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The head of the Vatican Bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, penned an essay in L'Osservatore Romano that seems to support their less-government-is-good mantra. And conservatives in this country have finally found a vatican text to support their claims. Writing at the blog International Liberty, Dan Mitchell suggests sending President Obama to the Vatican for an economics lesson.
Mitchell is correct, but not for the reasons he thinks. I, too, wish President Obama would go to the Vatican for an economics lesson, but he would be unlikely to meet with Mr. Tedeschi. I suspect he would meet with Pope Benedict XVI said just last week that we must put people before profits. What does Mitchell think of that? Just so we are clear, the head of the Vatican bank has no teaching authority, last time I checked. He is a banker. He may or may not know much about economics. But, he does not speak for "the Vatican" on the morality of various economic policies. I am sticking with Benedict on this one.
