Sergio rubin
06/17/2021 5:21 PM
Clarín.com
Opinion
Updated 06/17/2021 9:06 PM
As has happened for more than a century when Pope Leo XIII wrote the encyclical Rerum Novarun (1891) -with which the so-called Social Doctrine of the Church began to develop-, each time a pontiff assigns a
social function to property Private
voices arise that question this position, considering that it weakens a fundamental pillar of capitalism and even promotes expropriation in some way.
And every time that Francis reiterates that position - as now he said that it is a "secondary right" - the criticisms are even stronger, especially because
he is considered "on the left",
unlike other popes like John Paul II.
But already the Polish Pope - who contributed to the fall of communism - affirmed in his encyclical Solicitudo Rei Socialis (1987) that on private property "a social mortgage is levied."
In the case of Argentina, the fact that Francisco returns to the subject in a message to the International Labor Conference that is taking place these days in Geneva - is destined to have a greater resonance because in recent days the president of the Nación criticized the owners of unproductive lands and the Deliberative Council of Avellaneda approved a controversial ordinance to expropriate lands.
Let's go by part.
“That the right of property is secondary, means in the first place that it is a right
subordinate to a higher purpose
which is the enjoyment of goods and opportunities by all men, which is recognized by the principle of the universal destiny of men. goods ”, points out Professor Pablo Blanco, holder of the chair of Social Doctrine at the UCA.
He adds that “secondly, that it is not an absolute right implies what the Social Magisterium has already recognized from Leon XIII to John Paul II and that is that on property rights
there is a social mortgage
;
and finally, it supposes that as recognized right it must be institutionally regulated in its application ".
“To say that the right to property is a secondary right is not to say that the right to property should be abolished or to advocate for its collectivization, but rather to point out - in line with the Magisterium - that it is a right that
must be regulated and subordinated
to achieve the common good of society ”, he completes.
For the rest, he rejected that the reiteration of the principles of the Church made by Francisco is to support the position of the President of the Nation or the ordinance of the Deliberative Council of Avellaneda.
"We must
stop being so self-referential
and think that everything the Pope says or does is related to Argentina," he says.
In a work published by the Digital Library of the UCA, in 2014, Father Gustavo Irrazábal, affirms that “the Social Doctrine of the Church has sustained from its beginnings the legitimacy of private property as a
guarantee of autonomy
of the person, pointing out how the way for social justice, its dissemination, especially through fair wages ”.
"Over time it has managed to better balance its individual function and its social function, deepening its instrumental nature, ordered to make effective a previous and more fundamental right of all human beings
to the use of the goods of the earth,
" adds Irrazábal, that he is vice-rector of the prestigious Catholic magazine Criterio.
In any case, it does not seem that Francisco is going to escape a new controversy in his country.
And surely
Kirchnerism will try to manipulate their sayings
for their benefit.
Be that as it may, it should be noted that Jorge Bergoglio is no longer the archbishop of Buenos Aires, but Pope Francis.
Look also
Pope Francis affirmed that private property "is a secondary right"
With the endorsement of Minister Jorge Ferraresi, in Avellaneda they will be able to expropriate vacant lands
