The Gospel According to Marx?

On the day of his inauguration, Pope Francis sent a telegram offering President Biden his blessings and urging him “to advance the common good” in a time that requires “farsighted and united responses.” Mr. Biden for his part has made no secret of his Catholic faith, even quoting the Holy Father in explaining his policy proposals aimed at reducing poverty. With or without masks, pope and president alike are sometimes less than perfectly clear in articulating their views on the leading questions of the day. This partly accounts for lingering doubts about their respective attitudes toward socialism. Will Biden cater to the wing of his party that preferred Bernie Sanders as their candidate, and will Francis lend his imprimatur to policies that will please them?

The argument that Christian compassion must take the form of public funding and government-run programs is not a new one. Recent proponents of this view have appealed to the 2020 papal encyclical referred to by Mr. Biden, Fratelli tutti, where Francis hedges about the “right to private property” and takes a swipe at the “dogma” of “market freedom.” Fairly or not, in some circles this encyclical has even been interpreted as a tacit endorsement of socialism. Many progressives hope, and conservatives fear, that Mr. Biden will heed the call.

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