I am surprised you wouldn’t think children, the old and the ill wouldn’t be better off with a free market system. With more prosperity from a free market system comes more practical charity. With manipulated markets comes less.
I agree with you. Pope Francis says people won’t automatically be decent and treat their children well, etc. I would agree the connection isn’t automatic; but, I think there is more of a tendency with a free-market economy than with a socialist economy.
Let A = production with a free-market economy and B = production with some other kind of economy; A is greater than B.
Let X = generosity of people in a free-market economy and Y = generosity of people in some other kind of economy. X is greater than Y.
SO, both because of greater productivity and greater generosity, the vulnerable will be better off.
I’m just saying that X is a volitional and, hence, virtuous act; not an automatic act.
BTW this goes for honesty and law-abiding (not being a criminal) and maybe other virtues. But, I have statistics to back up generosity, honesty and law-abiding.