Ross Douthat is lying about the Pope (and he is Catholic)

Ross Douthat, a conservative New York Times columnist, can be an idiot by choice often.  Today is one of those often times as he (a Conservative catholic - where the "conservative" is more important than the "catholic" part) twists Pope Francis' words and meaning to conform to his world view.
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He is entitled to that - of course, it is a free country - but I am entitled to call his ass out on it this loving Sunday of Thanksgiving.  He tries to warp the Pope's words and reduce their meaning by forcing them into a Conservative Republican doctrine.  Which is fine, but don't call it Catholic.

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Let us ignore the first part where he explains the Pope didn't mean what he said, and go right to the meat of his arguments.
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That explanation rests, I think, on three ideas. First, that when it comes to lifting the poor out of poverty, global capitalism, faults and all, has a better track record by far than any other system or approach.

To which one must call bullshit.  Even Mr. Douthat chart's, WHICH HE LINKS TO, show the biggest decrease in East Asia (ie China).  But "global capitalism" isn't what lifted China (a communist country) out of poverty, is it?  China, Singapore, Vietnam, South Korea, Indonesia have used a governmental controlled economy to lift poeple out of poverty.  Now me, personally, I like Capitalism, but it is strong enough that we don't have to lie about it.
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Second, that Catholic social teaching, properly understood, emphasizes both solidarity and subsidiarity — that is, a small-c conservative preference for local efforts over national ones, voluntarism over bureaucracy.

Ah, the Pope's words aren't really what he means. Luckily, Mr. Douthat is here to tell us.  So kicking people off food stamps, removing unemployment and replacing all that with Christian - sorry - Catholic Charity is God like.  Because it has worked out so well with the homeless in this country.  Come visit any big city Ross.
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Third, that on recent evidence, the most expansive welfare states can crowd out what Christianity considers the most basic human goods — by lowering birthrates, discouraging private charity and restricting the church’s freedom to minister in subtle but increasingly consequential ways.

This is a dozy.  Twisting facts on an EPIC scale.
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 His first example links to a paper that says in the 1930s depression, New Deal policies crowded out faith based charities.  Rather, let me postulate, the worst depression in recent history reduced wealth so dramatically that faith based charities couldn't cope.  50% unemployment,  Camps of World War I veterans in the  nations capital because benefits couldn't be paid, the dust bowl.  Yeah, the New Deal caused 1930s faith based charity problems!  Oye.
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His second example of welfare states crowding out "Christianity's most basic human goods" is lowering birthrates.  The article he has linked to discusses how people have fewer children because they don't depend on them to take care of them when they are old and sick.  Apparently, in his world, the Catholic Church doesn't like Social Security or Medicaid.  Instead you should have a ton of children and force them to take care of you forever.  O...kay?  (Really, it isn't an article about birth control - but how said we don't have to use children to take care of us in old age!)
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His third specific example is a more general example proporting to show that the more socially generous Western European nations give less to charity at an individual level that the less socially generous United States.  Which is true - and would support his argument, if that was the entirety of the world.  It's not.  The more socially generous Western European nations give - at both a national and individual level - excessively more than any country EXCEPT the United States.  Here let me blow our horn - the United States people, at the level of the individual, give more to charity than people of any other nation.  But Western European nations do give more than highly Catholic nations (Philippines, Brazil, Argentina, etc.) - so Catholicism crowds out charity.  And Western European Nations do give more than highly Islamic nations (Indonesia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran etc.) so Islam crowds out charity.  And Western European Nations do give more than Centralized Economies (China, Vietnam, Cuba)... Well the list is endless.  Americans give a lot.  Dope.
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His fourth specific example about restricting the freedom to minister is a LINK to his own column knocking ObamaCare for not giving an exception for contraception to Faith Based Organizations.  That has changed (although he pretends it doesn't by the very LINK).  What's more that isn't "freedom to minister" as he pretends in the article.  He is saying that you are less able to minister in the USA, Canada and Western Europe than you are in China, Russia and Indonesia.  He is lying.  He CANNOT be that stupid.
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Let me leave you with a Catholic saying dating from before this Pope.  Though shalt not bear false witness against your neighbor.  I couldn't have said it better.