On the "Man of the Year"...

Mononymous1/Wordpress ^ | 12/12/2013 | Mononymous

[mononymous]

Or: The Dangers of the Church (When it Meddles with Affairs of the State)

Right, not a pleasant topic, to be sure and I expect to receive some flak for this. First, I’ll confess to admiring some aspects of the path the man who is Pope Francis has taken. I have been glad to read reports that he has rejected some of the trappings of the papacy and that he appears in some ways to be an in-touch-with-the-common-man Pope. However, to use his pulpit to preach about the “failings” of capitalism is, I believe, not his place. I’d be quite happy to hear him denounce the materialistic nature of the western world, particularly, at Christmas; maybe he could hint at brawls at Walmarts for worthless crap as being misplaced fervor. What if, for example, he spent his time attacking Catholic politicians who support abortion and other, to the church, social evils? Incidentally, espousing socialist rhetoric is likely to foster, among his sheep, the desire the vote for these exact same type of politicians – so, what takes precedence here? See how unintended consequences work? But I digress, what if he spent his time trying to convert nuns who have become radical feminists? Has he fully dealt with the sex abuse issues among his clergy or has it been merely covered up? How well does trickle down work for the collection boxes in places like Cuba, North Korea, China (I suppose they could make up for any shortfalls in pure volume) or any third world country? Does the church even exist in some of these places?

Here’s the point, it is possible that we are all equal in the eyes of the Almighty (as we all know, there is some dispute as to whether or not this is true; as an aside, why anyone would believe in a “God” capable of discriminating escapes me) but aren’t we also all unique? And if we are, isn’t it commerce that allows us to exploit our own uniqueness and what is the best possible way to participate in this commerce? Capitalism.

I know the pope is a shepherd and all that so his first priority should be to rescue the souls of those in his flock; the best he and his church can; leave the rest for judgment day, right? Failing this, the Holy Father should just start to sell off the Catholic Church’s various possessions (the Capitalist Pig Donald Trump will be very interested) and give away the proceedings; maybe to the less fortunate in society and to the top brass of other religions – just to make things equal and to “level” the playing field. We can then all sit back and watch what happens. Or, Pope Francis can run for President or Prime Minister some where and show us exactly what he means and how it all works; because others have been getting it wrong for years. Until one of these happens, let’s relax on the populist pronouncements which will be used by some to chant “death to America – the great Satan” because it comes very close to echoing these sentiments.

[mononymous]

Flame away...

[albie]

I thought it was the Pope’s job to be the “Man of the Year” all year round? Ted Cruz would have been my pick.

[ThePatriotsFlag]

When Time picks Man if the Year...it is always a lefty. Is this what they are saying about this Pope? Hmmm, so Catholicism is a form of Socialism? Interesting.

[Alex Murphy]

...I’ll confess to admiring some aspects of the path the man who is Pope Francis has taken. I have been glad to read reports that he has rejected some of the trappings of the papacy and that he appears in some ways to be an in-touch-with-the-common-man Pope. However, to use his pulpit to preach about the “failings” of capitalism is, I believe, not his place. I’d be quite happy to hear him denounce the materialistic nature of the western world, particularly, at Christmas; maybe he could hint at brawls at Walmarts for worthless crap as being misplaced fervor. What if, for example, he spent his time attacking Catholic politicians who support abortion and other, to the church, social evils? Incidentally, espousing socialist rhetoric is likely to foster, among his sheep, the desire the vote for these exact same type of politicians – so, what takes precedence here? See how unintended consequences work?

IB4TPWM

[Lou Budvis]

Why would it not be his place to critique an economic system that he believes (rightly or wrongly) has failed the poor? Would it be his place to condemn a socialist economic system that he believed failed the people?

[mononymous]

I’d have no problem with him being critical of governments that are to be blamed for interfering in markets, that essentially steal from their citizens, that prevent upward mobility by creating dependencies and for their failure to lay a groundwork where FREE people can thrive. What has failed the poor are governments: corrupt, authoritarian.

His church has been helping the poor for centuries and guess what, they are still around. The US government has been “fighting” poverty for over 50 years and guess what, the poor are still around (much to the delight and benefit of the Democrat party, I should add).

As I said, maybe he can run for Prime Minister or President of some place and show us how socialism really can work because, in my view, it has mostly been a failure - see Greece or other European countries where they are teetering on the edge of collapse. His views are now being used by anti-capitalists everywhere to attack the best system we know of...