – not some private collector. Many were outraged at the attempted sale by London University of the Shakespeare folio to the private sphere. There are some things, particularly when they’ve been given by someone with the explicit wish that they should belong to the Church which it would be simply inappropriate to sell. It would be an unjust betrayal of the donor’s wishes.

As for leading by example, well, isn’t Francis doing exactly that? This is a man who has embraced poverty for years. The stories of the bishop who took the bus in Buenos Aires and drives a beat up Renault 4 around Rome, who constantly shuns the trappings of excess, are well reported upon. Francis has embraced his personal responsibility and has called on us all to do the same.

Evangelii Gaudium  should be a call to arms – a chance at real consideration of where we are as a society and our own personal responsibility to solidarity and compassion. That so many have rejected it with the same old tired clichéd denial of self-responsibility speaks volumes for how important this message is.

Ben Ryan is a research intern at Theos and has recently completed an MSc in European Studies at the LSE.

Image from wikimedia available under the public domain