Benedict’s 2nd encyclical said to condemn tax evasion by wealthy as ‘socially unjust’
LONDON (Catholic Online) – Pope Benedict XVI is working on a new encyclical that will condemn tax evasion as “socially unjust” and will denounce the use of “tax havens” and offshore bank accounts by wealthy individuals to avoid taxes owed.
In a article published the Times of London dated Aug. 10, Richard Owen, quoting Vatican sources, reported that the pope’s second encylical will focus on social and economic problems facing mankind in an era of globalization.
He will argue, the Times said, that tax shelters that seek to illegitimately limit the amount of taxes paid and the non-payment of taxes reduces tax revenues that benefit of society as a whole and shift the burden to those less able to afford it.
The pope is said to intend to urge the regulation of world trade and economic systems that will discourage further injustice.
Last week, the Italian government of Roman Prodi called for a concerted crackdown on tax evaders, noting that individual avoidance of taxes and those associated with black-market transactions amount to 27 percent of Italy’s gross domestic product.
Prodi, a Catholic, urged church leaders to speak out on tax evasion, telling the Catholic magazine Famiglia Cristiana that a third of Italians heavily evaded taxes, which were needed to help defray Italy’s huge budget deficit.
“Why, when I go to Mass, is this issue almost never touched upon in homilies?” Prodi asked. “If memory serves, St. Paul exhorted the faithful to obey authority.”
Just before leaving the Alps at the end of Pope Benedict's July 9 -27 vacation, his private secretary, Msgr. Georg Ganswein, in an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Giornale, said that the pontiff’s daily holiday schedule included work on a new encyclical.
Pope Benedict’s first encylical Deus Caritas Est (God is Love) was promulgated on Jan. 25, 2006, signed on Christimas Day, Dec. 25, 2005. The 16,000-word document focused on the subject of Christian love and the establishment of a personal relationship with Jesus.
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