In Pope Pius XII on the Economic Order, economist Rupert J. Ederer explores the views of Eugenio Pacelli, who served as pope during the tumultuous period of 1939 to 1958. Prodigious in his output, Pius XII produced 40 encyclicals, 19 highly regarded Christmas messages, and series of addresses to groups and organizations, laying the groundwork for the economic views of his successors. According to Ederer, it "is safe to say that no Roman pontiff has addressed the problems confronting the social order as frequently and as widely outside the formal structure of encyclicals as Pius XII. This applies in a special way to his masterful and prophetic Christmas Messages." Through the study of Pius XII's encyclicals and Christmas messages, Ederer examines this important pontiff's views on economics and the social order, the world of work, agriculture and farmers, food and population, the middle class, and the world of money and finance. Students and scholars interested in the history of Pius XII's papacy will find in Ederer's analysis an insightful study of Catholic economic thought during an era when nations representing the forces of capitalism, fascism, and Communism were joined in a fierce battle for dominance.

In this revised and expanded edition of Economics as if God Matters, Rupert J. Ederer brings forward to the present his classic assessment of how papal social teachings address economic questions from the end of the 19th century. Noting how "economic order reflects economic philosophies, which, in turn, mirror the basic philosophies" and even theologies, Ederer explores the papal perspective on economics and its place in human affairs. Through the study of social encyclicals issued since 1891, Ederer illustrates the "organic development of doctrine" on economic matters through his detection of a series of common principles. Ederer considers in each of his chapters key encyclicals, from which he abstracts an economic philosophy that seeks to balance Church teaching with evolving 20th-century economic systems. His survey thus encompasses close readings of Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum (1891), Pius XI's Quadragesimo Anno (1931), John XXIII's Mater et Magistra (1961), Paul VI's Populorum Progressio (1967), John Paul II's Laborem Exercens (1981), Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (1987), Centesimus Annus (1991), and Benedict XVI's Caritas in Veritate (2009). Written for clergy and lay readers, as well as students and scholars of the Catholic perspective on the intersection of economics and society, Economics as if God Matters is a sophisticated review of the moral purpose of one's participation in the economic life of modern society.