Sorry, Fox News: Pope Francis is 'competent' enough to talk about economics

Judge Andrew Napolitano thinks the pope is out of his element. He's wrong.

Pope Francis
(Image credit: (Franco Origlia/Getty Images))

By now we have developed a pattern when it comes to Pope Francis: Any time he critiques economics, there is a rush to explain why he's out of his element. On the appropriateness of the pope's economic commentary, for example, Fox News' Judge Andrew Napolitano poses and then answers his own question:

Is it a problem for the Roman Catholic Church? And is it something the pope is competent to comment upon or to resolve?... His encyclical is about economics, and it reveals a disturbing ignorance....

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Elizabeth Stoker writes about Christianity, ethics, and policy for Salon, The Atlantic, and The Week. She is a graduate of Brandeis University, a Marshall Scholar, and a current Cambridge University divinity student. In her spare time, Elizabeth enjoys working in the garden and catching up on news of the temporal world.