Pope Francis sloppy on economics

Evangelii Gaudium, the Pope’s first major publication, is an “exhortation” rather than an encyclical, so it does not carry the same weight. Which is just as well. The economic analysis is sloppy. It contains nothing of interest and offers no direction. Even Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum is better, for all its shortcomings. Why didn’t the Pope go back to the previous body Catholic Social Teaching and build on what has been said there? Benedict created a fresh starting point with Caritas in Veritate. That needs to be developed. It seems unlikely that this will happen under the current regime. The present pontificate has not been characterised by intellectual rigour, which is surprising considering that the Pope is a Jesuit, an order with a tradition of academic solidity.