Francis: Property is theft and Socialism is the answer...
Robert P. Barnidge noted that, "Pope Francis has made his social and economic tendencies clear since the early days of his pontificate. In his 2013 apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis criticizes the notion that reducing the disproportionately-high income tax burden on high-income earners can stimulate investment and economic growth as a 'crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system. For the Holy Father, inequality is the 'root of social ills,' though he fails to explain precisely why a society of unequal wealth but a relatively high standard of living would somehow be less reflective of Gospel values than a society that shares equally in poverty.
Going further still, Evangelii Gaudium calls for structural transformation that would 'restore to the poor what belongs to them.' If, as Pope Francis suggests, property is possessed not by its owners, then, truly, 'property is theft,' to quote 19th-century French anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon’s famous phrase."
Contrast this embrace of Socialism with the thought of Pope Saint John Paul II:
“…the fundamental error of socialism is anthropological in nature. Socialism considers the individual person simply as an element, a molecule within the social organism, so that the good of the individual is completely subordinated to the functioning of the socio-economic mechanism. Socialism likewise maintains that the good of the individual is completely subordinated to the functioning of the socio-economic mechanism. Socialism likewise maintains that the good of the individual can be realized without reference to his free choice, to the unique and exclusive responsibility which he exercises in the face of good or evil. Man is thus reduced to a series of social relationships, and the concept of the person as the autonomous subject of moral decisions disappears, the very subject whose decisions build the social order.”
The Popes have consistently condemned Socialism because it is intrinsically evil. See here.
But Francis promotes it.
If you're not concerned about Francis as a Catholic, you should be.
Why would a Christian leader, such as a Pope of the Church, prefer a "system" which, itself, demands that individuals yield up their Creator-endowed natural liberty to an cult-like ideology which requires "redistribution" of the results of their labor by elected or self-appointed "others"?The following excerpted portion of an essay by Dr. Peter Gresham sheds light on this subject:
Liberty Follows No Blueprint
Natural liberty is not a neatly packaged system of political economy. Marxism is a religious system. Socialism is a control system based on government. Capitalism is a somewhat loose formulation of economic production and distribution, but it is an “ism” and is a system. Natural liberty is a descriptive term that eschews all systems and lets liberty obtain. It is a philosophy of society and human action which requires no system. When restraints are lifted the market works in a manner similar to the laws of motion—though not as precise and exact. The laws of the market are not determined but are formulated from the tendencies of people to act in a somewhat predictable manner. The magic of a free market is more nearly analogous to actuarial prediction, rather than a physical law such as the law of gravity.
Smith assumed the freedom of the will while Marx denied it. We can confidently say, however, that free people tend to act out their preferences in a certain way. When needed and attractive goods are produced, customers will find ways to buy them. Natural liberty does not mean chaotic behavior, even though it stoutly denies the economic determinism of Marx. Free and imaginative people are forever bringing surprises to the world. The great advances of history are the result of achievements which nobody could have predicted. This does not contradict the actuarial assumption that a free market will work. Natural liberty works so well that we are startled and amazed.
The Soviet Union cannot believe natural liberty will work, but when they gave each of their farmers liberty with one acre of land the production on 1 per cent of the land resulted in 27 per cent of all agricultural production! Politicians and bureaucrats in Western nations do not believe the market will work and they do their best to keep it from having an opportunity. I do not know of a single economist of stature who does not recognize the fact and performance of the market, yet many of them cling to the view that government control and intervention are better and more fair. It seems difficult for a person who thinks of himself as an expert on the economy to believe that the impersonal market, left to its devices, can better produce, allocate, price, inform sup pliers, improve products than can any panel of experts. In brief, intellectuals find it difficult to admit that everybody knows better than anybody what is best for everybody. No person is good enough or wise enough to run the lives of other people.
Opportunity Unrestrained
The practice of natural liberty means freedom from envy and hate. To each his own denies equality except for the fact that each person has equal opportunity before God and under the law. Natural liberty is the poor person’s opportunity to rise. It opens the way for more and better production and standards of living. The rich are not the enemy, but the example and the very useful source of capital for helping the poor to rise. The only people who lose position under natural liberty are the planners, the managers of other people’s lives, the politicians and the bureaucrats. When those who have tried to tell everybody else how to live finally give up and seek productive employment, they turn out to be the happiest people around. . . .
Perry E. Gresham
Dr. Perry E. Gresham (1907-1994) was President Emeritus and Distinguished Professor, Bethany College. Bethany, West Virginia.
