Pope Seeks "Global Authority" For Economy

Reuters ^ | 7 July 09 | Philip Pullella

[vivalaoink]

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Benedict on Tuesday called for a "world political authority" to manage the global economy and for more government regulation of national economies to pull the world out of the current crisis and avoid a repeat.

The pope's call for a re-think of the way the world economy is run came in new encyclical which touched on a number of social issues but whose main connecting thread was how the current crisis has affected both rich and poor nations.

Called "Charity in Truth," parts of the encyclical appeared bound to upset conservatives because of its underlying rejection of unbridled capitalism and unregulated market forces, which he said had led to "thoroughly destructive" abuse of the system.

The pope said every economic decision has a moral consequence and called for "forms of redistribution" of wealth overseen by governments to help those most affected by crises.

[ScottinVA]

Sorry Pope Ben — I’m with you on many issues, but not this one.

[Venturer]

As a Catholic, I love the Pope, but this isn't in his bailiwick, IMO.

[PetroniusMaximus]

Pope calls for Antichrist.

The hour is late.

[Petronski]

...parts of the encyclical appeared bound to upset conservatives because of its underlying rejection of unbridled capitalism and unregulated market forces...

Yeah, because conservatives want unbridled capitalism and unregulated market forces.

Suuuure.

[MyTwoCopperCoins]

[Petronski]

Pope calls for Antichrist.

Which paragraph of the encyclical includes this call?

[PetroniusMaximus]

“Which paragraph of the encyclical includes this call?”

“Pope Benedict on Tuesday called for a “world political authority””

[Oldpuppymax]

Dear Pope,

Stick to religion. On economics you are just an advanced Kool-Aid drinker.

[Petronski]

Nope, that’s not from the encyclical.

I mean, you’ve read it, right? Just refer me to the paragraph in the copy you read where you found Benedict’s call for an antichrist.

[Rennes Templar]

Swivel Head becomes suddenly selects a catholic church to attend in DC...

[WVNan]

WHOA! Pull back there dear Mr. Pope.

[kingpins10]

First centralized control of the world economy, then ecumenism. Praise the Lord for truth.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“The pope said every economic decision has a moral consequence and called for “forms of redistribution” of wealth overseen by governments to help those most affected by crises.”

Pope speaks like Dope this time.

[j_k_l]

Thomas Jefferson was one smart fella with the whole 'Separation of Church and State' idea.

I am guessing this is a money grab by the Vatican. Giving must be down so they want to suckle a little more from the government tit.

[ClearCase_guy]

I haven’t had a chance to read the encyclical. Can you summarize? Or explain what the Holy Father means by “World Political Authority”? It sounds a bit off-putting, but perhaps he means this in an innocuous way. Can you shed light?

[raybbr]

39. Paul VI in Populorum Progressio called for the creation of a model of market economy capable of including within its range all peoples and not just the better off. He called for efforts to build a more human world for all, a world in which “all will be able to give and receive, without one group making progress at the expense of the other”[94]. In this way he was applying on a global scale the insights and aspirations contained in Rerum Novarum, written when, as a result of the Industrial Revolution, the idea was first proposed — somewhat ahead of its time — that the civil order, for its self-regulation, also needed intervention from the State for purposes of redistribution. Not only is this vision threatened today by the way in which markets and societies are opening up, but it is evidently insufficient to satisfy the demands of a fully humane economy.

(40) ...Moreover, the so-called outsourcing of production can weaken the company's sense of responsibility towards the stakeholders — namely the workers, the suppliers, the consumers, the natural environment and broader society — in favour of the shareholders, who are not tied to a specific geographical area and who therefore enjoy extraordinary mobility.

The articulation of political authority at the local, national and international levels is one of the best ways of giving direction to the process of economic globalization. It is also the way to ensure that it does not actually undermine the foundations of democracy.

From here.

Advocating State 'redistribution' is the "anti-Christ" as far as I am concerned.

Sorry, this reads right out of a communist manifesto.

[Petronski]

I haven’t had a chance to read it either.

I’m just trying to call attention to the idea that folks who want to reject it or slam it ought to have read it or at least read a balanced collection of digests of it.

It’s too new for the kind of knee-jerk reactions I’ve seen this morning.

[personalaccts]

amen

[dangus]

You believe Reuters over the Pope.

This is what the Pope wrote:

The sharing of goods and resources, from which authentic development proceeds, is not guaranteed by merely technical progress and relationships of utility, but by the potential of love that overcomes evil with good (cf. Rom 12:21), opening up the path towards reciprocity of consciences and liberties.

The Church does not have technical solutions to offer[10] and does not claim “to interfere in any way in the politics of States.”[11] She does, however, have a mission of truth to accomplish, in every time and circumstance, for a society that is attuned to man, to his dignity, to his vocation. Without truth, it is easy to fall into an empiricist and sceptical view of life, incapable of rising to the level of praxis because of a lack of interest in grasping the values — sometimes even the meanings — with which to judge and direct it. Fidelity to man requires fidelity to the truth, which alone is the guarantee of freedom (cf. Jn 8:32) and of the possibility of integral human development. For this reason the Church searches for truth, proclaims it tirelessly and recognizes it wherever it is manifested. This mission of truth is something that the Church can never renounce. Her social doctrine is a particular dimension of this proclamation: it is a service to the truth which sets us free. Open to the truth, from whichever branch of knowledge it comes, the Church's social doctrine receives it, assembles into a unity the fragments in which it is often found, and mediates it within the constantly changing life-patterns of the society of peoples and nations.