Posted on 05/29/2017 5:28:47 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o
Speaking to workers and business people in Italy’s port city of Genoa Saturday, Pope Francis surprised his hearers by praising entrepreneurship and touting the importance of healthy businesses for the economy.
“There can’t be a good economy without good businessmen, without their capacity to create and to produce,” he said, shattering his reputation as an enemy of the free market economy.
The Pope recognized that the essential value of work and employment is only possible when companies are sound and successful.
Without denouncing unemployment benefits, Francis insisted that state intervention wasn’t a real solution. “A monthly check from the state that allows you to keep the family afloat doesn’t solve the problem. It has to be resolved with work for everyone,” he said.
The Pope went on to underscore differences between healthy entrepreneurship and financial “speculation.”
“A sickness of the economy is the progressive transformation of business people into speculators,” Francis said. “A speculator is a figure similar to what Jesus called ‘hired-hands’ as opposed to good shepherds.”
Like a hired hand, Francis mused, a speculator “doesn’t love his company or his workers, since they are merely a means for making profits. He has no problem firing people, closing a factory or relocating the company,” because he doesn’t care about his workers but uses them simply as a means for increasing his profits.
[big snip]
[Working] men and women “generate solidarity by their actions, and they create organizations which offer a helping hand to those most in need,” he said.
“Business is a noble vocation,” the Pope continued, “directed to producing wealth and improving the world. It can be a fruitful source of prosperity for the area in which it operates, especially if it sees the creation of jobs as an essential part of its service to the common good.”
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Careful we don’t go to far and become judgmental.
Wouldn’t you agree the difference is forced appropriation, or gov’t theft, versus volunteering assistance cheerfully?
Watch out the judgmental stereotypes on your side.
>>“””...especially if it sees the creation of jobs as an essential part of its service to the common good.”””
>>The real pope comes out. None of what he said is in support of capitalism. It’s a thinly disguised attempt to pacify capitalists into thinking he’s not really for redistribution.
OMG. He’s actually talking like a Christian here. A socialist wants to tax every person to the point of equality in poverty. In this case, the pope is just saying the same thing Trump says: that we should become prosperous so the prosperity can fund the expansions that create jobs for everyone (remember that “full employment” is defined as 5% unemployment, so that’s what I mean by everyone).
Trump spoke to this guy for a short time and now a confirmed Socialist comes out praising the power of capitalism to create jobs.
I thought that was what we wanted in the Trump movement? The only thing that will end America’s drive toward Socialism is good paying, meaningful jobs for Americans.
This pope will never be a market capitalist, but take some joy in this slight shift after his talk with President Trump.
The point I hope to make clear is that these secular government schemes are but filling a vacuum left when Christians leave their faith behind. Oh, if churches had the reputation for feeding the hungry that our modern food stamps do, for example. The gospel would become starkly obvious as the cause of it. Its evangelism would be feeding mouths and filling stomachs.
Churches leaving vacuums because of flaccid faith are part of the picture. Human existence itself has a leftward side as well as a rightward side. What’s going to fill those sides depends on human choice.
Ah, some people can’t leave any of their flock of grouse behind.
I winder if the general donations from the U.S. in particular are WAY down.
Why do you say ‘my side’?
Anyway it is the chicken or the egg to some extent.
The more gov’t ‘gives’ the less people of God feel they have to
and the more they need what they have left to survive.
God loves a cheerful giver.
Jesus pointed out that caesars name on the coin didn’t mean the metal in it belonged to him.
Hi-Teck ??? Conflating Mechanics of Physics with Religion - you are having issues you need to address. the Pope is a FLAMING Socialist. In case you missed the reference to what happens to airplanes that crash
A terrible, terrible fallacy. Christian giving underscores gospel, gospel, gospel. Thinking like this already represents giving up the gospel ship.
Regarding it as an illustration of what would be obvious to those who haven’t decided to dig in so hard to the right that they forget what even God made.
I know what you mean. Pope Francis said he’s “listen” to Trump -— and quite possibly he did!
now you are straying to a different subject.
God calls who He will call.
And those who respond ;-)
have a variety of gifts they can utilize.
Donald Trump does not fit Francis’ preconceived idea of “evil capitalist.” Donald Trump challenges Francis to think outside the box.
If everybody could be challenged to think outside of his or her box, we might have a far more broad minded world.
No, I am pointing out that it’s an all too easy excuse. I have not strayed — you and they are longing to stray.
Confusion, confusion - the majority on this site generally refer to this as Faith and Evil. The Catholic Church has had its share of human detritus as Popes. We are in a negative situation with this pope.
1517 Martin Luther - maybe it is time for another
Oh they do? If so, in a large confusion they do.
Faith does not equal secular rightism. Far, far, far from it.
And that's correct. If distributing porn is more profitable than distributing legit entertainment -- if doing abortions is more profitable than doing prenatal care --- if transplanting your operation to Mexico is more profitable than operating in Texas ---
I don't think we want to come out for "only" profits.
I do think we have an obligation to pay for him. As St. Paul says...
Tagline
Truly amusing - I believe you misspelled the following hard to the right did you not mean "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs"
Very thoughtful series of comments. I’m always glad when you’re on the thread, HiTech.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.