Ever since Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio took over as the Pope on March 13, 2013, media has written reams about his close leaning towards communist ideology with some even calling him a 'communist'.
However, Pope Francis recently said the banner of the poor and poverty is originally Christian and the Communists have stolen it.
"I would only say that the Communists have stolen the banner. The banner of the poor is Christian; poverty is at the heart of the Gospel," he said, when asked how he would respond to being called "a communist" in a recent interview.
"The cause of the poor is pre-eminently a Christian cause. The Gospel cannot be understood "without understanding real poverty." At the same time, the Pope said there is also a "very beautiful ‘poverty of the spirit'," being poor in the sight of God because God fills you up. The Gospel, in fact, is addressed indiscriminately to the poor and to the rich and "does not at all condemn those who are rich," but rather condemns their riches when they become the objects of idolatry, Vatican Radio quoted the Pope as saying.
The Rome daily "Il Messaggero" on Sunday published the interview with Pope Francis by journalist Franca Giansoldati.
In his responses to questions on a wide range of issues, the Holy Father focused, among other things, on the challenges of change in the current "era" and "culture," which has consequences for political, financial, and social life. The Church, along with various civil and social institutions, must respond to these challenges by protecting the common good and defending human life and dignity.
Pope's apostolic exhortation 'Evangelii Gaudium' will make a communist happy.
Please read paras 53-58 of 'Evangelii Gaudium'. Just as the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say “thou shalt not” to an economy of exclusion and inequality," he says.
Pope uses tough words to decry the approach of the capitalist countries. To sustain a lifestyle which excludes others, or to sustain enthusiasm for that selfish ideal, a globalization of indifference has developed. Almost without being aware of it, we end up being incapable of feeling compassion at the outcry of the poor, weeping for other people’s pain, and feeling a need to help them, as though all this were someone else’s responsibility and not our own, he wrote.
“The culture of prosperity deadens us; we are thrilled if the market offers us something new to purchase; and in the meantime all those lives stunted for lack of opportunity seem a mere spectacle; they fail to move us,” Pope said. The two countries that should come to one’s mind in terms of high economic growth coexisting with injustice and lack of inclusiveness are China and India.
Vatican’s pro-poor tilt is more visible these days. I won’t say it’s a Marxist tilt. While the earnings of a minority are growing exponentially, so too is the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by those happy few. This imbalance is the result of ideologies which defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation, he wrote.
Coming down heavily on globalisation and the free market concept, Evangelii Gaudium says, "some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system." Meanwhile, the excluded are still waiting.
Pope says "we calmly accept its (money) dominion over ourselves and our societies". The current financial crisis can make us overlook the fact that it originated in a profound human crisis: the denial of the primacy of the human person! We have created new idols. The worship of the ancient golden calf (Ex 32:1-35) has returned in a new and ruthless guise in the idolatry of money and the dictatorship of an impersonal economy lacking a truly human purpose. The worldwide crisis affecting finance and the economy lays bare their imbalances and, above all, their lack of real concern for human beings; man is reduced to one of his needs alone: consumption.
On the imbalances in the world, he wrote, "while the earnings of a minority are growing exponentially, so too is the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by those happy few. This imbalance is the result of ideologies which defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation." Consequently, they reject the right of states, charged with vigilance for the common good, to exercise any form of control. A new tyranny is thus born, invisible and often virtual, which unilaterally and relentlessly imposes its own laws and rules.
However, Pope Francis recently said the banner of the poor and poverty is originally Christian and the Communists have stolen it.
"I would only say that the Communists have stolen the banner. The banner of the poor is Christian; poverty is at the heart of the Gospel," he said, when asked how he would respond to being called "a communist" in a recent interview.
"The cause of the poor is pre-eminently a Christian cause. The Gospel cannot be understood "without understanding real poverty." At the same time, the Pope said there is also a "very beautiful ‘poverty of the spirit'," being poor in the sight of God because God fills you up. The Gospel, in fact, is addressed indiscriminately to the poor and to the rich and "does not at all condemn those who are rich," but rather condemns their riches when they become the objects of idolatry, Vatican Radio quoted the Pope as saying.
The Rome daily "Il Messaggero" on Sunday published the interview with Pope Francis by journalist Franca Giansoldati.
In his responses to questions on a wide range of issues, the Holy Father focused, among other things, on the challenges of change in the current "era" and "culture," which has consequences for political, financial, and social life. The Church, along with various civil and social institutions, must respond to these challenges by protecting the common good and defending human life and dignity.
Pope's apostolic exhortation 'Evangelii Gaudium' will make a communist happy.
Please read paras 53-58 of 'Evangelii Gaudium'. Just as the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say “thou shalt not” to an economy of exclusion and inequality," he says.
Pope uses tough words to decry the approach of the capitalist countries. To sustain a lifestyle which excludes others, or to sustain enthusiasm for that selfish ideal, a globalization of indifference has developed. Almost without being aware of it, we end up being incapable of feeling compassion at the outcry of the poor, weeping for other people’s pain, and feeling a need to help them, as though all this were someone else’s responsibility and not our own, he wrote.
“The culture of prosperity deadens us; we are thrilled if the market offers us something new to purchase; and in the meantime all those lives stunted for lack of opportunity seem a mere spectacle; they fail to move us,” Pope said. The two countries that should come to one’s mind in terms of high economic growth coexisting with injustice and lack of inclusiveness are China and India.
Vatican’s pro-poor tilt is more visible these days. I won’t say it’s a Marxist tilt. While the earnings of a minority are growing exponentially, so too is the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by those happy few. This imbalance is the result of ideologies which defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation, he wrote.
Coming down heavily on globalisation and the free market concept, Evangelii Gaudium says, "some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system." Meanwhile, the excluded are still waiting.
Pope says "we calmly accept its (money) dominion over ourselves and our societies". The current financial crisis can make us overlook the fact that it originated in a profound human crisis: the denial of the primacy of the human person! We have created new idols. The worship of the ancient golden calf (Ex 32:1-35) has returned in a new and ruthless guise in the idolatry of money and the dictatorship of an impersonal economy lacking a truly human purpose. The worldwide crisis affecting finance and the economy lays bare their imbalances and, above all, their lack of real concern for human beings; man is reduced to one of his needs alone: consumption.
On the imbalances in the world, he wrote, "while the earnings of a minority are growing exponentially, so too is the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by those happy few. This imbalance is the result of ideologies which defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation." Consequently, they reject the right of states, charged with vigilance for the common good, to exercise any form of control. A new tyranny is thus born, invisible and often virtual, which unilaterally and relentlessly imposes its own laws and rules.
