Capitalism and Death Challenge

There have been many comments in recent threads across the net (such as this one) stating that to find the problem with abortion, embryonic stem cell research, euthanasia, etc one must simply follow the trail of money.

Let me first define money in economical terms.
Money is a

• Good
• Medium of Exchange
• Standard of Value
• Store of Value

Do they believe the "Culture of Death"to be a product of capitalism?
Why do we not hear, follow the trail of voters or political pull?
Let's hear your replies.
What do think the Culture of Death is a product of?
Is money the trail to follow to reach the root of the problem?
And how do you commend we fix it?

Critique of Capitalism by Hilaire Belloc

Hilaire Belloc on Industrial Capitalism.

Some quotes from his essay.

"It is equally clear that the more Catholic a country is, the less easily does it accommodate itself to the social arrangement of a proletariat subjected to millionaire monopolists."

"There is the point of Usury, which I have dealt with elsewhere, there is the all-important point of the Just Price, there is the point of the "Panis Humanus"-----man's daily bread, the right possessed by the human being according to Catholic doctrine to live, and to live decently."

"and what moral authority has mere money? Why should I reverence or obey the man who happens to be richer than I am?"

“Everything about Industrial Capitalism-----its ineptitude, its vulgarity, its crying injustice, its dirt, its proclaimed indifference to morals [making the end of man an accumulation of wealth, and of labor itself an inhuman repetition without interest and without savor] is at war with the Catholic spirit.”

“In the absence, the gradual decline [where it is declining] of the Catholic ethic, slavery is coming back. Anyone with eyes to see can watch it coming back slowly but certainly-----like a tide. Slowly but certainly the proletarian, by every political reform which secures his well-being under new rules of insurance, of State control in education, of State medicine and the rest, is developing into the slave, leaving the rich man apart and free. All industrial civilization is clearly moving towards the re-establishment of the Servile State, a matter I have discussed at greater length under the title of "the New Paganism." 2”

To what does Belloc refer in his essay? Is it the market economy? A market economy wouldn't have "State control in education". What then is it?

Your thoughts...

HT: Lucas Bernet

Was Pope John Paul II in support of Capitalism?

This article advocates that he was not. It has many arguments but let us begin with solidarity.

One paragraph in the article states:
"John Paul II criticized the economic systems that lacked solidarity, lacked the biblical and Catholic vision of the “option or love of preference for the poor ,” a phrase coined by Latin American theologians and later refined, which eventually became a key concept of the social teaching of the Church. The phrase appears also in John Paul II's Centes-imus Annus, Pastores Gregis, Tertio Millennio Adveniente and Ecclesia in America . "

Yet the Catechism of the Catholic Church defines solidarity as:

III. HUMAN SOLIDARITY

1939 The principle of solidarity, also articulated in terms of "friendship" or "social charity," is a direct demand of human and Christian brotherhood.⁴⁵

An error, "today abundantly widespread, is disregard for the law of human solidarity and charity, dictated and imposed both by our common origin and by the equality in rational nature of all men, whatever nation they belong to. This law is sealed by the sacrifice of redemption offered by Jesus Christ on the altar of the Cross to his heavenly Father, on behalf of sinful humanity."⁴⁶

1940 Solidarity is manifested in the first place by the distribution of goods and remuneration for work. It also presupposes the effort for a more just social order where tensions are better able to be reduced and conflicts more readily settled by negotiation.

1941 Socio-economic problems can be resolved only with the help of all the forms of solidarity: solidarity of the poor among themselves, between rich and poor, of workers among themselves, between employers and employees in a business, solidarity among nations and peoples. International solidarity is a requirement of the moral order; world peace depends in part upon this.

1942 The virtue of solidarity goes beyond material goods. In spreading the spiritual goods of the faith, the Church has promoted, and often opened new paths for, the development of temporal goods as well. And so throughout the centuries has the Lord's saying been verified: "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well":⁴⁷

For two thousand years this sentiment has lived and endured in the soul of the Church, impelling souls then and now to the heroic charity of monastic farmers, liberators of slaves, healers of the sick, and messengers of faith, civilization, and science to all generations and all peoples for the sake of creating the social conditions capable of offering to everyone possible a life worthy of man and of a Christian.⁴⁸

Does Capitalism fall short in any of these areas defined by the Catechism or does the author of the article have a misconception of what Capitalism is?

In Memory of Pope John Paul II - Update 4/3

It was four years ago today when Pope John Paul II left us for the heavenly kingdom.

Let us pray for him today for his Beatification process so that we may know that he is in Heaven with our heavenly Father.

Let us also take a moment to reflect on his life's work and perhaps receive a chance to browse through the Vatican's website on him filled with his many homilies, encyclicals, and other works.
Overcoming evil with weapons of love becomes the way in which each person can contribute to the peace of all. Christians and believers of different religions are called to walk this path, together with those who accept the universal moral law.
- Homily from the Solemnity of Mary; January 1, 2005

UPDATE:
A man who had been shot is miraculously healed after receiving a rosary blessed by Pope John Paul II.