Posted on 12/12/2013 7:11:26 AM PST by what's up
Pope Francis said in the first peace message of his pontificate that huge salaries and bonuses are symptoms of an economy based on greed and inequality and called again for nations to narrow the wealth gap.
He attacked the "widening gap between those who have more and those who must be content with the crumbs", calling on governments to implement "effective policies" to guarantee people's fundamental rights, including access to capital, services, educational resources, healthcare and technology.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Without the function of financial speculation, there would be a heckuva lot more poor people.
No, because the Gov't is engaging in crony capitalism bigtime. This is far from the unfettered capitalism the Pope has been decrying...socialist Gov'ts are controlling the economy, not capitalism.
In reality...if the State's power was diminished small business would flourish. But the Pope is calling for MORE Gov't intervention, not less.
Isn't that what the Nazis did to the assets of the Jews?
When did giving economics advice become part of the Pope’s job description?
Give Francis a break, Catholics! Scripture is full of warnings about wealth. Oh, here’s one for the “faith without works is dead” crowd:
“Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. 2Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. 4Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. 5You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.a 6You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.”
James 5
Preach on, Francis!
The Pope should tend to His Flocks spiritually.
He could certainly advise Catholics to be more Charitable,
But he has no business asking governments to take from the rich and give to the poor.
That is my opinion.
And repeatedly so. Lately it's been the same drumbeat of "sharing the wealth." That message is fine so long as it's voluntary... but this Pope sounds more like an advocate of "soak the rich" socialist economic policies.
Why are you believing the lamestream media?
focus on the “wealth gap” is nothing other than
preaching envy and coveting what your neighbor has
from a misguided belief that high salarys for a small group of people (compared to the whole) is (a) at the expense of greatly higher salaries for everyone else, (b) a major factor in the cost of goods, (c) means that what everyone needs in life costs more than it should - all of which are economic nonsense
so why does a reported “moral authority” preach envy and coveting your neighbors money
maybe the question that needs asked is whether he really is a moral authority or not
In a perfect world, there would be someone perfect to evenly spread the wealth. In this country it's best to let those who earn the wealth divide it as they see fit.
Now take heaven and hell. People are divided by giving them their just deserts. Those who were evil and violated God's law get the punishment.
People who were good get to go to heaven.
There is no mention of equally dividing the rewards of devoting your life to God with the evil people who chose to not apply their efforts to God.
I think of it as heaven and hell here on earth. You reap what you sow. With charity for those who through no fault of their own find themselves in need.
I believe the Pope is speaking to some people (I know of) who make $300,000 annually with $600,000 in bonuses whose families’ lives are in shambles because they work so much and for what end result? More stuff?
He’s speaking to countries whose people’s lives are so enslaved to their government with no freedom and no access to anything but another day of misery.
He’s asking people to change their hearts. To reflect on what is TRULY important in life. To love our neighbor as ourselves or MORE stuff?
“One also sees the need for policies which can lighten an excessive imbalance between incomes. We must not forget the Church’s teaching on the so-called social mortgage, which holds that although it is lawful, as Saint Thomas Aquinas says, and indeed necessary “that people have ownership of goods”,[12] insofar as their use is concerned, “they possess them as not just their own, but common to others as well, in the sense that they can benefit others as well as themselves”.[13]”
This paragraph is as alien the American tradition as you could get. It is the antithesis of the Declaration of Independence. Washington, Madison, Jefferson, Hamilton, etc would be horrified by this alien ideology.
He's a head of state and he's Pope. Part of his job description is to have wisdom to convey Christian values.
Isn't part of what he's doing is to encourage discussion of his values? A discussion of greed is not inappropriate.
I must have missed the part in that scripture about “implementing government policies”...
More translation errors? I don’t think so. The Pope is clearly a socialist. He is not a totalitarian socialist. He thinks there should be a residual private sector of taxi cab drivers and lawn service companies. Otherwise, business is to be regulated for the common good as determined by the government. We don’t have a good word for this. The old word is fascism. The appearance of private property with control being exercised by government. Mussolini’s Italy, Franco’s Spain and Peron’s Argentina are now, once again, the exemplars of Catholic political economy.
He's also asked for Gov'ts to adopt policies to allow for more "equality".
If he were just calling on individuals to give to the poor I'd be all for it. But he's asking for MORE activist Gov't...which is just what Obama wants.
Somehow, it just escapes leftists that the same species - humans - who inhabit these positions of government that they seek to empower
are the ones they are decrying as “greedy” outside the government.
The difference is, those in government have the legal use of deadly force at their disposal.
Did he specifically mention America?
From your use of the word "greed" and the pope's comments it appears that neither one of you knows jack about economics, wealth creation or human motivation.
Had a recent discussion of “greed” with a libinlaw.
Her position was emotional, that all greed was bad.
She was livid that I insisted that we would be instilling the virtue of self-interest in our children and recognizing the systemic value of individuals acting in self-interest.
In other words, we’d be teaching them “economics”.
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