Pope Francis urges global leaders to end 'tyranny' of money

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

I know a lot of people around here don't like religion in general and the Catholic Church in particular, but you have to dig this new pope at least a little.

Pope Francis has attacked the “dictatorship” of the global financial system and warned that the “cult of money” was making life a misery for millions.

He said free-market capitalism had created a “tyranny” and that human beings were being judged purely by their ability to consume goods.

Money should be made to “serve” people, not to “rule” them, he said, calling for a more ethical financial system and curbs on financial speculation.

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[think]

1. This pope gets it. K&R

[Kingofalldems]

2. The pope is a Communist and a Muslin

[Smarmie Doofus]

3. Tell me about it, Fran. Where ya been?

Actually... I think they all (i.e. the popes) say this ....especially early on in their tenure. It's pro-forma.

I'm not saying they don't *mean* it. I'm just saying this is something that they do.

[hootinholler]

18. South America

I'm encouraged to see his values haven't changed so much.

I think this will be a good thing for the church to swing back towards it's published message.

[msanthrope]

4. Fix the Vatican Bank, il Papi, and then get back to us.

ROME — The director and deputy director of the Vatican bank resigned on Monday, following the arrest of a senior cleric with close connections to the bank who is accused of plotting to smuggle 20 million euros ($26 million) into Italy from Switzerland.

A statement from the Vatican said Paolo Cipriani and Massimo Tulli had handed in their resignations, three days after the arrest of Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, an accountant in a Vatican department who is the subject of two separate investigations by Italian magistrates.

Ernst von Freyberg, the bank's president will take over as interim director general and a new position of chief risk officer will also be created to improve compliance with financial regulations.

In the latest of a series of blows to the Vatican's scandal-plagued bank, Scarano, 61, was arrested on Friday along with Giovanni Zito, a secret services agent, and financial broker Giovanni Carenzio.



http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/01/19236486-top-vatican-bank-managers-resign-amid-cash-smuggling-scandal?lite

[pnwmom]

15. He's working on it.

http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/pope-francis-s-vatican-bank-clean-up-intensifies-amid-dirty-cash-scandal-387033

The arrest and clear-out of two of the bank's bigs were "the first results of cure imposed by Pope Francis," he said.

What has been hailed as a potential revolution by many religious watchers began with the appointment mid-June of cleric Battista Mario Salvatore Ricca to oversee the IOR's management -- effectively placing one of Francis's trusted allies in a key position to report to him.

Last week, the 76-year-old pontiff followed this by installing a special five-member commission tasked with investigating the bank and reporting their findings directly back to him personally.

The commission's first report is expected in October, and may spark wider reforms of the murky institute.

[msanthrope]

16. Like the sex abuse scandals, this current Pope is merely appointing other clergy to clean up the

mess made by their confreres.

If he wants to truly reform the Vatican Bank, then why does he persist in insisting that the Vatican criminal courts--and not the Italian authorities---investigate?

Can the Vatican investigate itself? The sex scandals tell us, no.

[pnwmom]

17. He isn't. The Italian authorities ARE investigating.

From the same link:

Their expulsion was deemed opportune by the Vatican, according to Fiorenza Sarzanini in the Corriere della Sera daily, because Cipriani and Tulli are of interest in an inquiry launched by Rome prosecutors in 2010 into money-laundering.

The investigation is set to wind up in the next few days and will likely see them charged, she said, for "knowingly permitting illicit activities to be carried out."

The police probe began with the spectacular seizure of 23 million euros ($26 million) from the Institute for Religious Works (IOR) -- as the bank is known -- after suspicious cash transfers set alarm bells ringing.

The money was released once the IOR agreed to cooperate in the investigation, but Rome prosecutors continued to investigate Cipriani, Tulli and Gotti Tedeschi.

[msanthrope]

19. Look at what you wrote---THREE YEARS after the Italians start an investigation, the Vatican

decides to expel them???? Are you kidding?

Why hasn't the Vatican bank opened its books to the Italian authorities?

[pnwmom]

20. Pope Francis wasn't pope three years ago. Duh.

He has acted quickly since becoming Pope. He's leading the Vatican on this, not the other way around.

And I don't know what the status is on the Vatican bank cooperating with the authorities. Do you?

[msanthrope]

22. That was rude, pnwmom. Francis has not 'acted quickly'--he expelled only just ahead of the charges

that are expected to be laid against those two.

'Acting quickly' would have been expulsion in the first month after his ascension.

I am assuming you have been following this enough to know that the Vatican has been stonewalling for three years.

[pnwmom]

25. Your definition of "acting quickly" is different from mine, or that of most Italians.

In terms of normal Vatican and Roman time, Francis acted very quickly.

But you started out acting as if he were responsible for the Vatican's lack of action three years ago -- and you know that's ridiculous.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

31. ...or especially that of the Catholic Church

You're talking about an organization that apologized to Galileo in 1992 -- 350 years after his death.

[leftyohiolib]

5. he's done a couple of other things that surprised me as well

[Trillo]

6. REally, there's nothing new in that.

It seems fully in line with 'the love of money is the root of all evil.'

Unfortunately that is one of the many lies in thier bibles, it should be 'money is the root of all evil'. It is from the existence of money which the love of it flows.

[Laelth]

7. k&r for exposure. n/t

-Laelth

[DJ13]

8. Do you have a link?

Thanks.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

30. The only thing I have was in the OP (nt)

[Thav]

9. I liked this pope.

He's messing with the banks though, so he'll have an "accident" anytime now.

[Taverner]

12. He's made it past 33 days

better than Pope John Paul I

[Taverner]

10. I'm an Atheist and I have to admit, I kinda sorta like this pope

And not just because he lets us Atheists in heaven

[4_TN_TITANS]

13. Atheist as well, and I'm impressed...

I'm not used to a pope who says and does the things he does.

[Taverner]

14. And I was initially critical of him due to Guerra Sucia

But apparently, he kept as much of his ethics and morality as he could given the situation

[Brewinblue]

27. Another atheist here.

And I too like this guy, quite a bit in fact. If they don't kill him first, Pope Francis has the opportunity to do some incredible good. If I were any sort of believer, he would be in my prayers daily.

[tpsbmam]

33. Add another atheist who agrees. This was his first formal statement on

international finances, economy, etc. Alright Pope! He gets it and he'll be a great voice on the right side of these issues!

I know I'll disagree with him on other stuff, but I have a feeling this guy may be more realistic on other things like contraception, etc. He's been in the trenches and dealt with real life issues. Time will tell.

[denverbill]

11. I'm sure the Catholics who oppose abortion, birth control, and gay marriage..

because the Church tells them to, will immediately heed the Pope's call to reign in greed.

After all, the Pope, I am told, is infallible, and is the unquestioned head of the Church.

And for once, a Pope is actually talking about something Jesus and the Apostles talked about: That the love of money is the root of all evil.

[Apophis]

21. Starting with the Catholic Church, right?

[Rozlee]

24. Hah! You beat me to it.

So sue me; I'm a cynic. I like his views on predatory capitalism. It's not new. John Paul II said basically the same thing. But, it all begins at home. The Church is sitting on untold wealth and Vatican luminaries literally bask in surrounding of opulence. I've read that they eat with gold filigreed silver spoons and they have articles, furniture, clothing and jewelry worth millions. Far from the humbleness that marked their supposed founder. Some of their Orders live deprived, ascetic lives, but that doesn't seem to go for the upper archbishops and cardinals.

[Beacool]

23. I like this Pope.

He's only been at it for 5 months, but I like what he has done so far.

[hue]

26. Pope Francis has a more appealing public verneer but in practice is the same as the rest.

The Catholic Church depends heavily on it's harvest of $$ from American sheeple. Yet it knows it's losing credibility and populace/followers d/t the pedophilia scandals etc. How rich is the Catholic Church??

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2013/03/catholic_church_and_pope_francis_religious_institutions_are_exempted_from.html

[Garion_55]

28. the pope is a socialist?

how the hell does the right wing square that?

[hughee99]

32. Much of the RW doesn't give two shits about the pope.

A lot of them aren't Catholic. Most of the states with the highest percentages of catholics are blue states.

[Rex]

29. Good, start with the Vatican?

I agree with the new Pope, yet maybe he wants to start with his own house.