When The Holy Pope Errs

There has been a casualty in our para-parliament: the Holy Pope himself!

Here is Swaminathan Aiyar tearing to shreds, on MORAL grounds, the Pope’s opposition to outsourcing. Basically, Aiyar proves that this is a white man’s pope, who does not believe in one world. Aiyar concludes by asking the pope to correct himself in his next encyclical.

Yes, the pope is fallible.

And this is not the first time an economist has taken a firm stand against papal errors. There is a great essay by Peter, Lord Bauer, against the errors in Pope Paul’s thinking. He uses very strong language. This essay can be found in his last book, From Subsistence to Exchange and other essays. The title of the book says it all – what real “development economics” is about: those who live in "subsistence" must move to the "exchange" economy. There is no other way. I warmly recommend this book to all.

Yes, even the Holy Pope himself is fallible.

In which case, how can we ever entrust our The State with the task of education?

We are asking for the “uniformity of error.”

Aiyar’s column also drums home the important lesson that knowledge must be free if errors are to be weeded out. Aiyar probably does not realize it, but his achievement is no less than Galileo’s. The deeper point is that NO AUTHORITY can ever be regarded as infallible. To err is human.

Knowledge must be free.