I think you need to remember Jesus saying “The poor will always be with us.” So who do you want the pope to sell the Pieta to? Bill and Melinda Gates? The church already DOES do more for schools and education than anyone outside of government. The church was the one who STARTED schools for the poor. And before people start whining about the cost of education going up, remember that the 50 years ago mentioned was when there were a lot of nuns who essentially worked for poverty wages. Ditto priests and brothers. They certainly didn’t get rich doing it. Now most of the teachers in those schools are lay people, who oddly enough have families to support and the cost of education is higher. And I agree with poster number 1. Frankie, for all his Jesuit learning, obviously never had Econ 101 in his curriculum. Or if he did, he flunked. In 3rd world countries, and 2nd world, the church DOES do a lot to teach skills like carpentry, etc. so I’m not so sure what he’s yammering about. [And yes, I am a practising Catholic. I’m a bit underwhelmed by the present pope.]
I agree that the Catholic Church started schools for the poor, although mainly for Catholic families within the church.
But do you dispute that the Catholic Church has utterly neglected the worldwide system of parochial (”Latin”) schools over the last 50 years — at least in comparison to (a) the Catholic Church’s loud mouth criticizing everyone else, and (b) other attention of the Church?
Is it not the case that the Catholic Church has allowed Catholic churches to fall far, far, far behind what they once were?