Catholic University students and faculty listen to presentations by Monsignor Martin Schlag and Andreas Widmer about economic justice.

In preparation for Pope Francis’s visit to Washington, D.C., and The Catholic University of America in September, the students and faculty have begun an important conversation about justice in our society. On Wednesday, May 13, two experts launched this discussion at an event titled, “Teaching Catholicism to Capitalists.”

Monsignor Martin Schlag, of the Santa Croce University in Rome and consultor to the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, shed light on Pope Francis’s “Evangelii Gaudium” from an Anglo-American perspective. His talk provided insights into the Pope’s understanding of capitalism from his experiences in South America where capitalism is marred by classism and cronyism.

Andreas Widmer, director of entrepreneurship at CUA’s School of Business and Economics, presented the newly released findings from a survey titled “Faithful Measure: Gauging Awareness of the Catholic Church’s Social Doctrine.” This new data shows that Catholics and non-Catholics alike misunderstand key tenets of Catholic social doctrine. Most Catholics think they understand terms such as social justice, solidarity, and property rights, but when they are asked to identify their definitions, they do little better than non-Catholics.

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