Pope Francis is capitalism's biggest critic

Submitted by gjohnsit on Thu, 10/08/2020 - 3:38pm

I'm surprised that they haven't killed him already.
Maybe it's because they know that the Church of Capitalism is more powerful than the Church of Rome.

Remember that the last pope was literally a Nazi.
Now the Pope sounds like a socialist. One could get whiplash from the change.

In 2013

In 2015

This week in 2020

Pope Francis disparaged so-called trickle-down economic theory, saying the pandemic has shown that free-market policies cannot solve all of humanity's most dire needs.
In a 70-page encyclical, the highest form of papal teaching, Pope Francis outlined his vision for a post-pandemic world.
"The marketplace by itself cannot resolve every problem, however much we are asked to believe this dogma of neoliberal faith," the pope wrote.
He added that free-market capitalism "reproduces itself" by resorting to the magic theories of "spillover" or "trickle" as the only solution to societal problems.

The pope said this "spillover" does not "resolve the inequality that gives rise to new forms of violence threatening the fabric of society."
The encyclical, called "Fratelli Tutti," or "Brothers All," reiterated the pope's vision for a more communal society, which extends to the use of private property.
"The Christian tradition has never recognized the right to private property as absolute or inviolable and has stressed the social purpose of all forms of private property," the pope wrote.

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Submitted by thanatokephaloides on Thu, 10/08/2020 - 5:01pm

Little maneuvering room left.

Pope Francis, like all modern Catholic bishops, faces a reality that the official Church has been very slow and reluctant to face: all power, especially power based on wealth, corrupts absolutely. It took World War I for the Church to finally admit that monarchy was obsolete, and that recognition cost Pope Pius X his life. And the institutional Church still fights egalitarianism.

But there's little maneuvering room left. To paraphrase Caitlin Johnstone, we either change human society to a co-operative model with our Planet and each other, or humanity will cease to exist, fast. To the working men and women who make up the vast majority of today's Catholics, it's patently obvious. It's co-operative egalitarianism -- socialism -- or death. (Yes, conditions have actually deteriorated from those in Rosa Luxemburg's day.) So Pope Francis says what he knows must and will be said; at this point he can do little else.

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Submitted by thanatokephaloides on Thu, 10/08/2020 - 5:55pm

Fratelli Tutti -- text in English

The text of Pope Francis' Fratelli Tutti in English can be found here.

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Submitted by Pricknick on Thu, 10/08/2020 - 8:38pm

A revision is in order....

Pope Francis is capitalism's biggest hypocrite.

And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
— Matthew 21:12–13

He can talk all he wants about the evil of the money changers as the vatican is in direct violation of the sayings of Jesus. As an athiest, it astounds me how few, including the vatican, follow thier so-called book of rules to live by.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

Submitted by Fishtroller 02 on Fri, 10/09/2020 - 10:21am

The real question in this fable is why Jesus hated doves.

@Pricknick

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"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin

Submitted by The Voice In th... on Thu, 10/08/2020 - 7:35pm

"Fratelli Tutti"

Also translatable as "All the Brothers", as in the ironic military platitude "All the Brothers are Valiant, All the Sisters are Virtuous", with the meaning "See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Say No evil."

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Submitted by Pricknick on Thu, 10/08/2020 - 8:46pm

I object.

@The Voice In the Wilderness

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

Submitted by Betty Clermont on Fri, 10/09/2020 - 6:45am

Not your fault you are so horribly misinformed. The truth:

https://opentabernacle.wordpress.com/2014/01/02/
pope-francis-packs-the-vatican-with-vulture-capitalists/

http://opentabernacle.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/
vatican-inc-s-future-secured-by-pope-francis/

http://churchandstate.org.uk/2015/08/pope-francis-is-not-
anti-capitalism-by-his-actions-he-supports-the-plutocracy/

https://opentabernacle.wordpress.com/2016/11/27/
with-an-estimated-17b-in-assets-pope-francis-creates-day-of-the-poor/

https://opentabernacle.wordpress.com/2017/06/25/
two-n-y-times-negative-business-articles-tied-to-vatican-bank-officials/

https://opentabernacle.wordpress.com/2019/09/01/
the-vatican-city-state-of-dark-money/

https://opentabernacle.wordpress.com/2020/08/11/
another-vatican-scandal-or-just-business-as-usual/

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Betty Clermont

Submitted by on the cusp on Fri, 10/09/2020 - 10:08am

Yep, Betty.

@Betty Clermont The poor are out there with tithes. They must feel good about giving it forthwith.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Submitted by Fishtroller 02 on Fri, 10/09/2020 - 10:12am

Thanks Betty. Glad you shared these links.

@Betty Clermont

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"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin

Submitted by FuturePassed on Fri, 10/09/2020 - 11:27am

It really bothers you

@Betty Clermont
that a pope fails to correspond to your preconceptions. That the pope could make a significant dent in Vatican assets is as likely as Queen Elizabeth's ability to sell Buckingham Palace and give the proceeds to the National Health.

The Roman Catholic Church may well be the world's largest bureaucracy. It has been populated by conservatives by every pope since John XXIII. They are resisting the pope at all levels. Still he proceeds.

Do you actually believe his critique of neoliberalism has no impact around the world? Might his interactions with the poor in Latin American dictatorships reduce their oppression ever so slightly? Will it provide fuel for the resistance that dictatorships are trying to extinguish?

Investigating a complicated subject and cherry picking the pieces that confirm your preconceptions may be a satisfying hobby. It informs less than an honest attempt to understand.

Submitted by Fishtroller 02 on Fri, 10/09/2020 - 10:11am

The RCC is the biggest nongovernmental landowner in the world.

And if you think that the Vatican is not knee deep in capitalism, then I have a bridge to see you. The Pope is a liar and a deceiver and his attempt to separate his religious institution and his theology from capitalism is a joke.

—

"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin

Submitted by gjohnsit on Sun, 10/11/2020 - 6:40pm

I touched a tender spot

@Fishtroller 02
I didn't realize so many people felt so strongly.
I get the impression that it wouldn't make a difference if the Pope was another Nazi.