Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Pope Commits to Studying Critiques of His Criticism of Capitalism

Mark A. Kellner reports:

After a weeklong South American visit in which he delivered direct criticism of "unbridled capitalism," Pope Francis returned to the Vatican on Monday pledging to listen to critics of his views.

In one lengthy speech filled with denunciations of the exploitation of the poor, Pope Francis blasted the unbridled pursuit of money as "the dung of the devil" during one of the stops on his visit to Bolivia, Reuters news agency reported.

"This system is by now intolerable: farm workers find it intolerable, laborers find it intolerable, communities find it intolerable, people find it intolerable," the 78-year-old pontiff said. "The earth itself — our sister, Mother Earth, as Saint Francis would say — also finds it intolerable."...

According to Vatican Radio, the pope is ready to hear other economic viewpoints. Speaking with reporters on his return flight to Rome, Francis said, "Every criticism must be received, studied and then talked through. If I don’t dialogue with those who criticize then I have no right to express an opinion."

The news service reported "in preparation for the visit to the United States, (Francis said he) now needs to begin studying these criticisms in order to prepare to dialogue."

(ht Cheryl Ruffing)

6 comments:

  1. Unless the pope is going to visit Auburn, Alabama, he need not worry about meaningful criticisms.

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  2. Someone have Tom Woods' phone number?

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  3. Pope Francis is more interested in being a rock star and getting on the cover of the Rolling Stones magazine than actually being a pope. The best way to do this is by being the environmentalist/economic Marxist pope.

    Ironically, if he were truly interested in the wealth gap he would take a lesson from past popes and call for the end of the practice of usury. The modern banking system, where money is created out of thin air and then is lent at interest allows the concentration of wealth into the hands of a very few. Central government + central banking results in high wealth concentration. But don't expect for this pope to attack the banking system and centralized government. That wouldn't be good politics and would hurt is coveted popularity.

    This pope is a joke.

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    1. Usury, i.e., the charging of so-called "excessive" interest, and fractional reserve banking are two different things.

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  4. Maybe he would sit with Ron Paul, being a former congressman he has "political" legitimacy, but I suppose Krugman will be his go to American economist/Keynesian apologist.
    But as Dan said, the great Tom Woods, being a Catholic, maybe the pope would sit with him? Tom could hand him a copy of The Church and the Market to read on his flight back to Rome.

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  5. I wonder if the pope understands the logical outcome of his economic and environmental world views: contraception, abortion, and forced sterilization.

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