Free Republic

Pope Francis on Thursday launched a blistering attack on the "new colonialism" of austerity, describing unfettered capitalism as “the dung of the devil” and apologising for the Catholic church's role in the conquest of indigenous populations in the Americas. He delivered a powerful mea culpa on the part of the church in the highlight of his South American pilgrimage, "humbly" begging forgiveness during an encounter in Bolivia with indigenous groups and other activists and in the presence of Bolivia's first-ever indigenous president, Evo Morales. The first Latin American pope noted that church leaders in the past had acknowledged that "grave...