Posted on 02/04/2014 1:29:58 PM PST by Responsibility2nd
VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Francis extolled the benefits of sharing wealth with the poor on Tuesday, warning that "unjust" social conditions like unemployment can lead to sin, financial ruin and even suicide.
The Jesuit pope has frequently railed about the excesses of capitalism and income disparity in a globalized world, and his message for Lent issued Tuesday echoed those same concerns
~snip~
"When power, luxury and money become idols, they take priority over the need for a fair distribution of wealth," he said in the short message. "Our consciences thus need to be converted to justice, equality, simplicity and sharing."
He said it's not enough to just make charitable offerings. ""Let us not forget that real poverty hurts: no self-denial is real without this dimension of penance. I distrust a charity that costs nothing and does not hurt," he wrote.
~snip~
Francis has riled some conservative Americans for his denunciation of capitalism and trickle-down economic theory, which is says is based on a survival of the fittest mentality "where the powerful feed upon the powerless" with no regard for ethics, the environment or even God.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
I’m sorry but what exactly is “unjust unemployment” anyway?
I’m sorry but what exactly is “unjust unemployment” anyway?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I’m thinking it’s pope-speak for $7.25 an hour.
No rich person is able to hurt the poor by worshiping money, luxury, or power. It is only with the aid of GOVERNMENT POWER that greedy capitalists are able to cause major injustice.
Nothing the Pope has said about economic matters has been enlightening or useful. He cites certain vices. So what?
All he accomplishes is to give oxygen to statists.
Someone will have to define “fair”... I volunteer!
Just give me all the power I need to implement my version of “fair”, and trust me not to be corrupted by it.
“How much pain is caused in families because one of their members - often a young person - is in thrall to alcohol, drugs, gambling and pornography!”
I would point him towards the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, but then that guy would jump on here and start yelling that I was a Protestant again.
No wonder this pope is getting to be so popular with the media
Did he mention whether is was OK to steal from people to ‘share’ their weath?
“Here is the text of Pope Francis’ Lenten Message for 2014, which reflects on the theme: “He became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich (cf. 2 Cor. 8:9)
“....
We might think that this “way” of poverty was Jesus’ way, whereas we who come after him can save the world with the right kind of human resources. This is not the case. In every time and place God continues to save mankind and the world through the poverty of Christ, who makes himself poor in the sacraments, in his word and in his Church, which is a people of the poor. God’s wealth passes not through our wealth, but invariably and exclusively through our personal and communal poverty, enlivened by the Spirit of Christ.
In imitation of our Master, we Christians are called to confront the poverty of our brothers and sisters, to touch it, to make it our own and to take practical steps to alleviate it. Destitution is not the same as poverty: destitution is poverty without faith, without support, without hope. There are three types of destitution: material, moral and spiritual. Material destitution is what is normally called poverty, and affects those living in conditions opposed to human dignity: those who lack basic rights and needs such as food, water, hygiene, work and the opportunity to develop and grow culturally. In response to this destitution, the Church offers her help, her diakonia, in meeting these needs and binding these wounds which disfigure the face of humanity. In the poor and outcast we see Christ’s face; by loving and helping the poor, we love and serve Christ. Our efforts are also directed to ending violations of human dignity, discrimination and abuse in the world, for these are so often the cause of destitution. When power, luxury and money become idols, they take priority over the need for a fair distribution of wealth. Our consciences thus need to be converted to justice, equality, simplicity and sharing.
No less a concern is moral destitution, which consists in slavery to vice and sin. How much pain is caused in families because one of their members – often a young person - is in thrall to alcohol, drugs, gambling or pornography! How many people no longer see meaning in life or prospects for the future, how many have lost hope! And how many are plunged into this destitution by unjust social conditions, by unemployment, which takes away their dignity as breadwinners, and by lack of equal access to education and health care. In such cases, moral destitution can be considered impending suicide. This type of destitution, which also causes financial ruin, is invariably linked to the spiritual destitution which we experience when we turn away from God and reject his love. If we think we don’t need God who reaches out to us though Christ, because we believe we can make do on our own, we are headed for a fall. God alone can truly save and free us.
The Gospel is the real antidote to spiritual destitution: wherever we go, we are called as Christians to proclaim the liberating news that forgiveness for sins committed is possible, that God is greater than our sinfulness, that he freely loves us at all times and that we were made for communion and eternal life. The Lord asks us to be joyous heralds of this message of mercy and hope! It is thrilling to experience the joy of spreading this good news, sharing the treasure entrusted to us, consoling broken hearts and offering hope to our brothers and sisters experiencing darkness. It means following and imitating Jesus, who sought out the poor and sinners as a shepherd lovingly seeks his lost sheep. In union with Jesus, we can courageously open up new paths of evangelization and human promotion.
Dear brothers and sisters, may this Lenten season find the whole Church ready to bear witness to all those who live in material, moral and spiritual destitution the Gospel message of the merciful love of God our Father, who is ready to embrace everyone in Christ. We can so this to the extent that we imitate Christ who became poor and enriched us by his poverty. Lent is a fitting time for self-denial; we would do well to ask ourselves what we can give up in order to help and enrich others by our own poverty. Let us not forget that real poverty hurts: no self-denial is real without this dimension of penance. I distrust a charity that costs nothing and does not hurt...”
Full text at the link
http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/pope-francis-lenten-message-2014
Not as bad as it will be blogged to be, but this Pope really ought to stay away from economic analysis.
The Pope asks a good question.
But for him to blame our low minumum wage, our unfair distribution of wealth or other “unfair social conditions” is ridiculous.
I suppose I’ll add:
I am concerned about unjust unemployment too. I think those who insist on a minimum wage and who give handouts to people without regard for their ability to work CAUSE unemployment, and do so unjustly - so labor unions and government workers and politicians can increase their power without regard for the havoc their unjust policies cause.
However, I doubt the Pope would agree with my interpretation of “unjust unemployment”...
Hey POPE!
might want to check out:
2 Thessalonians 3:10
“If a man will not work, he shall not eat”
take THAT you socialist in a robe!
He was speaking of moral destitution in that statement (as stated in the previous paragraph).
Rome has supported that idea for decades.
“Most people recognize the financial crisis in the Western world. What is not acknowledged, however, is the Papal agenda that has worsened the situation; for example, the Vatican social teaching that denies the biblical meaning of private property. Accordingly, Pope John Paul II stated, “Private property, in fact, is under a ‘social mortgage,’ which means that it has an intrinsically social function, based upon and justified precisely by the principle of the universal destination of goods.” Benedict XVI wholly sanctions this principle of the universal ownership of all goods as he demonstrated the same policy in the writings of popes Leo XIII, Pius XI, John XXIII, and Paul VI. Another Vatican Council II document upholds the same principle of the “universal ownership of all goods” and emphatically teaches, “If one is in extreme necessity, he has the right to procure for himself what he needs out of the riches of others.”
I have several issues with this Pope.
That’s all I’m willing to say.
Right.
At least he didn’t mention “prisoners” today.
As a Christian, do you not bring your ethics and morality into the 9-5 world? Not everyone does, and cheating and law-breaking result.
I look at China with them locking people in buildings, child labor, putting plastic in food therefore killing babies and our pets, etc. and see that the Pope and PE B16 has some very important things to say. It's not always about us (USA) but the whole world.
Don't forget, this was written with a leftist AP spin.
I must have missed that reference....
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