Following the Catholic Pope Francis’s much-publicized Joy of the Gospel document, which critiqued uncontrolled capitalism and insinuated that thoroughly discredited trickle-down economics is naïve and just plain wrong, right-wingers outdid themselves in hitting back at the Pope .
But lets face it : what is so wrong with what the Pope wrote: "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. Such an economy kills. How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points? This is a case of exclusion. Can we continue to stand by when food is thrown away while people are starving? This is a case of inequality. Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless. As a consequence, masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized: without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape. Human beings are themselves considered consumer goods to be used and then discarded. We have created a “throw away” culture which is now spreading. It is no longer simply about exploitation and oppression, but something new. Exclusion ultimately has to do with what it means to be a part of the society in which we live; those excluded are no longer society’s underside or its fringes or its disenfranchised – they are no longer even a part of it. The excluded are not the “exploited” but the outcast, the “leftovers”.
Fox Business host Stuart Varney was just stewing about the pontiff’s remarks. “Capitalism, in my opinion, is a liberator,” he lectured Pope Francis from his television pulpit. “The free choice of millions of people is the essence of freedom. In my opinion, society benefits most when people are free to pursue their own self-interest. I know that sounds like a contradiction, but it is not.” It isn’t. It just isn’t."
"Oh, yeah, and another thing. The pope has no business mixing politics with religion. Especially when his political views diverge with those of Fox."
Said Varney, “I go to church to save my soul. It’s got nothing to do with my vote. Pope Francis has linked the two. He has offered direct criticism of a specific political system. He has characterized negatively that system. I think he wants to influence my politics.”
Varney said Pope John Paul II was much more to his liking because as he said Pope John Paul II was very much against communism, and far more into private property. Farney said Pope John Paul II never made rich people feel bad for having too much, while millions of others went without.
But whatever way you turn it, Pope Francis does not seem to mince words, which is going to make life very difficult for Catholic politicians (and many Christians), who want to trumpet their faith while at the same time bowing to the Golden Calf of Wall Street.
Gone, it seems, are the days when a Conservative politician could say “I’m pro-life” and that would be the end of the discussion as far as the Catholic/Christian hierarchy in the world were concerned.
There’s a new "shepherd" in town and he seems to be very concerned about the present deteriorating structure of the world economic system and the behavior of The Powers That Be within it.
Jesus once told a story about The Powers That Be of his day, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a Pharisee (equivalent of a today's Priest) was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. . . .and did not help him.
Francis, based on what he wrote in his Joys of the Gospel seems to be a much different kind of priest than the one in the biblical story, and he wants the TPTB's of today to sit up and listen.
Pope Francis's statements certainly are a wake-up call for all those "Bible pounding Christians" and politicians, who believe they are holier than holy and "talk the talk, but don't walk the walk".
As the bible says in Matthew 6-verse 24 "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money".
EU-Digest
But lets face it : what is so wrong with what the Pope wrote: "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. Such an economy kills. How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points? This is a case of exclusion. Can we continue to stand by when food is thrown away while people are starving? This is a case of inequality. Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless. As a consequence, masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized: without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape. Human beings are themselves considered consumer goods to be used and then discarded. We have created a “throw away” culture which is now spreading. It is no longer simply about exploitation and oppression, but something new. Exclusion ultimately has to do with what it means to be a part of the society in which we live; those excluded are no longer society’s underside or its fringes or its disenfranchised – they are no longer even a part of it. The excluded are not the “exploited” but the outcast, the “leftovers”.
Fox Business host Stuart Varney was just stewing about the pontiff’s remarks. “Capitalism, in my opinion, is a liberator,” he lectured Pope Francis from his television pulpit. “The free choice of millions of people is the essence of freedom. In my opinion, society benefits most when people are free to pursue their own self-interest. I know that sounds like a contradiction, but it is not.” It isn’t. It just isn’t."
"Oh, yeah, and another thing. The pope has no business mixing politics with religion. Especially when his political views diverge with those of Fox."
Said Varney, “I go to church to save my soul. It’s got nothing to do with my vote. Pope Francis has linked the two. He has offered direct criticism of a specific political system. He has characterized negatively that system. I think he wants to influence my politics.”
Varney said Pope John Paul II was much more to his liking because as he said Pope John Paul II was very much against communism, and far more into private property. Farney said Pope John Paul II never made rich people feel bad for having too much, while millions of others went without.
But whatever way you turn it, Pope Francis does not seem to mince words, which is going to make life very difficult for Catholic politicians (and many Christians), who want to trumpet their faith while at the same time bowing to the Golden Calf of Wall Street.
Gone, it seems, are the days when a Conservative politician could say “I’m pro-life” and that would be the end of the discussion as far as the Catholic/Christian hierarchy in the world were concerned.
There’s a new "shepherd" in town and he seems to be very concerned about the present deteriorating structure of the world economic system and the behavior of The Powers That Be within it.
Jesus once told a story about The Powers That Be of his day, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a Pharisee (equivalent of a today's Priest) was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. . . .and did not help him.
Francis, based on what he wrote in his Joys of the Gospel seems to be a much different kind of priest than the one in the biblical story, and he wants the TPTB's of today to sit up and listen.
Pope Francis's statements certainly are a wake-up call for all those "Bible pounding Christians" and politicians, who believe they are holier than holy and "talk the talk, but don't walk the walk".
As the bible says in Matthew 6-verse 24 "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money".
EU-Digest 
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