Start with this from Cafe Hayek’s Don Boudreaux:

No institution in history comes close to capitalism’s success at inspiring multitudes of strangers, from different countries and with different talents, to cooperate for the betterment of humanity and of the natural environment.

Add this:

The production and distribution of the very encyclicals in which Francis criticizes capitalism are capitalist achievements. They require the efforts of tree farmers (perhaps in Germany), of paper-mill workers (perhaps in Slovenia), of ink producers (perhaps in Canada), and of printers (perhaps in Italy).

And this:

And each of these suppliers relies upon countless delivery vehicles (perhaps made in Japan), investors (perhaps in New York), insurers (perhaps in London) and designers of computer hardware (perhaps in China) and software (perhaps in Seattle).

Sum it up with this:

A true marvel of capitalism is its continual weaving together of the efforts of billions of individuals from around the world into a unified global economy, with each person — as producer and as consumer — more free than under any other economic system to choose just how to participate.

And this:

This process is peaceful, stupendously productive and requires no commands issued by any overseeing strongman or politburo.

To which, being a fervent Catholic, I say let us pray he comes to know this and other nuggets about how the world works.

The nation’s biggest abortion millers do not play beanbag.

CHICAGO – Planned Parenthood supporters in positions of government power are looking to jail and financially destroy the producer of the undercover sting videos that have brought attention to the abortion giant’s illegal practices, a pro-life lawyer claims.

Go Thomas More Society.

Every diocese could have one, even if not a full-time job. New Liturgical Movement strikes an encouraging note here.

Some prelates fear diversity in this arena, however, have bigger fish to fry, etc.

Same for programs geared explicitly to help LGBT people to do the right thing. Courage comes to mind.

Prelates are often not so sure about this operation either. Low profiles are preferred. But this Courage site has a raft of video presentations, including a July 30 sermon by Archbishop Cupich of Chicago at the opening of the 2015 Courage Conference at Mundelein Seminary, and a moving one at that. His predecessor Cardinal George also welcomed the Courage group to the seminary on one or more occasions.

If I were the pope, I’d object to a headline like the one above on grounds the copy editor is making me look like a nitwit.

As to the story, it opens like this:

ROME/BUENOS AIRES — As Pope Francis prepares to visit the United States, it’s telling that many Americans are still trying to get a political read on him. Some are convinced he’s a leftist reformer, some see him as a conservative in sheep’s clothing, and many are just a little bit confused.

Actually, for some who consider it muy dangerous to separate thinking from loving one’s neighbor, it seems the Holy Father is confused.

Invitations to transgender activists, first openly gay U.S. Episcopal bishop and activist nun to White House event prompt pushback

Sure, but does he know economics?

It’s one thing to conclude that markets are immoral after learning how markets work and what life would be like in their absence.  Such a conclusion is intellectually defensible because it would reflect an informed – if, in my view, bizarre – value judgment.  But the conclusion that markets are immoral typically reflects – as it surely does in the case of Pope Francis – utter ignorance of the logic and history of markets (and of the logic and history of governments).

Not hardly.

Freedom rings and people answer the bell.

The greater the economic freedom, the wealthier and happier the people. From minimum-wage laws to higher progressive taxation to greater unionization to larger welfare programs to more regulation, left liberals demand a stronger and more economically active central government.

Advocates of laissez-faire, on the other hand, favor smaller government, less regulation, lower taxes, and greater individual opportunity and property rights.

But which economic policy approach actually yields the best results?

Read on, my friends, read on.

They do his crowds but send you to You Tube for the message,

There is little to no curiosity among our media elite about how a Democratic candidate for president is able to campaign on a shrinking middle class, record highs of unemployment, record lows of workforce participation, record wage stagnation, and record entitlement dependency, while a Democratic president simultaneously travels around the country touting his economic success on all counts. How is it allowed to go unnoticed that this candidate suggests that economic growth was better under Richard Nixon than under Barack Obama?

How indeed?

The aborted ones:

“In New York City, home to the largest black population of any U.S. urban area, more black babies are aborted than born,” writes Jason Riley [in Wall St. Journal]. “In Georgia, where whites outnumber blacks 2 to 1, more than 53% of abortions involve black babies,” he adds. Mr. Riley argues that “if liberal activists and their media allies are going to lecture America about the value of black lives, the staggering disparity in abortion rates ought to be part of the discussion.”

It’s what Margaret Sanger had in mind.

Goes like this, says Maureen Malarkey:

You just slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan
You don’t need to be coy, Roy
Just listen to me
Hop on the bus, Gus
You don’t need to discuss much
Just drop off the key, Lee
And get yourself free.
Paul Simon, Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover

The pope, too, has a pen and a phone. Has Francis’ motu proprio trumped the Synod? Or handicapped conservatives? Hard to say. But one thing now is certain: Marriage is indissoluble except when it is not. Put another way, indissolubility is revealed to be more soluble than we had previously understood.

Quick fix is in the mix.