Posted on 05/16/2013 3:52:24 PM PDT by NYer
“We have started down the path of a disposable culture,” Pope Francis said in a May 16 address to four new ambassadors to the Holy See.
In his remarks to the new envoys, the Pope spoke about injustice in the world economy, and especially in a socio-economic system in which “human beings themselves are nowadays considered as consumer goods which can be used and thrown away.”
The Pope accepted the diplomatic credentials of Bolot Iskovich Otunbaev of Kyrgyzstan, Davis Shoul of Antigua, Jean-Paul Senninger of Luxemburg, and Lameck Nthekela of Botswana. He addressed them as a group, insisting that economic systems cannot be divorced from ethical concerns.
The Pope acknowledged the positive achievements of the modern economy, particularly “in fields such as those of health, education, and communications.” But he said that in spite of material advances, “the majority of the men and women of our time continue to live daily in situations of insecurity, with dire consequences.” He went on to list some of those consequences:
Certain pathologies are increasing, with their psychological consequences; fear and desperation grip the hearts of many people, even in the so-called rich countries; the joy of life is diminishing; indecency and violence are on the rise; poverty is becoming more and more evident.
Many of these problems, the Holy Father argued, can be traced to “our relationship with money, and our acceptance of its power over ourselves and our society.” The cult of money has become our idol, he said, and has allowed the growth of “the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly humane goal.”
Pope Francis denounced “ideologies which uphold the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation, and thus deny the right of control to States, which are themselves charged with providing for the common good.” He underlined the importance of ethical concerns, and of a recognition that those who possess wealth have a moral obligation to help those in need.
However, the Pope continued, many wealthy and powerful people do not recognize their obligations. Their attitude, he said, betrays “a rejection of ethics, a rejection of God.” The rich and powerful think of God as “unmanageable,” he said, and therefore treat God and his law as dangers to their status.
Pope Francis concluded that “there is a need for financial reform along ethical lines.” Such a reform, he promised, “would produce in its turn an economic reform to benefit everyone.”
Ping!
No disrespect to His Holiness, but we’ve been living in a ‘disposable society’ since after WWII.
And then we added ‘disposable babies’ to the mix in 1972 when we doubled down with Roe v. Wade.
*SIGH*
I am a Roman Catholic who likes Pope Francis but I must disrespectfully disagree.
It is not the cult of money that is causing so much misery in this world but rather the lack of personal as well as economic liberty imposed by heavy handed government rule.
Whenever people are really free they blossom like a rose.
What’s this “cult of money” he’s talking about?
Let’s look at the accumulated wealth of the Roman Catholic Church and ask “who has a balance sheet that looks as nice and plump as the Vatican’s?” before we start babbling about a “cult of money.”
Money is NOT the root of all Evil. The love of money is.
Sounds like he is espousing MARXISM.shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach
The problems arise when money becomes your god. Money, in and of itself, is merely a tool, albeit a necessary one.
A cult of poverty produces far more misery and injustice. Who can you help when you’re poor? What can you do if you’re poor? Better to not have to depend on a donation or government assistance for your sustinance.
The solution to these ills is more economic freedom, not less.
That and revival from the Holy Spirit.
I think he has things backwards. Priests are celibate, so they are obsessed with other people having sex. Communists reject money, so they are obsessed with other people having money.
And don’t ever get into a conversation with a vegetarian about meat.
Dunno how much of the headline and story is distortion of the Pope’s message, but the “Cult of Money” causes a lot less death and destruction than the “Cult of the Common Good.”
that would be called ‘communism’, your Holiness
He's also wrong:
....poverty is becoming more and more evident.
His arguments that poverty in the world is growing are flat out wrong. More human beings, thanks to the free market, are coming out of poverty than ever before. High population (former 3rd world) countries replaced socialist policies with capitalist ideas and the result of an exploding middle class.
Thanks to free markets, world poverty is decreasing. The Pope's ideas of government social welfare and dependence would reverse that trend.
We've been living in a disposable society longer than that.
Le Chien Rouge: It is not the cult of money that is causing so much misery in this world but rather the lack of personal as well as economic liberty imposed by heavy handed government rule
Any economic system, without God, produces slavery.
NVDave: Let’s look at the accumulated wealth of the Roman Catholic Church
What accumulated wealth is this? In 2011, they ran a deficit of almost €15M.
Huskrrrr: Money is NOT the root of all Evil. The love of money is.
Exactly. That's why he said the "cult" of money.
JudyinCanada: The problems arise when money becomes your god. Money, in and of itself, is merely a tool, albeit a necessary one.
Precisely. And this is really emphasized in Luke 16:19-31, Matthew 25:31-46, Matthew 19:16-24, etc.
DManA: The solution to these ills is more economic freedom, not less.
With God, you are right. And I don't believe you would find him calling for increased control in his actual words.
Longbow1969: High population (former 3rd world) countries replaced socialist policies with capitalist ideas and the result of an exploding middle class.
I think the issue is not talking about government control over economics, rather about the responsibilities of individuals within those economies.
You know that legal truism about asking questions that you don't know the answer to?
The Vatican's assets are worth about $1 billion. It's administrative staff is smaller than the University of Notre Dame.
And they serve over 1 billion Catholics. I would call that the principle of subsidiarity in action.
Believe what you want.
Bull. There is no way to sugarcoat what this pope is saying:
Pope Francis denounced “ideologies which uphold the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation, and thus deny the right of control to States, which are themselves charged with providing for the common good.”
This is socialist claptrap. Period. This is exactly the kind of thing you'd expect to hear from an economic leftwing Argentinian - which is exactly what Pope Francis is.
Exactly, the Pope has focused on the wrong problem here.
This same Pope that said two days ago:
"Let us think of that moment with the Magdalene, when she washed the feet of Jesus with nard, which was so expensive: it is a religious moment, a moment of gratitude, a moment of love. And he [Judas] stands apart and criticizes her bitterly: 'But ... this could be used for the poor!'. This is the first reference that I personally found in the Gospel of poverty as an ideology. The ideologue does not know what love is, because they do not know how to gift themselves".
Whatever you say Hoss.
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