''Vix pervenit'' was an

encyclical An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Roman Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop. The word comes from the Late Latin (originally fro ...

, promulgated by

Pope Benedict XIV Pope Benedict XIV ( la, Benedictus XIV; it, Benedetto XIV; 31 March 1675 – 3 May 1758), born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 17 August 1740 to his death in May 1758. Pope B ...

on November 1, 1745, which condemned the practice of charging

interest In finance and economics, interest is payment from a borrower or deposit-taking financial institution to a lender or depositor of an amount above repayment of the principal sum (that is, the amount borrowed), at a particular rate. It is disti ...

loans In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that de ...

usury Usury () is the practice of making unethical or immoral monetary loans that unfairly enrich the lender. The term may be used in a moral sense—condemning taking advantage of others' misfortunes—or in a legal sense, where an interest rate is ch ...

. Because the encyclical was addressed to the

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or offic ...

s of Italy, it is generally not considered ''

ex cathedra Papal infallibility is a dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, in virtue of the promise of Jesus to Peter, the Pope when he speaks '' ex cathedra'' is preserved from the possibility of error on doctrine "initially given to the apos ...

''.Turner, Bryan Stanley. 1999. ''Max Weber: Critical Responses''. Routledge (UK). . p. 143. The

Holy Office The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) is the oldest among the departments of the Roman Curia. Its seat is the Palace of the Holy Office in Rome. It was founded to defend the Catholic Church from heresy and is the body responsible ...

applied the encyclical to the whole of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

on July 29, 1836, during the reign of

Pope Gregory XVI Pope Gregory XVI ( la, Gregorius XVI; it, Gregorio XVI; born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari; 18 September 1765 – 1 June 1846) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1831 to his death in 1 June 1846. He h ...

. The encyclical codified church teachings which date back to early

ecumenical council An ecumenical council, also called general council, is a meeting of bishops and other church authorities to consider and rule on questions of Christian doctrine, administration, discipline, and other matters in which those entitled to vote ar ...

s, at a time when

scholastic philosophy Scholasticism was a medieval school of philosophy that employed a critical organic method of philosophical analysis predicated upon the Aristotelian 10 Categories. Christian scholasticism emerged within the monastic schools that transla ...

(which did not regard money as a productive input) was increasingly coming into conflict with

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, private pr ...

Historical context

Medieval Christian interest payment theology began with the

First Council of Nicaea The First Council of Nicaea (; grc, Νίκαια ) was a council of Christian bishops convened in the Bithynian city of Nicaea (now İznik, Turkey) by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325. This ecumenical council was the first effort ...

(325), which forbade clergy from engaging in

.Moehlman, 1934, p. 6. Later

s applied this regulation to the

laity In religious organizations, the laity () consists of all members who are not part of the clergy, usually including any non-ordained members of religious orders, e.g. a nun or a lay brother. In both religious and wider secular usage, a layperson ...

.Noonan, John T., Jr. 1993. "Development of Moral Doctrine." 54 Theological Stud. 662. Lateran III decreed that persons who accepted interest on loans could receive neither the

sacrament A sacrament is a Christian rite that is recognized as being particularly important and significant. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites. Many Christians consider the sacraments to be a visible symbol of the rea ...

s nor Christian burial.

Pope Clement V Pope Clement V ( la, Clemens Quintus; c. 1264 – 20 April 1314), born Raymond Bertrand de Got (also occasionally spelled ''de Guoth'' and ''de Goth''), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 5 June 1305 to his d ...

made the belief in the right to usury

heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important relig ...

in 1311, and abolished all secular legislation in the Papal States which allowed it.Moehlman, 1934, p. 7.

Pope Sixtus V Pope Sixtus V ( it, Sisto V; 13 December 1521 – 27 August 1590), born Felice Piergentile, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 April 1585 to his death in August 1590. As a youth, he joined the Franciscan order ...

condemned the practice of charging interest as "detestable to God and man, damned by the sacred canons and contrary to Christian charity." Theological historian John Noonan argues that "the doctrine f usurywas enunciated by popes, expressed by three ecumenical councils, proclaimed by bishops, and taught unanimously by theologians." However, the 16th-century Fifth Lateran Council gave explicit permission for interest-taking in some situations, showing the matter was never really clear-cut:

Content of the encyclical

Title

As is usual practice with encyclicals, the text derived its title from the Latin opening words, which translate into English as "It has hardly reached ... The opening sentence refers to a debate, held in Italy at the time, about the validity of interest-bearing loan contracts, which had reached the Pontiff's ears.

Doctrine

The encyclical states: The prohibition was unequivocal, rejecting even "moderate or small" rates of interest. The prohibition on usury did not extend only to loan contracts but also condemned those who "falsely and rashly persuade themselves" that "other just contracts exist, for which it is permissible to receive a moderate amount of interest. Should any one think like this, he will oppose not only the judgment of the Catholic Church on usury, but also common human sense and natural reason."

Extrinsic interest

The encyclical, however, did allow

extrinsic In science and engineering, an intrinsic property is a property of a specified subject that exists itself or within the subject. An extrinsic property is not essential or inherent to the subject that is being characterized. For example, mass ...

interest to be charged, stating that "legitimate reasons arise to demand something over and above the amount due on the contract" as long as those reasons are "not at all intrinsic to the contract." The Holy Office would later expand upon these extrinsic justifications for interest in 1780 and 1784 to include "compensation" for the hazards and delays of repayment.

Effects of the encyclical

18th and 19th century

The encyclical was published one year after an influential and controversial three-volume defense of usury by Francesco Scipione. Months after the publication of ''Vix pervenit'', Maffei published a second, almost identical edition of his treatise-which contained the full text of the encyclical and a dedication to Benedict XIV, his friend-with the

imprimatur An ''imprimatur'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''impr.'', from Latin, "let it be printed") is a declaration authorizing publication of a book. The term is also applied loosely to any mark of approval or endorsement. The imprimatur rule in the R ...

of the Catholic Church.White, Andrew Dickson. 1897. ''

A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom ''A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom'' was published in two volumes by Andrew Dickson White, a founder of Cornell University, in 1896. In the introduction White states the original goal of his 1874 lecture on ''The ...

vol. 2''. D. Appleton and Company. p. 283.Raymond de Roover. 1955. "Scholastic Economics: Survival and Lasting Influence from the Sixteenth Century to Adam Smith." ''Quarterly Journal of Economics''. Vol. 69. No. 2. p. 176. Papal historian John Pollard argues that the encyclical's prohibition on usury contributed to the dependence of the Holy See upon Jewish bankers like James de Rothschild. The text of the encyclical was destroyed in several countries. In France, the ban on usury persisted until the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are consider ...

of 1789, the same year in which Turgot's ''Mémoire sur les prets d'argent'', a defense of usury, was allowed to be published.

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

's ''

Rerum novarum ''Rerum novarum'' (from its incipit, with the direct translation of the Latin meaning "of revolutionary change"), or ''Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor'', is an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII on 15 May 1891. It is an open letter, pass ...

'' (1891) laments that usury is "still practiced by covetous and grasping men" By the 19th century, the debate over lending within the Catholic Church disappeared, as the provision of credit had become viewed as political economy issue rather than a theological one. In 1830, following the widespread acceptance of the Napoleonic code, which allowed interest, throughout Europe, with the approval of

Pope Pius VIII Pope Pius VIII ( it, Pio VIII; born Francesco Saverio Maria Felice Castiglioni; 20 November 1761 – 30 November 1830), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 31 March 1829 to his death in November 1830. Pius VIII's ...

, the Inquisition of Rome, distinguished the ''doctrine'' of usury from the ''practice'' of usury, decreeing that

confessor Confessor is a title used within Christianity in several ways. Confessor of the Faith Its oldest use is to indicate a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith but not to the point of death.

Current status

According to the ''

Catholic Encyclopedia The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') i ...

'', circa 1912, "The Holy See admits practically the lawfulness of interest on loans, even for ecclesiastical property, though it has not promulgated any doctrinal decree on the subject." W. Hohoff in ''Die Bedeutung der Marxschen Kapitalkritik'' argues that "the Church has never admitted the justice of interest whether on money or on capital, but has merely tolerated the institution, just as under the Old Dispensation, God tolerated polygamy and divorce." The Code of Canon Law promulgated in 1917, allowed those responsible for the church's financial affairs at the parish and diocesan levels to invest in interest-bearing

securities A security is a tradable financial asset. The term commonly refers to any form of financial instrument, but its legal definition varies by jurisdiction. In some countries and languages people commonly use the term "security" to refer to any fo ...

"for the legal rate of interest (unless it is evident that the legal rate is exorbitant), or even for a higher rate, provided that there be a just and proportionate reason." A specialist in Catholic social doctrine, Miller A., argues, circa 1994, that "the words 'bank' and 'banking' are almost nonexistent in the documents of modern Catholic social teaching. Perhaps because the medieval teaching was never formally retracted that money was unproductive and therefore money lending at interest was therefore immoral, yet the church itself became an active investor.... Or perhaps it was because the church was deeply involved in financial matters at the highest levels that it was in no position to criticise." Writing for ''

This Rock Catholic Answers is a Catholic advocacy group based in El Cajon, California. It describes itself as the largest lay-run apostolate of Catholic apologetics and evangelization in the United States. It publishes ''Catholic Answers Magazine'', a b ...

'' magazine, David Palm argued with a more holistic approach, taking into account

Mosaic Law The Law of Moses ( he, תֹּורַת מֹשֶׁה ), also called the Mosaic Law, primarily refers to the Torah or the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. The law revealed to Moses by God. Terminology The Law of Moses or Torah of Moses (Hebrew ...

, the teaching of

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

, the above-mentioned Fifth Lateran Council, development of economic sciences and especially the development of the practical economy since the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

, that the old economic mentality, expressed in ''Vix Pervenit'', simply fails to capture the entire complexity of the modern world. The Fifth Lateran Council (1515) defined usury as follow: "For, that is the real meaning of usury: when, from its use, a thing which produces nothing is applied to the acquiring of gain and profit without any work, any expense or any risk." According to Palm, the sin of usury as defined by the Fifth Lateran Council dogmatically still exists in the Catholic Church, but the nature of financial transaction has changed compared to the time of the Fifth Lateran Council: "A loan that was usurious at one point in history, due to the unfruitfulness of money, is not usurious later, when the development of competitive markets has changed the nature of money itself." No other papal solemn pronouncement than ''Vix pervenit'' touches the subject of usury, although in a 1999 speech

John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

qualified usury as a "grave social plague".

References

Sources

*Carlen, C. (ed.). 1990. ''The Papal Encyclicals, Vol. I''. Raleigh, N.C. p. 15-17. * Moehlman, Conrad H. 1934. "The Christianization of Interest." ''Church History''. Issue 3. p. 3-15. *Pollard, John F. 2005. ''Money and the Rise of the Modern Papacy: Financing the Vatican, 1850–1950''. Cambridge University Press. p. 26.

External links

Full text in English
{{Authority control Economic history of the Holy See Usury Documents of the Catholic Social Teaching tradition Papal encyclicals 1745 in Christianity 1745 works Interest Freiwirtschaft Documents of Pope Benedict XIV 18th-century Christian texts