The American Thinker summarizes it this way:
Overall, Evangelii Gaudium might be best summed up as a call to the faithful to renew themselves in Christ. And, in general, Pope Francis is saying to the entire world, ‘C’mon people, we can do better; we need to do better!’ It’s almost as if he is saying, ‘with all the intelligence and brainpower in the world today, it’s hard for me to understand why things are getting worse instead of better.’
What Pope Francis might be saying to all of us is that there is an awful lot that needs fixing in this world, and all it starts with each of us fixing ourselves first.
Being against unrestricted capitalism does not mean you’re for socialism. Of course, liberals would like to distort the meaning to this. Capitalism works just fine with regulations in place, which exist in the Constitution, by the way.
” Meanwhile, those with access to opportunity and wealth commit “idolatry of money” by doing that which is most profitable without regard for the rest of society.”
So the Pope blasts capitalism, ie the USA, which happens to be the most generous country in the world. Maybe the Pope should look at the ultra luxurious holdings in Vatican city and some of the world’s largest real estate holdings. Would certainly like to hear the church tell lazy slobs who refuse to carry their share of the load and let others support them, to get off their asses and work for a living.
Commie talk.
I’m sure this thread will be shortly be filled with American Protestants who worship money instead of Christ, blasting the Pope for stating that Capitalism is not above criticism.
I wonder which side is worse? the Fedora wearing libertarians or the commies when it comes to misconstruing the Pope’s words.
Unfettered capitalism means that drugs and prostitution are legal. Therefore I am want to “fetter” some things in my ideal free market. I do think that capitalism should be unfettered when it comes to the sale of moral goods, such as bread, juice, tires, computers, etc.
Sorry to tell you this but the pope and his church have made themselves irrelevant. It’s a dying institution with no influence, led by a bureaucrat who has no voice and still protects the most guilty. Lawyers are picking the bones of the church, deservedly stripping it of its wealth and property.
The pope is a hypocrite-
do as I say, not as I do
The Vatican Bank more than quadrupled its profit last year
http://qz.com/130139/the-vatican-bank-more-than-quadrupled-its-profit-last-year/
The IOR raked in a net €86.6 million in 2012, more than four times its €20.3 profit from 2011.
The Pope should stick to spiritual matters as it’s obvious he’s in way over his head when he speaks of economics.
The Pope saying unfettered capitalism is the new tyranny has less meaning than saying, "Pray for rain." In fact praying for rain may even be useful. Decrying something that doesn't exist is a waste of air.
I hope the Pope reaches higher in his career. If this is the best he can do, the Catholic Church is in for a long slide.
I can’t help but notice a similar sort of experience so far with Pope Francis.
I think for each man it's probably translation errors due to their speaking a non-native language, but still...curious.
There’s too much capitalizin’ goin’ on.
I believe the latest analysis of the Pope’s words, at least the one I read, says that a more precise translation is that he takes exception to rampant “consumerism” rather than “capitalism”. This seems more in line with my impression of his earlier statements.
“Capitalism, if unchecked, enables the wealthy to become increasingly powerful without any substantial net benefit to the balance of society. It promotes a form of inequality in which only the wealthy profit by work and all others merely subsist.”
Either “capitalism” is simply a boogeyman word invented by the Catholics, or this is a statement of fact that can be subjected to verification.
What is the correlation between the degree of capitalism in countries and …
(1) the standard of living of the median average (or, 50th percentile) person? The Pope says zero (he says the masses of people live at the subsistence level). The facts say positive.
(2) the standard of living of the twentieth percentile person? The Pope says zero (he says the masses of people live at the subsistence level). The facts say positive.
(3) the life expectancy of the population. The Pope says negative. (He says unfettered capitalism kills (this is from another part of his Exhortation). The facts say positive.
The economic theory exposed by the Pope is that of Thomas Malthus and Karl Marx (and also the tree-huggers of today). According to this theory, there is an iron law of wages. If wages were to ever rise above the subsistence level, then more children would survive until reproductive age, populations would grow and the supply of labor with it, until wages were again pushed down to the subsistence level.
This was a valid viewpoint at the time Malthus developed it. Prior to capitalism, there was no sustained progress for the economic conditions of the masses of people. After plague or war, when population and labor supply fell, wages rose; and, when population and labor supply recovered, wages fell back down.
But, with capitalism, the accumulation of capital, divorced the productivity of labor from the fixed supply of land. After capitalism, productivity and wages became a function of the accumulation of capital and a function, indirectly, of the protection afforded property by law.
Repeat After Me: Subsidiarity & Solidarity
Subsidiarity and Human Dignity
Does the USCCB Understand Subsidiarity?
[CATHOLIC CAUCUS] The Principle of Subsidiarity
[CATHOLIC/ORTHODOX CAUCUS] Subsidiarity Over Social Justice
What is the USCCB’s problem with subsidiarity?
Subsidiarity: Where Justice and Freedom Coexist
Health reform still full of thorny problems for Catholics (Vasa comes out for subsidiarity)
What You [Catholics] Need to Know: Subsidiarity, [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
Catholic Word of the Day: SUBSIDIARITY, 06-11-09
Ive noticed that those who believe in the Pope will take any comment he makes, and bend and twist it to sound like its alright and that he is actually saying “this or that” he “didnt mean it the way he said it” etc. Just like the people who are for obama, they take what he does and twist it to make it sound like what he is doing is the “right thing”. It called willful ignorance. Its wanting to believe in a person so bad that they refuse to see what this person is actually up to.
“Capitalism, if unchecked, enables the wealthy to become increasingly powerful without any substantial net benefit to the balance of society. It promotes a form of inequality in which only the wealthy profit by work and all others merely subsist.”
Capitalism does not do that. Government protection of the wealthy does that. And government involvement is what the Pope was calling for.
Whoever this writer is, he isn’t a conservative. Nor does he know any more about economics that the Pope does.
From the Pope’s mouth:
“54. In this context, some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system. Meanwhile, the excluded are still waiting. To sustain a lifestyle which excludes others, or to sustain enthusiasm for that selfish ideal, a globalization of indifference has developed. Almost without being aware of it, we end up being incapable of feeling compassion at the outcry of the poor, weeping for other people’s pain, and feeling a need to help them, as though all this were someone else’s responsibility and not our own. The culture of prosperity deadens us; we are thrilled if the market offers us something new to purchase; and in the meantime all those lives stunted for lack of opportunity seem a mere spectacle; they fail to move us.
No to the new idolatry of money
55. One cause of this situation is found in our relationship with money, since we calmly accept its dominion over ourselves and our societies. The current financial crisis can make us overlook the fact that it originated in a profound human crisis: the denial of the primacy of the human person! We have created new idols. The worship of the ancient golden calf (cf. Ex 32:1-35) has returned in a new and ruthless guise in the idolatry of money and the dictatorship of an impersonal economy lacking a truly human purpose. The worldwide crisis affecting finance and the economy lays bare their imbalances and, above all, their lack of real concern for human beings; man is reduced to one of his needs alone: consumption.
56. While the earnings of a minority are growing exponentially, so too is the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by those happy few. This imbalance is the result of ideologies which defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation. Consequently, they reject the right of states, charged with vigilance for the common good, to exercise any form of control. A new tyranny is thus born, invisible and often virtual, which unilaterally and relentlessly imposes its own laws and rules. Debt and the accumulation of interest also make it difficult for countries to realize the potential of their own economies and keep citizens from enjoying their real purchasing power. To all this we can add widespread corruption and self-serving tax evasion, which have taken on worldwide dimensions. The thirst for power and possessions knows no limits. In this system, which tends to devour everything which stands in the way of increased profits, whatever is fragile, like the environment, is defenseless before the interests of a deified market, which become the only rule... With this in mind, I encourage financial experts and political leaders to ponder the words of one of the sages of antiquity: “Not to share one’s wealth with the poor is to steal from them and to take away their livelihood. It is not our own goods which we hold, but theirs”.
” Welfare projects, which meet certain urgent needs, should be considered merely temporary responses...We can no longer trust in the unseen forces and the invisible hand of the market. Growth in justice requires more than economic growth, while presupposing such growth: it requires decisions, programmes, mechanisms and processes specifically geared to a better distribution of income, the creation of sources of employment and an integral promotion of the poor which goes beyond a simple welfare mentality. I am far from proposing an irresponsible populism, but the economy can no longer turn to remedies that are a new poison, such as attempting to increase profits by reducing the work force and thereby adding to the ranks of the excluded.
205. I ask God to give us more politicians capable of sincere and effective dialogue aimed at healing the deepest roots – and not simply the appearances – of the evils in our world! Politics, though often denigrated, remains a lofty vocation and one of the highest forms of charity, inasmuch as it seeks the common good.[174] We need to be convinced that charity “is the principle not only of micro-relationships (with friends, with family members or within small groups) but also of macro-relationships (social, economic and political ones)”.[175] I beg the Lord to grant us more politicians who are genuinely disturbed by the state of society, the people, the lives of the poor! It is vital that government leaders and financial leaders take heed and broaden their horizons, working to ensure that all citizens have dignified work, education and healthcare...
... Indeed, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find local solutions for enormous global problems which overwhelm local politics with difficulties to resolve. If we really want to achieve a healthy world economy, what is needed at this juncture of history is a more efficient way of interacting which, with due regard for the sovereignty of each nation, ensures the economic well-being of all countries, not just of a few.”
No surprises here.
He even hates Capitalism: "the prevalence of a selfish and individualistic mindset which also finds expression in an unregulated capitalism"
-- From the thread 10 Quotes That Prove The Pope Is A Liberal
As I recall, the Church has long condemned both socialism and unbridled capitalism - since the encyclicals of Leo XIII in the 1800’s I think. I don’t think there is anything new here except an ill-advised change in terminology. What is very significant is “the dog that didn’t bark”: I haven’t heard a peep from anyone about Francis condemning socialism. While I am not going to wade through the current truckload of words myself to find out, I am confident that if Francis had condemned socialism the usual suspects would be screaming about Armageddon if they had not died of apoplexy first. Any obituaries? No? I didn’t think so.