It does provide many temptations and it is what you do with that wealth that may lead you astray.
He and Obama seem to be on the same page regarding "spreading the wealth" around or, as the Pope says in this article "sharing the wealth".
Physician, heal thyself. Let Pope Francis call upon members of his faith to practice charity as he recommends. Salvation, the real concern of faith leaders, is accomplished person by person, not nation by nation. So let him call upon the highly-compensated members of the Catholic Church to stand up, donate their “excess” and show the world how they can be a shining light in a world of darkness. Let him begin with politicians, celebrities, professional athletes, trust fund babies, charity leaders, etc. and see how they react.
This should be an interesting thread.
This from a man who lives in one of the luxurious palaces in the world. I doubt he does his own cooking, shopping for bargains, etc., like those of us he accuses of being "greedy" do. He hasn't been pope long and I'm already kind of tired of him.
Why isn’t the Pope telling American bishops to do their job?
Why should he care about “mega-salaries” at all. Not his department.This is getting tiresome.
The world needs more Scripture, not more wealth distribution.
Jesuits are trouble, especially those from Latin America.
By all means, let’s make 30 million similar socialists citizens—they deserve amnesty. /s
It does provide many temptations and it is what you do with that wealth that may lead you astray.
“calling on governments to implement”
He will land us all in chains.
When the Pope sells off some of that papal bling, we can talk.
Stealing wealth from others, through fraud or force, is not profit, but theft (an initiation of force). Whether that theft is called a mugging, welfare, or “voluntary” taxation [a contradiction in terms], it is still theft and is always evil. Theft, like loss, is destruction; trade, like profit, is creation. To pursue profit is to pursue creation. It is an act of virtue and not a vice.
Your profit is the symbol and reward for the value of your creation, as judged by the mind’s of others who have freely-given given their wealth to you in exchange for it. Do not let the leftist intellectuals who infect our universities persuade you from thinking otherwise. In truth, it is those altruists who condemn the profit motive, who are guilty of evil.
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.
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?
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.
I have the same advice for the Pope as I did for Henry Blodget:
Why don’t you set a good example for the rest of us and donate all but a subsistence portion of the Vatican wealth to the “poor”? You know, do your own small part toward achieving “equality”. Start with making yourself poor first, and then maybe you’ll have a basis for the necessary “moral superiority” to tell the rest of us how much money we should be allowed to keep.
Now, now, now. This is simply a very bad translation of what he actually said... /s