If we truly believe, for example, that the purpose of human life is to live well so as to attain heaven, then clearly anything that makes attaining heaven more difficult is an evil, no matter how superficially successful it may seem. Further, there are some matters which, while not as ultimate and direct an end for man as reaching heaven, are still important and primary means for man on the way to heaven, such as family life, the life of the Church, including the Church s liturgical, spiritual and intellectual life. I am afraid the answer is obvious, even to those who are accustomed to be defenders of the capitalistic system. But a few quotes should put the matter more in focus. Increased possession is not the ultimate goal of nations nor of individuals.
All growth is ambivalent.
It is essential if man is to develop as a man, but in a way it imprisons man if he considers it the supreme good, and it restricts his vision. Then we see hearts harden and minds close, and men no longer gather together in friendship but out of self-interest, which soon leads to oppositions and disunity. The exclusive pursuit of possessions thus becomes an obstacle to individual fulfillment and to man s true greatness. Both for nations and for individual men, avarice is the most evident form of moral underdevelopment. And John Paul II, speaking of the attempt by non-Communist nations to rival Communism in the years after World War II, wrote, Another kind of response, practical in nature, is represented by the affluent society or the consumer society.