Nothing about capitalism, marxism or socialism in here:
“The Holy Father began his address to those present on a positive note by praising advances in various areas. These achievements he underlined, in fields such as health, education and communications can only benefit mankind.
But at the same time, the Pope went on to say, “the majority of the men and women of our time continue to live daily in situations of insecurity, with dire consequences… People have to struggle to live and, frequently, to live in an undignified way.”
Pope Francis explained that in his opinion, one cause of this situation, was our relationship with money, and our acceptance of its power over ourselves and our society. Consequently, he added, the financial crisis which we are experiencing makes us forget that its ultimate origin is to be found in a profound human crisis. “In the denial of the primacy of human beings.”
He continued by saying the worship of the golden calf of old, has now a new image, “in the cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly humane goal.” Our societies, Pope Francis noted are becoming throw away ones, and worse still he added, “human beings themselves are nowadays considered as consumer goods which can be used and thrown away.”
The Pope explained that what we are really seeing concealed behind current attitudes is a rejection of ethics, a rejection of God, and speaking directly to the new Ambassadors the Holy Father encouraged the financial experts and the political leaders of their countries to consider the words of Saint John Chrysostom: “Not to share one’s goods with the poor is to rob them and to deprive them of life. It is not our goods that we possess, but theirs”.
Stressing the need for financial reform along ethical lines, the Pope noted that it would require a courageous change of attitude on the part of political leaders and he urged them to face this challenge with determination and farsightedness, taking account, of their particular situations.
In his concluding comments, Pope Francis said that the Church herself encourages those in power to be truly at the service of the common good of their peoples”
There’s a lot of misunderstanding about the Catholic concept of distributism, which is NOT a redistribution of wealth, as so many think.
Here’s just the first couple sentences from wikipedia about what it actually is:
“Distributism (also known as distributionism or distributivism) is an economic philosophy that developed in Europe in the late 19th and early 20th century, based upon the principles of Catholic social teaching, especially the teachings of Pope Leo XIII in his encyclical Rerum Novarum and Pope Pius XI in Quadragesimo Anno.
According to distributists, property ownership is a fundamental right and the means of production should be spread as widely as possible among the general populace, rather than being centralized under the control of the state (state socialism) or by accomplished individuals (laissez-faire capitalism). Distributism therefore advocates a society marked by widespread property ownership and, according to co-operative economist Race Mathews, maintains that such a system is key to bringing about a just social order.”
It’s easier to think of it as what capitalism used to be, before the time of the robber barons, a much healthier form of capitalism, with small businesses forming the bulk of manufacture, and not one huge corporation, or the government, owning it and running it all.
The funny thing is that these people complain about this Pope, yet it was this Pope who, two days ago, said the following:
"Let us think of that moment with the Magdalene, when she washed the feet of Jesus with nard, which was so expensive: it is a religious moment, a moment of gratitude, a moment of love. And he [Judas] stands apart and criticizes her bitterly: 'But ... this could be used for the poor!'. This is the first reference that I personally found in the Gospel of poverty as an ideology. The ideologue does not know what love is, because they do not know how to gift themselves".
Tying the "Gospel" of poverty to Judas. Yup, that really identifies him as a true-blue socialist.
There is a nastiness in the force today.