PapaBenXVI, I love you, but stick to your knitting, please.
Maybe it would help if we read what he actually said. It was in the context of a much broader talk.
He keeps calling for economic justice and not abusing the environment, particularly in terms of Africa...and guess what, it’s people like the various socialist thug dictators who are destroying both the economy and the environment of their countries, and the reason their people are starving is because of artificial dictator-provoked famines.
If you want to interpret this in a left wing way, go ahead. But if you simply want to get the message...well, I don’t think he’s talking about decent capitalist democracies. He’s talking about thug dictator cultures, Islamic cultures, and LatAm socialist cultures, all of which are famous for starving the people and destroying the economy and land.
Wrong! We need his voice of reason and his profound wisdom. The Pope's words are being spun into the radical leftists' camp.....The Pope is for responsibility in every aspect of life, even the environment. That is what life is all about. Catholic thought has gone through extensive examination and is in line with Natural Law. As such, I find it superior to any other philosophy or theology on earth.
If you ever read anything the Pope has published, you would understand his condemnation of Marxism. As he says, Marxism is about the importance of the collective and the State, which leads to extreme evil because the individual is considered expendable if he/she does not contribute in ways the State demands.The end always justifies the means. It is a fundamental difference with Catholic thought.
I am truly over simplifying but there is so much disinformation in the press about the beliefs of Catholics, it is disheartening. Many Catholics cherry pick and reject some of the deep thinking of the Church, but if they stopped to examine the philosophy they would understand how exceptional this thinking truly is and how this Christian thinking in line with Natural Law (St. Thomas Aquinas) formed the most amazing cultures (with freedom for the individual) on earth.