[A2k] Pope Benedict XVI encyclical letter denounces excessive zeal for assertions of intellectual property rights in knowledge

[Meredith Filak]

http://www.keionline.org/blogs/2009/07/07/pope-ipr/

Pope Benedict XVI encyclical letter denounces excessive zeal for
assertions of intellectual property rights in knowledge

By kei-staff, on July 7th, 2009

Pope Benedict XVI today issued a statement saying that =93On the part of
rich countries, there is excessive zeal for protecting knowledge through
an unduly rigid assertion of the right to intellectual property,
especially in the field of health care.=94 The criticism came in a section
of his most recent encyclical letter dealing with social issues, and
specifically focusing on international human development and systemic
failures of bodies large and small to solve development problems.

Caritas in Veritate/ Charity in Truth, dated June 29, 2009, is Pope
Benedict XVI=92s third encyclical letter. The 30,468 word document
contains an introduction, six chapters, a conclusion and 159 footnotes,
and deals largely with social issues of importance to the church.*

In a June 13 announcement, the Pope said that the document would
=93highlight what, for us as Christians, are the objectives that need to
be pursued and what values to be tirelessly promoted and defended in
order to create a truly free and united form of human coexistence.=94

Section 22 of the letter, entitled =93Human Development in Our Time,=94 lai=
d
out the Pope=92s vision of human development goals. It also highlighted
the failings of the current system, citing rigid ideology, consumerist
=93superdevelopment=94, corruption, and =93cultural models and social norms=
 of
behavior =85. which hinder the process of development.=94 Casting a
strikingly pragmatic tone, the encyclical underscores the complexity of
development issues, which =93should prompt us to liberate ourselves from
ideologies, which oversimplify reality in artifical ways, and =85 lead us
to examine objectively the full human dimension of the problems.=94

While Papal Encyclicals do not determine official doctrine for the
Church, they do offer a chance to annunciate the personal thoughts of
the Pope and encourage specific priorities that the Pope wishes to set
for the Church. Encyclicals such as the Caritas in Veritate are
traditionally addressed to church heads, and not to the laiety at large
(though the current one seems to be an exception, and all are made
available publicly). They are the second most important statement that
can be issued by the Pope (after an Apostolic Constitution, which
proclaims dogma and/or issues of canon law).

22. Today the picture of development has many overlapping layers. The
actors and the causes in both underdevelopment and development are
manifold, the faults and the merits are differentiated. This fact should
prompt us to liberate ourselves from ideologies, which often
oversimplify reality in artificial ways, and it should lead us to
examine objectively the full human dimension of the problems. As John
Paul II has already observed, the demarcation line between rich and poor
countries is no longer as clear as it was at the time of Populorum
Progressio[55]. The world=92s wealth is growing in absolute terms, but
inequalities are on the increase. In rich countries, new sectors of
society are succumbing to poverty and new forms of poverty are emerging.
In poorer areas some groups enjoy a sort of =93superdevelopment=94 of a
wasteful and consumerist kind which forms an unacceptable contrast with
the ongoing situations of dehumanizing deprivation. =93The scandal of
glaring inequalities=94[56] continues. Corruption and illegality are
unfortunately evident in the conduct of the economic and political class
in rich countries, both old and new, as well as in poor ones. Among
those who sometimes fail to respect the human rights of workers are
large multinational companies as well as local producers. International
aid has often been diverted from its proper ends, through irresponsible
actions both within the chain of donors and within that of the
beneficiaries. Similarly, in the context of immaterial or cultural
causes of development and underdevelopment, we find these same patterns
of responsibility reproduced. On the part of rich countries there is
excessive zeal for protecting knowledge through an unduly rigid
assertion of the right to intellectual property, especially in the field
of health care. At the same time, in some poor countries, cultural
models and social norms of behaviour persist which hinder the process of
development.

*=93Encyclical Letter Caritas In Veritate Of The Supreme Pontiff Benedict
XVI To The Bishops Priests And Deacons Men And Women Religious The Lay
Faithful And All People Of Good Will On Integral Human Development In
Charity And Truth,=94 June 29, 2009.
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben=
-xvi_enc_20090629_caritas-in-veritate_en.html.