Concerning Robin Hood's "Thievery" - Part II: The Catholic Viewpoint

An interesting and thoughtful comment on this blog post linking Robin Hood's activity to a parable of Jesus encouraged me to write another post on the touchy subject of Robin's motto: "Rob the rich to feed the poor." I still stand by my earlier opinion, but I thought I would add the Catholic Church's teaching on theft to my own conclusion.

"The seventh commandment forbids theft, that is, usurping another's property against the reasonable will of the owner. There is no theft if consent can be presumed or if refusal is contrary to reason and the universal destination of goods. This is the case in obvious and urgent necessity when the only way to provide for immediate, essential needs (food, shelter, clothing...) is to put at  one's disposal the property of others." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2408, emphasis added.)

Robin's "robbin' from the rich to feed the poor" falls under this category. It was unreasonable for the rich people to refuse poor people the food, clothing, and money that they desperately needed. Robin had the moral right to relieve them of some of their money and distribute it among people who needed it badly.