CARITAS IN VERITATE, MARKET AND FIRMS The Catholic Church’s Position on Economy. An Interview by Renato Mangano

Abstract

Pope Benedict XVI, after writing the encyclicals “Deus Caritas Est” and “Spe Salvi”, wrote in 2009 the third letter of an ideal trilogy: “Caritas in Veritate”. A lawyer who is also a believer might feel uncomfortable reading a prescriptive text which is – for understandable reasons – more abstract than a legal text or an academic paper. But when the same lawyer recovers from the first impact, he may find the recent encyclical more familiar than he would have thought. He will, in any case, find it extremely stimulating; he can trace the results of the lively debate about the structure and function of legal rights and of the preference accorded to an approach which is not only conceptual (or formal) but also “explanatory” (of rights, their nature, their function, etc.); he comes across many legal issues, as well as questions about the role of the state in a free market economy, the anthropological background of corporate social responsibility and the individuation of the duties of company directors, and other themes which are directly or indirectly discussed in this Review. These issues were addressed by Prof. Zamagni, who gave the following interview to Renato Mangano.