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'Cult of money' produces injustice and misery, Pope warns
Catholic Culture ^ | May 16, 2013

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.”


TOPICS: Catholic; Current Events; Religion & Culture
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To: Huskrrrr

1 Timothy 6:10

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.


21 posted on 05/16/2013 5:09:23 PM PDT by Wyatt's Torch (I can explain it to you. I can't understand it for you.)
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To: Huskrrrr

Corollary Like 12:34

Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

Jesus talked about money more than any other topic.


22 posted on 05/16/2013 5:13:00 PM PDT by Wyatt's Torch (I can explain it to you. I can't understand it for you.)
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To: NYer

No disrespect to His Holiness but I wish I had more money so I could find out for myself.


23 posted on 05/16/2013 5:14:20 PM PDT by Venturer
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To: Le Chien Rouge
Heavy handed government rule is a result of politicians giving in to the cult of money.

Freedom without morality is a death spiral. Lack of morality is a result of worshiping money, stuff and sex over all else.

24 posted on 05/16/2013 5:28:10 PM PDT by varyouga
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To: All

Well, if the Pope is against powerful multinational capitalist entities, then he’s against his own church, right?


25 posted on 05/16/2013 5:59:19 PM PDT by Peter ODonnell (It wasn't this cold before global warming)
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To: St_Thomas_Aquinas
It's worth going to the original source. I read the entire statement, and it's not remarkable.
Believe what you want.

Where is the original source ?

I'll judge for myself ; thank you.

shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach
26 posted on 05/16/2013 6:14:18 PM PDT by Uri’el-2012 (Psalm 119:174 I long for Your salvation, YHvH, Your teaching is my delight.)
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To: markomalley

Good post.


27 posted on 05/16/2013 6:35:29 PM PDT by FourtySeven (47)
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To: UriÂ’el-2012

http://en.radiovaticana.va/m_articolo.asp?c=692694


28 posted on 05/16/2013 6:38:51 PM PDT by FourtySeven (47)
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To: UriÂ’el-2012

http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-financial-reform-along-ethical-lines

Beginning with, “Your Excellencies.”


29 posted on 05/16/2013 6:42:51 PM PDT by St_Thomas_Aquinas
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To: St_Thomas_Aquinas

That’s kind of humorous, because I do know the answer to the question.

In an interviewwith Bloomberg (which I won’t link here due to their copyright issues), in 2002, Cardinal Edmund C. Szoka, then head of financial administration, put the net assets of the Holy See at $5B.

That didn’t include the value of the real estate of Vatican City, which through ecclesiastical thimblerigging, they consider “zero.”


30 posted on 05/16/2013 6:46:09 PM PDT by NVDave
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To: markomalley

“Accumulated wealth” being real estate, possession of other property, etc.

Showing me a cash flow deficit has nothing to do with wealth. That’s like Warren Buffett claiming poverty because he didn’t make a profit this particular quarter.


31 posted on 05/16/2013 6:49:04 PM PDT by NVDave
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To: NVDave
“Accumulated wealth” being real estate, possession of other property, etc.

That is ridiculous. Just think about it a little bit.

Jesus said, For the poor always ye have with you (John 12:8). Selling off every scrap of every asset that the Vatican has would not eradicate poverty for even a month, much less forever. And what would happen?

Look at the artwork in the Sistine Chapel? Who would buy it? Who could buy it? How would somebody move those frescos?

And then all the manuscripts in the Vatican Library? Right now they are available for scholarly research. If they are sold...they become part of somebody's private collection and would be lost.

Perhaps they should sell St Peter's Square and put up condos.

Frankly, FRiend, you use the same argument that the "Apostle" of (so-called) "Social Justice" used when Mary Magdalene annointed the Lord's feet with Spikenard:

John 12:3-5 Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?

The argument "The Vatican should sell everything off and give it to the poor" is one I hear from left-wingers, not FReepers. Short sighted at best.

If literally every church building, work of art, manuscript, artifact, and hospital was sold...if every bishop, priest, and deacon was turned out on the street, stripped of their clothing and forced to dress in rags, while it would please a lot of people...it would do nothing to eradicate poverty.

The purpose of the Pope's statements is, whether you believe it or not, not to try to solve poverty. He knows better than either of us that this will never happen. The purpose is the same purpose that Jesus had when he taught on earth. The same purpose as His followers had...to include the quoted St John Chrysostom...along with his colleague St Basil the Great...and so on throughout history. Sadly, that spiritual message has been hijacked so often by the left, that it is immediately confused by most people.

32 posted on 05/16/2013 7:10:22 PM PDT by markomalley (Nothing emboldens the wicked so greatly as the lack of courage on the part of the good -- Leo XIII)
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To: markomalley

I don’t disagree that there will always be poor people. And the reason why we will always have poverty is because there will always be people who are stupid, lazy, or both. There are people who are poor by circumstances - those people can be helped out of poverty. Then there are the much larger number of people who just won’t take the effort to get out of poverty. Those you could give huge amounts of money and they’ll piss it all away and be poor again in no time.

The was a short film highlighted on Oprah’s show several years ago that came out as a result of a director giving a homeless man $100K in a briefcase. His to keep.

Within six months, he’s blown through all of it and he’s back out on the streets. The result came as a huge shock to Oprah, who is one of those goofy liberals who think that we could get rid of poverty if we just give the poor enough of someone else’s money.

Look, we can all argue about “what do do with the poor?” but before anyone wants to claim some of my stuff, they have to admit there are people who are just too lazy to deserve it. Those people need to be forced to work, and if starvation is how we force them, so be it.

Still, I don’t like being lectured by pecksniffs, telling us that the pursuit of wealth is a “bad” thing. It’s bad enough to listen to this nonsense from left wing academics, but to hear it from a man in control of so much wealth? Yea, that’s really not a message I’m going to tolerate at all.

As for who would buy the artwork and the real estate? Anyone who wants to. There are people who buy rare Bibles - some for 10’s of millions of dollars. The idea that only the Vatican can own these things is, quite frankly, one of the absurdities that is peculiar to the Catholic Church. The one quote that really grates is this one:

“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.”

Um, yea, right. Let’s look at the wonderful life that results when we go to the polar opposite, such as communism, where there are no free markets and the state sets all prices, in supposed pursuit of “the common good.” How did that work out for the poor?

Then this little gem (found at another site quoting the Pontiff):

http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/francis-address-to-new-ambassadors

“In this sense, I encourage the financial experts and the political leaders of your countries to consider the words of Saint John Chrysostom: ‘Not to share one’s goods with the poor is to rob them and to deprive them of life. It is not our goods that we possess, but theirs.”

Um, no, my goods are my goods. I worked for them. If someone wants some, they’re going to have to work for it. That’s what the Tenth Commandment says: Don’t try to bogart your neighbor’s stuff. Go get your own.

This sort of codswallop is why there’s a cliche’ known as “the Protestant work ethic” and there’s never been a cliche’ of a “Catholic work ethic.”


33 posted on 05/16/2013 7:36:36 PM PDT by NVDave
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To: NVDave
Um, no, my goods are my goods. I worked for them. If someone wants some, they’re going to have to work for it. That’s what the Tenth Commandment says: Don’t try to bogart your neighbor’s stuff. Go get your own.

Reason #3 why I am not a Protestant: Selective disregard for the Scriptures.

Your goods are not your goods. They belong to God:

Psalm 24:1 The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

34 posted on 05/17/2013 1:22:04 AM PDT by markomalley (Nothing emboldens the wicked so greatly as the lack of courage on the part of the good -- Leo XIII)
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To: NYer

“Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the leper’s bell of an approaching looter.” Francisco from Atlas Shrugged

http://youtu.be/qYJtHd28BXU


35 posted on 05/18/2013 4:35:10 AM PDT by Okieshooter
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To: Okieshooter
“Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the leper’s bell of an approaching looter.” Francisco from Atlas Shrugged

The Pope is not saying that money is evil. He is saying that those who pursue only money are. Money is only a tool. It does what its possesor wishes, like any hammer or saw.

36 posted on 05/18/2013 7:27:35 AM PDT by MarkBsnr (I would not believe in the Gospel, if the authority of the Catholic Church did not move me to do so.)
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To: MarkBsnr

“Money is only a tool. It does what its possesor wishes, like any hammer or saw.”

Exactly, and that was the point of my post. I did not mean to infer the the Pope said money is evil, but only to clarify to those that might misunderstand what the Pope was saying.


37 posted on 05/18/2013 7:35:17 AM PDT by Okieshooter
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To: NYer

Has this Pope ever withheld communion from an abortionist ideologue?


38 posted on 05/19/2013 8:46:22 AM PDT by onedoug
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To: markomalley
Sorry, but I'm not the only person noticing the Pope sounds like a typical South American Jesuit socialist.

http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/051713-656699-pope-francis-should-encourage-free-markets-to-eliminate-poverty.htm

From the article:

But it appears he has been infected by the local economic pathologies of his homeland, Argentina, and its liberation theology among the Jesuits, at least when he warned ambassadors about "the tyranny of money" and called for countries to impose more control over their economies to prevent "absolute autonomy" and foster the "common good."

That policy prescription has already been tried in Argentina. It has driven millions of Argentines into poverty by destroying the value of their savings, both through raw expropriation as happened in 2008 with private pensions (the money was taken under the aegis of helping "the poor"), and by repeated currency devaluations — the product of a government printing money to pay for its expansion of power after there was nothing left to steal.

It has become very clear that the new Pope is an economic leftist. Pope Francis may not be a radical liberation theologist, but it sounds like he is going to spent his tenure as head of the Catholic Church pushing liberal economic policies that have failed over and over again.

39 posted on 05/19/2013 9:30:04 AM PDT by Longbow1969
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To: onedoug
Has this Pope ever withheld communion from an abortionist ideologue?

Yes.

40 posted on 05/19/2013 2:31:10 PM PDT by NYer (“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possibl)
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