Pope Francis demands 'legitimate redistribution' of wealth

Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | 05/09/2014 | NICOLE WINFIELD

[SeekAndFind]

VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Francis called Friday for governments to redistribute wealth to the poor in a new spirit of generosity to help curb the "economy of exclusion" that is taking hold today.

Francis made the appeal during a speech to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the heads of major U.N. agencies who met in Rome this week.

Latin America's first pope has frequently lashed out at the injustices of capitalism and the global economic system that excludes so much of humanity, though his predecessors have voiced similar concerns.

On Friday, Francis called for the United Nations to promote a "worldwide ethical mobilization" of solidarity with the poor in a new spirit of generosity.

[1010RD]

This is a legitimate demand for 3rd world countries which are ruled by a plutocracy that writes laws for its own benefit...

[JPII Be Not Afraid]

2014-05-09 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio ) Pope Francis met with executives from the United Nations Agencies, Funds and Programmes on Friday, led by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Emer McCarthy reports:

Speaking to the men and women who manage the UN’s vast network of humanitarian offices, he urged them to challenge “all forms of injustice” and resist the “economy of exclusion”, the “throwaway culture” and the “culture of death” which nowadays – he said – “sadly risk becoming passively accepted”.

Reflecting on the UN’s target for Future Sustainable Development Goals, he questioned whether in today’s world, a spirit of solidarity and sharing guide all our thoughts and actions:

“Future Sustainable Development Goals must therefore be formulated and carried out with generosity and courage, so that they can have a real impact on the structural causes of poverty and hunger, attain more substantial results in protecting the environment, ensure dignified and productive labor for all, and provide appropriate protection for the family, which is an essential element in sustainable human and social development”.

The Pope also pointed the executives to the Gospel story of Zacchaeus the Tax collector, as an example of how it’s never too late to correct injustice “Today, in concrete terms, an awareness of the dignity of each of our brothers and sisters whose life is sacred and inviolable from conception to natural death must lead us to share with complete freedom the goods which God’s providence has placed in our hands, material goods but also intellectual and spiritual ones, and to give back generously and lavishly whatever we may have earlier unjustly refused to others”.

Below please find the full text of Pope Francis’ address to the UN delegation

Mr Secretary General,Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am pleased to welcome you, Mr Secretary-General and the leading executive officers of the Agencies, Funds and Programmes of the United Nations and specialized Organizations, as you gather in Rome for the biannual meeting for strategic coordination of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board.It is significant that today’s meeting takes place shortly after the solemn canonization of my predecessors, Popes John XXIII and John Paul II. The new saints inspire us by their passionate concern for integral human development and for understanding between peoples. This concern was concretely expressed by the numeous visits of John Paul II to the Organizations headquartered in Rome and by his travels to New York, Geneva, Vienna, Nairobi and The Hague.

I thank you, Mr Secretary-General, for your cordial words of introduction. I thank all of you, who are primarily responsible for the international system, for the great efforts being made to ensure world peace, respect for human dignity, the protection of persons, especially the poorest and most vulnerable, and harmonious economic and social development.The results of the Millennium Development Goals, especially in terms of education and the decrease in extreme poverty, confirm the value of the work of coordination carried out by this Chief Executives Board. At the same time, it must be kept in mind that the world’s peoples deserve and expect even greater results.

An essential principle of management is the refusal to be satisfied with current results and to press forward, in the conviction that those gains are only consolidated by working to achieve even more. In the case of global political and economic organization, much more needs to be achieved, since an important part of humanity does not share in the benefits of progress and is in fact relegated to the status of second-class citizens. Future Sustainable Development Goals must therefore be formulated and carried out with generosity and courage, so that they can have a real impact on the structural causes of poverty and hunger, attain more substantial results in protecting the environment, ensure dignified and productive labor for all, and provide appropriate protection for the family, which is an essential element in sustainable human and social development. Specifically, this involves challenging all forms of injustice and resisting the “economy of exclusion”, the “throwaway culture” and the “culture of death” which nowadays sadly risk becoming passively accepted.With this in mind, I would like to remind you, as representatives of the chief agencies of global cooperation, of an incident which took place two thousand years ago and is recounted in the Gospel of Saint Luke (19:1-10). It is the encounter between Jesus Christ and the rich tax collector Zacchaeus, as a result of which Zacchaeus made a radical decision of sharing and justice, because his conscience had been awakened by the gaze of Jesus. This same spirit should be at the beginning and end of all political and economic activity. The gaze, often silent, of that part of the human family which is cast off, left behind, ought to awaken the conscience of political and economic agents and lead them to generous and courageous decisions with immediate results, like the decision of Zacchaeus. Does this spirit of solidarity and sharing guide all our thoughts and actions?

Today, in concrete terms, an awareness of the dignity of each of our brothers and sisters whose life is sacred and inviolable from conception to natural death must lead us to share with complete freedom the goods which God’s providence has placed in our hands, material goods but also intellectual and spiritual ones, and to give back generously and lavishly whatever we may have earlier unjustly refused to others.The account of Jesus and Zacchaeus teaches us that above and beyond economic and social systems and theories, there will always be a need to promote generous, effective and practical openness to the needs of others. Jesus does not ask Zacchaeus to change jobs nor does he condemn his financial activity; he simply inspires him to put everything, freely yet immediately and indisputably, at the service of others. Consequently, I do not hesitate to state, as did my predecessors (cf. JOHN PAUL II, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 42-43; Centesimus Annus, 43; BENEDICT XVI, Caritas in Veritate, 6; 24-40), that equitable economic and social progress can only be attained by joining scientific and technical abilities with an unfailing commitment to solidarity accompanied by a generous and disinterested spirit of gratuitousness at every level. A contribution to this equitable development will also be made both by international activity aimed at the integral human development of all the world’s peoples and by the legitimate redistribution of economic benefits by the State, as well as indispensable cooperation between the private sector and civil society.

Consequently, while encouraging you in your continuing efforts to coordinate the activity of the international agencies, which represents a service to all humanity, I urge you to work together in promoting a true, worldwide ethical mobilization which, beyond all differences of religious or political convictions, will spread and put into practice a shared ideal of fraternity and solidarity, especially with regard to the poorest and those most excluded.Invoking divine guidance on the work of your Board, I also implore God’s special blessing for you, Mr Secretary-General, for the Presidents, Directors and Secretaries General present among us, and for all the personnel of the United Nations and the other international Agencies and Bodies, and their respective families.

[Responsibility2nd]

Seriously? Haitians are living hand to mouth in conditions that are little better than a garbage dump and your sister and brother-in-law are sending them guitars?

Liberalism is truly DEFINITELY a mental disorder.

[Steve_Seattle]

"And don't forget indulgences. He can print those like the Fed."

I suppose indulgences are still invoked somewhere in Catholicism, but I haven't heard a priest refer to indulgences in about 30 years.

[1010RD]

Good insight. What America now has is not working.

[Major Matt Mason]

Good for you for being loyal and faithful, but I'm pretty much in the free agent camp at this point. Marxism has taken over and destroyed Catholicism (look at Notre Dame), just like it destroys everything that it touches.

[the_daug]

I reject that you can redistribute wealth that has lasting effect. Wealth is built or destroyed. You can help people learn to build wealth.

[PeteePie]

Total BINGO!

[Steve_Seattle]

The full statement is - of course - much different from the synopsis provided by the press. The press conveniently eliminated the phrase “culture of death,” a clear reference to abortion and euthanasia.

[JPII Be Not Afraid]

Exactly!!

[Steve_Seattle]

"I reject that you can redistribute wealth that has lasting effect. Wealth is built or destroyed. You can help people learn to build wealth."

It's the old "You can give a man a fish, or teach him how to fish" principle. Still sound, I think, with some qualifications, e.g., there are some people who because of age or infirmity cannot take care of themselves and need assistance.

[Berlin_Freeper]

He said a more equal form of economic progress can be had through "the legitimate redistribution of economic benefits by the state, as well as indispensable cooperation between the private sector and civil society."

Nothing there actually says "redistribution of wealth". There are already welfare programs. The Pope says redistribute these programs away from the cheats to the legitimate needy. The Pope also talks about "cooperation", which is very specifically not forced redistribution.

Once again the anti-Catholic MSM seeks to mislead with a fake headline to advance their own agenda.

[livius]

The actual statement isn’t bad, and even has a lot if (unreported) good stuff. But where he falls down, like any Argentinian, is saying that it is this “redistribution of benefits” is something the State should do. He’s a statist, and I think this is his biggest defect.

[peyton randolph]

“one of the privileged few who know what goes on in the Vatican bank”

****

Speaking of the Vatican Bank, care to guess who owns Argentina’s banks? Hint: They speak Italian as their primary language.

A cynical person might believe that Pope Francis the talking Marxist Mule was put into the Vatican on behalf of financial interests that couldn’t get what they wanted from his predecessor.

[justa-hairyape]

Only if the wealth is freely given.

Thou shall not steal.

Never ever give a government money it does not deserve. Governments with that much power always end up destroying their civilization in the long run.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Vatican Bank

Exactly what does this ‘bank’ do?

Does it lend money out to businesses?

Can you take a mortgage or any other loan from it?

Is it an investment bank?

Can you deposit money in it to get interest?

Inquiring minds want to know...

[JPII Be Not Afraid]

See post 112

[VideoDoctor]

Who would have thought that the Pope of all people was now smoking crack.

[bert]

Perhaps the most successful redistribution of wealth was called the Reformation when the greedy roman Catholic Church lost it’s grip on the wealth of nations.

Now comes a poor boy trying to get it back

[Thane_Banquo]

The more governments have tried to redistribute wealth, the more unequal the distribution of wealth has become.