Book. The story is famous. In the Gospel of Matthew, the merchants of the temple bear the brunt of Jesus’ wrath, because ” No one can serve two masters “at a time “God and Mammon”, the personification of material wealth. But what is the position of the Church today vis-à-vis finance and its actors, the modern merchants of the temple? This is the question that Professor Frédéric Lobez tries to answer in a synthetic and enlightening book.
The author first wishes to recall that “finance” has existed for a long time, particularly in the form of interest-bearing loans: “Its practice is attested in Mesopotamia even before Hammurabi (king of Babylon from 1792 to 1750 BC) as well as in the Old Testament, which enacts precise prescriptions. »
The book then offers a real genealogy to understand the attitude of Christians. “The Sinful Dimension [relative au péché] of the interest loan can vary according to the authors and the ages », he points out. Thus, the first councils validated the practice while framing it, while the Fathers of the Church showed themselves to be more severe, in particular Gregory of Nyssa (335-395 approximately) and Ambrose of Milan (339-397).
Later, Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) decided for a prohibition of usury. “The enrichment of the usurer, who exploits time that does not belong to him to make a profit, contrasts with the valorization of work that is essential in the XIIIe century, both economically and theologically, as a structuring virtue of Christianity.analyzes Frédéric Lobez.
What is behind this silence?
With the encyclical Rerum novarum (1891), Pope Leo XIII lays down the official outlines of a social doctrine of the Church: the misery of the working class and the excesses of capitalism are condemned there, just as much as the “atheistic socialism”.
But, after this date, criticism of the “world of finance” will be rare. What is behind this silence? “Is this a misunderstanding given the complexity of the techniques? Does this silence implicitly reflect an internal contradiction in social doctrine? Or is he hiding the Vatican authorities’ discomfort with financial practices that also concern them? » asks the author.
Tongues will gradually loosen at the end of the 20th centurye century. If John Paul II forcefully recalled the “principle of the priority of labor over capital”Those are “Pope Emeritus [Benoît XVI] and the current Pope Francis […] who have worked with the most determination to counter financial crime”. With a difference: Benedict XVI calls for “ethical finance”, while François criticizes “the absolute grip of finance”.
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