If you've read most of the homilies that I've posted since his election, you've, I'm sure, noted a common thread in them that we need to be less materialistic in our lives and need to share with those who are in need. I have yet to hear a call for governments to do so...his call was for all of us, as Christians, to do so.
He is talking about this in a rather radical fashion. Not just a matter of living in your McMansion and throwing a couple of bucks into the second collection. He's not talking about bringing a can of soup for the food bank. He's talking about each of us changing how we live.
I can just see, at least, some of the curial officials acting just like this:
(couldn't find an animated one, but picture the bobblehead nodding)
And, then, immediately afterwards hopping into their Jaguars to get back to their palaces. Living as if they were from the Orsini, Medici, Collona, Borghese, Farnese, or Sforza nobility.
And then to have somebody try to preach about living simply while he, himself, is living in relative luxury? Or to write up policies while doing so?
I hear, whenever this Pope is talking about simplifying one's life and treating each other better, that he's talking like a commie.
Well, he's not.
One of the reasons why limousine liberals (including those in the Church hierarchy) like advocating government programs is that they can pretend they are fulfilling the Gospel mission to care for the poor without actually having to get their own hands dirty.
That is not what he is preaching. He is preaching:
The challenge to eradicate poverty cannot be truthfully met as long as the poor continue to be dependents of the State. The government and other organizations should instead work to create the social conditions that will promote and protect the rights of the poor and enable them to be the builders of their own future. To those who are now promising to fix all your problems, I say, ‘Go and fix yourself.’ Have a change of heart. Get to confession, before you need it even more! The current crisis will not be improved by magicians from outside the country and nor will [improvement] come from the golden mouth of our politicians, so accustomed to making incredible promises.
So I can picture him wanting to have this hands-on version of Christians acting like Christians...getting their hands dirty. And the increase in government programs, as we see advocated by some, like the USCCB (particuarly Bishops Blaire and Pates), is the exact opposite of what he would want to do.
At least in my opinion.