Papal Economics: The Catholic Church on Democratic Capitalism | Fr. Maciej Zięba, O.P.

Christendom College Lectures

On November 19, Fr. Zieba gave a talk to Christendom students and faculty entitled “Papal Economics”. He discussed the development of Catholic social doctrine, as well of the theological dynamics of politics and economics.

Fr. Maciej Zięba, O.P., was a close associate of Pope John Paul II and a strong activist in Poland’s Solidarity movement in the Communist era. A physicist by training, he became a Dominican priest and a major thinker on the theological dynamics of politics and economics, closely tied to intellectuals like George Weigel, Michael Novak, and of course, John Paul II. From 1991 to the present day he has lectured at the Tertio Millenio Institute for the Free Society’s summer seminar, guiding students from Central Europe and America in a thorough, contextualized reading of John Paul II’s Centesimus Annus — a document he sees as the Church’s definitive statement on social thought. He is in America touring to promote the new English edition of his work on the subject.