Posted on 04/04/2007 7:38:32 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Rich countries bent on power and profit have mercilessly "plundered and sacked" Africa and other poor regions and exported to them the "cynicism of a world without God," Pope Benedict writes in his first book.
The Pope also condemns drug trafficking and sexual tourism, saying they are signs of a world brimming with "people who are empty" yet living among abundant material goods.
One section of the book was printed in Wednesday's Corriere Della Sera daily before publication later this month by Italian publisher Rizzoli, which owns the newspaper. A Rizzoli spokeswoman confirmed the authenticity of the excerpts.
In the 400-page book, called "Jesus of Nazareth," the Pope offers a modern application of Jesus's parable of the Good Samaritan, who stopped to help a man who had been robbed by thieves when others, including a priest, had not.
"The current relevance of the parable is obvious," the Pope writes.
"If we apply it to the dimensions of globalised society today, we see how the populations of Africa have been plundered and sacked and this concerns us intimately," the Pope says in his book, which comes out on April 16, his 80th birthday.
He drew a link between the lifestyle of people in the developed world and the dire conditions of people in Africa.
"We see how our lifestyle, the history that involved us, has stripped them naked and continues to strip them naked," he writes.
The German Pope, who has condemned the effects of colonialism before, said rich countries had also hurt poor countries spiritually by belittling or trying to wipe out their own cultural and spiritual traditions.
"Instead of giving them God, the God close to us in Christ, and welcoming in their traditions all that is precious and great ... we have brought them the cynicism of a world without God, where only power and profit count...," he writes.
The Pope says his comments were valid for other regions apart from Africa.
In what could be seen as a strong self-criticism of the Roman Catholic Church, whose missionary activities often went hand-in-glove with colonialism, the Pope writes:
"We destroyed (their) moral criteria to the point that corruption and a lust for power devoid of scruples have become obvious."
Capitalism and political liberty may give them material prosperity ... but only Faith in Jesus Christ will save their souls. And their souls most definitely do need saving, along with yours and mine.
If you believe that the Holy Gospel is an anathema, why are you here?
Did I say that? No, since you're putting words in my mouth.
I don’t believe that souls need saving - I don’t believe that we are born “sinful.”
Well, there's your problem. Objectivist?
Brother, you were copying a quote offered to you by Reuters.
I bet it looks a whole lot different in context than it does in a Reuters article.
Actually, most people in this country, white or black, have that entitlement mentality. It’s not just limited to one particular race.
“Capitalism and political liberty may give them material prosperity ... but only Faith in Jesus Christ will save their souls. And their souls most definitely do need saving, along with yours and mine.”
Read my tagline - capitalism is the economic expression of individual liberty. It’s the concept this nation was founded on. Not the concept of saving souls. I don’t see anything about saving souls in the Declaration of Independence or any other founding document.
“If you believe that the Holy Gospel is an anathema, why are you here?”
It’s not an anathema, I just don’t think the Gospel is holy, or for that matter, correct. I’m a Jew. I didn’t realize FR is a forum only for Christians?
"African-Americans in Africa"?
Is this a Liberia reference, or am I totally confused?
“I don’t believe that souls need saving - I don’t believe that we are born “sinful.”
Well, there’s your problem. Objectivist?”
Nope, I’m a Heeb. :)
Nonetheless, I'm figuring this thread is going to draw the doctinaire capitalists like a moth to a flame. You can say to them the Church has condemned socialism and communism countless times, but if you aren't on board with them, you're a heretic. It's a religion.
I just don’t think the Gospel is holy, or for that matter, correct.
That's most regrettable. You're missing out on a great deal of Truth.
In any case, I think Eternal Salvation is more important than any mere economic system.
And this is the religion forum ... ;'}
Raw capitalism may result, eventually, in the improvement of the lives of the poor, but the historic costs are high. It is like economic war, and like war very hard on the troops while the generals live in chateaus. The end does not justify the means. China today is better off than it was under the centralized economy, puts the people on a diet which uses chemotherapy to kill hunger. The result is Cuba. But even Cuba, even the Soviet Union, was not as bad as Leopold’s colony in the Congo.
"I'm a Kike, a Yid, a Hebe, a Hooknose! I'm Kosher, Mum! I'm a Red Sea pedestrian, and proud of it!!"
Papa Ratzi is a good historian, as well as being a good theologian...and that predates his tenure as the Holy Father by many decades.
If you have any idea what the colonial powers did to the New World, to the African continent, and to (particularly) South and South-East Asia, you might sing a little different tune. It was the muzzies who captured the majority of the slaves, but it was the European colonial powers that exported those slaves. It was the European colonial powers that ransacked the world for resources. And it was the European colonial powers that left most of the world a mess (when it was no longer convenient to stay any longer)...that the US is being stuck trying to fix in many cases.
The US has, with the exception of the Phillipines, never been a colonial power (and we treated the PI very well, compared to any other comparison). His rant against colonial powers has nothing to do with the US.
Good thing he’s infallible, huh?
Only on matters of faith and morals and then only in a very narrow fashion. But when one considers how right JPII was on current events (looking retrospectively), even when not popular with us conservatives, it might make a person think about it a bit...
The Pope has a point, but shouldn’t forget that alot of was “plundered and sacked” were cults based on human cannibalism.
If it weren’t for our “plundering”, many of these places would be idyllic utopias completely devoid of disease, famine, poverty, AIDS, slavery, violence, oppression, corruption, and global warming.
There are two sides to the colonialism story, Brother O’Malley.
We could build poor countries a power plant or two instead of giving money. That would probably help them more than anything else.
True enough. And it's not to say that it's "all bad." But the fact of the matter is that the European colonial powers were hardly in it for altruistic reasons. (I identify the English and the French in particular along those lines)
If there weren’t two sides, Marx and Engles would never have wriiten their books, and their books would not propose solutions that are so false. Engels, I think, was a good man who was revolted by the capitalism of the 19th Century and he, like the Utopians, thought a perfect human society could be created. He supported Marx—a totally vile person by the way—because he thought that Marx had opened the door into that perfect society. Industrial advances caused so inbalances in human wealth, inbalances partially concealed by the growth of the middle classes, that Marxism quickly found support among those who looked for something better than the present order. Having lost faith in divine justice, they looked for human justice, or failing that at least the destruction of the existing order. We are contending with the Jihadists; the Victorians had the anarchists.
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