Pope Francis’s pontificate has inspired a global conversation about the persistence of poverty in an era of great abundance. But some of his economic claims are bewildering to Catholics like me who believe economic freedom is the best-known way to alleviate widespread poverty.

In his 2013 apostolic letter, Evangelii Gaudium, he took a shot at Adam Smith: “We can no longer trust in the unseen forces and the invisible hand of the market.” He condemned “the absolute autonomy of markets.” He criticized those who “continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world.”

This idea, he said, “has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system.”

Read the article “Could Pope Francis’s U.S. Visit Change His Mind about Capitalism?” on foxnews.com.