Pope Benedict Slams Capitalism

[JReed]

Pope Benedict XVI said in his New Year’s peace message today that the world was under threat from unbridled capitalism.

The pope said "hotbeds of tension and confrontation caused by the growing inequality between rich and poor and the prevalence of a selfish and individualistic mentality also expressed by unregulated financial capitalism."

...

Reuters reports that in that message "the Pope called for a new economic model and ethical regulations for markets, saying the global financial crisis was proof that capitalism does not protect the weakest members of society."

The pope said economic models that seek maximum profit and consumption and encourage competition at all costs had failed to look after the basic needs of many and could sow social unrest.

...

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/01/01-4

[Jackpine Radical]

1. OMG, I agree with Ratzi on something.

I think I feel ill.

[JReed]

4. Same here

Maybe he's under pressure from the ghost of Charles Dickens?

Can an awful guy speak a truth?

[meow2u3]

20. Every Pope in my lifetime has denounced unbridled capitalism

The Pope is saying that although we have a right to own property, we don't have a right to be want to own everything to the point that people are lacking basic human needs.

The Catholic church, since Vatican II at least, has always hated the idea of unrestrained greed; that's the liberal side of the Church. They're only socially conservative.

[Jackpine Radical]

21. And yet the Church itself has piled up wealth beyond measure.

In many Latin American countries, the Church used to own 2/3 of the land and keep the peasants in serfdom.

The Church supported Franco. Irish Catholics (including Joe Kennedy) were sympathetic toward Hitler.

On the other hand, there were the Maryknolls & the Berrigans.

It's a very mixed bag.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

24. Broken clock, yada, yada, yada.... nt

[Mutiny In Heaven]

2. I don't think Pope Paterno

is in any position to lecture anyone about anything. He makes Limbaugh look like a teddy bear.

[frazzled]

3. Was he wearing his red Prada loafers and Gucci sunglasses

when he said this?

Just wondering.

[riverbendviewgal]

6. LOL

You are very observant. There is so much hypocrisy in the church.

[frazzled]

7. Actually, I'm not really that cynical a person

In the end, it's more like ... does it matter what the Pope says? I remember that when I was a kid, in the late 50s and early 60s, it seemed to really matter to a lot of people what the Pope said. (What do I know, I'm Jewish, but I had a lot of Catholic friends.) Now it doesn't seem so influential, at least in the US and Europe, where the current Pope is either a joke for his shoes, or an object of interest for Vatican spy goings-on. Maybe the Latin Americans are listening.

[riverbendviewgal]

13. i was raised a Catholic but

Left the church. I saw the hypocrisy when I was in high school. Once out of school I left religion behind. The only priest I admired left the church to marry a woman he fell in love with. I love history and read what the popes did for centuries. History confirmed to me that it is all about power and money. RELIGION

[fadedrose]

15. me too to all

but most important, I don't believe the doctrine, and belief in that doctrince why people go to church in spite of the crimes of the clergy...

[allrevvedup]

19. You're probably thinking of John XXIII (23rd), "the good pope,"

who during WWII made efforts to help Jews escape the holocaust, and who as pope (Oct. 1958-Nov. 1963) took steps to improve relations between Catholics and Jews. From wiki:

One of the first acts of Pope John was to eliminate the description of the Jews as "perfidious" in the Good Friday liturgy. He also made a confession for the Church of the sin of anti-semitism through the centuries. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_XXIII

Three months after his election in 1958, he announced plans to conven an Ecumenical Council, the first in 90 years, for the purpose of improving relations with other religions, and in Oct. 1962, he launched the storied Second Vatican Council for the purpose of modernizing the Church.

[center] [/center]
Mosaic image of Pope John XXIII – the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls – Rome

John died on June 3, 1963, six months before JFK's assassination. Vatican II finished up in Dec. 1965, and made a lot of waves which are still crashing on the heads of refuseniks like Mel Gibson and his father who never let go the Latin liturgy. It did away with other practices too, like fasting on Fridays and guardian angels, and adjusted Catholic relations with the world, abandoning scary stuff like black burqua-like habits for nuns and replacing it with more humane, less parochial approaches. His eighth and final encyclical, Pacem in Terris, "Peace on Earth," published April 11, 1963, is dedicated to "establishing universal peace in truth, justice, charity, and liberty," translation here: http://saints.sqpn.com/pope-john-xxiii-pacem-in-terris-peace-on-earth-11-april-1963/

Among other accomplishments John kicked off his papacy with a Christmas mass in an Italian prison:

On 25 December 1958, he became the first pope since 1870 to make pastoral visits in his Diocese of Rome, when he visited children infected with polio at the Bambino Gesù Hospital and then visited Santo Spirito Hospital. The following day he visited Rome's Regina Coeli prison, where he told the inmates: "You could not come to me, so I came to you." These acts created a sensation. . . . http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/John_XXIII

Here's a good vid (short too, only 52 seconds!) on the 4-1/2 year reign of John XXIII, still beloved by many but probably hated by more:

[frazzled]

23. Oh yes, I remember him well

His papacy coincided with my formative years, and his name was in the news all the time. It was a time, I recall, when there was a lot of hope for the future of the Church and its influence.

[Jackpine Radical]

9. The Pope wears Prada--

Gotta love it.

[Nye Bevan]

5. So the Catholic Church will turn away donations from anyone engaged in capitalism?

Didn't think so.

[fadedrose]

16. Tony Soprano's money was good

gangsters all....

[KurtNYC]

8. Marble palace to live in: $1.2 bil Euros

The art collections in St Peter's: $4.3 billion
Stacks of gold (seriously): $XX billion
Guards dressed like Mickey Mouse on acid: $1.4 million / year

Having people take you seriously about inequality when you live 200,000 times wealthier than your parishoners: Priceless

[allrevvedup]

11. hey don't knock it til you've tried it

Benny and friends on a recent visit, Oct. 21, 2012:

[MindPilot]

12. [phone] n/t

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. So that's unbridled capitalism AND gay marriage that threaten the Pope's world as he sees it

At least he will have spent some money in his life. If only we could get him to stick to things he has experience with, and shut up about the stuff he's ignorant on, like relationships, marriage, sex, contraception, abortion ...

[allrevvedup]

14. This is in line with Benny's general slant.

He's theologically conservative, true, and opposed Liberation Theology and clergy participating in politics, but his political views are consistently anti-war and anti-exploitation. We don't often hear about them because of the other problems he deals with, also because he writes in Latin and speaks in German-accented Italian, and is shy about using English.

But I like Benny more than the last pope, even though John Paul II was considered more charismatic. JP2 also tended to support NATO-friendly military objectives in Poland and elsewhere and was friendly with Thatcher and Reagan. Benny seems more simpatico with Putin, though I don't think they're actual buds, in that he's an old school collectivist who preaches against usury, as above, i.e. against the accumulation of wealth at the expense of ordinary people. Of course, that's been the official position of the RCC since there's been an RCC.

Anyway here's an article from September describing an anti-war sermon he delivered in Lebanon:

Pope Benedict calls for Christians, Muslims to unite against war
September 16, 2012 | By Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times

Pope Benedict XVI's Lebanon visit is embraced by religious factions and Hezbollah militants. He praises the courage of Syrians in the audience as fighting continues in that country.


BEIRUT — Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday called on Christians and Muslims to forge a common front against warfare, even as battles raged in neighboring Syria and the new U.N. peace envoy to that country conceded that the situation there was deteriorating.

"It is time for Muslims and Christians to come together so as to put an end to violence and war," Benedict, 85, told an enthusiastic youth gathering on the second day of his three-day visit to Lebanon.

The pontiff spoke directly to young Syrians who were in attendance, singling them out for praise. "I want to say how much I admire your courage," Benedict told them. His comments came a day after the pontiff condemned transferring arms to Syria as a "grave sin."

(snip)

Still, the pope's presence in Lebanon was warmly embraced by all religious factions. Hezbollah, the Shiite Muslim militant group labeled a terrorist organization by the United States, lauded the papal visit as "extraordinary and historic."

The pope, calling himself a "pilgrim of peace," noted that the Middle East "seems to endure interminable birth pangs" but also "saw the birth of great religions and noble cultures."

(snip)

"In Lebanon, Christianity and Islam have lived side by side for centuries," the pope told a gathering of dignitaries and religious leaders. "It is not uncommon to see the two religions within the same family. If this is possible within the same family, why should it not be possible at the level of the whole of society?"

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/16/world/la-fg-pope-lebanon-20120916

[Boomerproud]

25. Words are words

Whenever a war breaks out the Vatican wrings it's hands and issues a meaningless statement. Nothing of subtance is ever done, so who cares.

[fadedrose]

17. Oh, Welcome.....happy new year too...

[marmar]

18. A stopped clock moment.

nt

[Berlum]

22. "...but then again, no capitalism no Bruno Magli designer shoes." - Pope Ratzinger (R)

"Always look on the bright side." - Pope Ratzinger (R)

[gollygee]

26. Someone call Paul Ryan!

good for the pope.