Several observations:
(1) He is condemning the welfare mentality. That is hardly the mark of a socialist, let alone a communist.
(2) The Church is not "sitting on unimaginable wealth" - the Vatican's operating budget is smaller than that of the Church of England, which has about 5% of the Catholic Church's membership.
The Church actually operates in the red.
(3) When there is trafficking in prostitution, sterilization, etc. it reminds us that markets exist to serve man, they are not ends in themselves.
Your point 2 has to do with cash flow.
What the other posters are referring to is the actual gold and silver that the Church has accumulated through the centuries.
1. He condemns capitalism in general. The only thing that has brought us real end to poverty is competition and free markets - UNFETTERED competition and free markets, not the regulated crap in Europe.
2. The Pope offers NO solutions to any of the problems. He surely points out what he sees to be the problem: free markets. What do you have instead of free markets? Please explain Rome’s “Third Way,” which is nothing but the socialism that has already failed Europe.
3. He condemns “welfare mentality” but goes on to parrot ridiculous memes on “wealth redistribution.” Wealth redistribution is THE ULTIMATE in the welfare mentality. How can he say, “well, I don’t like the welfare mentality, but welfare for all!” and be seen as internally consistent.
"Vatican budget shows surplus for 2012, reversing record deficit of 2011"
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=18356
The Church is not "sitting on unimaginable wealth" - the Vatican's operating budget is smaller than that of the Church of England, which has about 5% of the Catholic Church's membership.
You're comparing apples and oranges. While it's true that the Vatican's budget is relatively small at $326 million, wouldn't it be more appropriate to compare the Church of England's budget to that of the entire Catholic Church? Which, by the way, is estimated to be $170 billion, approximately 500 times more than the budget of the Vatican.
http://www.economist.com/node/21560536
Actually, he is “beseeching politicians to guarantee all citizens “dignified work, education and healthcare”, and wrote, “As long as the problems of the poor are not radically resolved by rejecting the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation and by attacking the structural causes of inequality, no solution will be found for the world’s problems or, for that matter, to any problems,”.
He didn’t condemn the welfare mentality, but expects governments to go beyond it.
Anyone who expects governments to ‘solve’ poverty is asking governments to control wealth. That destroys personal freedom. You cannot make the lazy and foolish wealthy. You can only cut down the smart and hard-workers until all are equally poor.