Benedict mashes up Rand and Steinbeck?

In what, per the NY Times, sounds interesting at least, Pope Benedict XVI has released his third encyclical, this one on the world economy.

The encyclical, “Charity in Truth” in English, was reportedly delayed while the Vatican took stock of the severity of the current global recession, while still being finished in time for the upcoming G8 summit in Italy.

Oh, that Ayn Rand-John Steinbeck mashup?

“There are paragraphs that sound like Ayn Rand, next to paragraphs that sound like ‘The Grapes of Wrath.’ That’s quite intentional,” Vincent J. Miller, a theologian at the University of Dayton, a Catholic institution in Ohio, said in a telephone interview.

“He’ll wax poetically about the virtuous capitalist, but then he’ll give you this very clear analysis of the ways in which global capital and the shareholder system cause managers to focus on short term good at the expense of the community, of workers, of the environment.”

Also, in what has already raised objections from conservative American Catholics like Michael Novak, Benedict says that due to the global nature of the crisis, more international regulations are needed, and places like the UN need to empower poorer countries more.

From the encyclical itself, Benedict has an answer to the Novaks of retrenchant conservative Catholicism, and any success theology Protestants who might be reading as well:

I am aware of the ways in which charity has been and continues to be misconstrued and emptied of meaning, with the consequent risk of being misinterpreted, detached from ethical living and, in any event, undervalued. In the social, juridical, cultural, political and economic fields — the contexts, in other words, that are most exposed to this danger — it is easily dismissed as irrelevant for interpreting and giving direction to moral responsibility.

That said, the call for changes appears reflected in the title. And, a quick scan of the encyclical shows a lot of Steinbeck and not much Rand.

To see if you agree, read the whole story, which then links to the encyclical.