Santa Clara University Ethics Expert: The Pope’s upcoming encyclical is likely to spark debate on whether the capitalist system meets the test of social justice, and on the origins of and solutions to the world's economic meltdown.
Source: Kirk Hanson, business ethics professor and executive director of Santa Clara University's Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, who participated in and chaired hearings in advance of a similar economic-justice statement by American bishops in 1986.
Background: In the next few weeks, Pope Benedict XVI is expected to release an encyclical, or official papal statement, about social and economic justice, with implied praise and criticism of contemporary business ethics and government economic policy. When a group of U.S. Catholic bishops issued a similar statement during the Reagan years, it sparked a nationwide debate about the fairness of our capitalist system, said Prof. Hanson.
Prof. Hanson is available to discuss the context, impact and ethical arguments in the Pope's encyclical. He can also help interpret the implied praise and criticism of the Bush and Obama Administration approaches to the current economic meltdown.
To reach Prof. Hanson by e-mail, please write to kohanson@scu.edu. Alternatively, reporters can call or e-mail Deborah Lohse of SCU Media Relations, 408-554-5121 or dlohse@scu.edu.
Contacts:
SCU Media Relations
Deborah Lohse, 408-554-5121
dlohse@scu.edu