Pius XI Quotes
For what will it profit men that a more prudent distribution and use of riches make it possible for them to gain even the whole world, if thereby they suffer the loss of their own souls? What will it profit to teach them sound principles in economics, if they permit themselves to be so swept away by selfishness, by unbridled and sordid greed, that hearing the commandments of the Lord, they do all things contrary.
Pius XI. Quadragesimo Anno. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 15 May 1931.
This view of the world as a zero sum game and the contrasting view of growth producing a win-win situation define the major contrasting political and economic views argued to this day.
There was a great deal of war profiteering during the American Revolution and Gerard thought that this was a negative indicator of prospects for America. Things actually got worse during the war of 1812 where there was war profiteering also and many in New England profited from selling supplies to the British enemy. Unfortunately, taking economic advantage of a wartime crisis has accompanied virtually every war in which we have become engaged. In WWII, the automobile industry virtually blackmailed the government into high profits if they would produce war material instead of cars, and the rapaciousness of Haliburton in the Iraq war became a national scandal. See George Washington’s comment on the time {624228}.
Pope Pius XI (Italian: Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on 11 February 1929. He took as his papal motto "Pax Christi in Regno Christi," translated "The Peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ."
