Pope Francis’s Messages Don’t Resonate with Everyone
It’s hardly a surprise that the right wing here in the U.S. is taking issue with the Pope’s involvement in politics. Hardly a week goes by without the Pontiff’s explicating some aspect of God’s will and how He commands that we care for one another and the environment around us. These concepts have profound implications as to how we conduct our society and govern ourselves, and predictably, we have Republicans suggesting that His Holiness stay out of the political arena and limit his concerns to strictly religious matters.
Needless to say, I can’t get enough of Pope Francis. One of his top aides recently blasted U.S. politicians for denying climate change. That’s just fabulous.
It’s hard to overstate the level of influence The Pope has on the thinking and behavior of his 1.2 billion followers, and I struggle to think of such a pervasive influence that is as humanitarian and benevolent as what we’re seeing from this truly enlightened gentleman.
Of course, Gandhi comes to mind; he united one quarter of the world’s population with the idea of caring, decency and mutual respect. The Pope is headed in the precise same direction, and that’s something every decent person on Earth should recognize and respect, regardless of his faith (or lack thereof).
“In this system, which tends to devour everything which stands in the way of increased profits, whatever is fragile, like the environment, is defenseless before the interests of a deified market, which become the only rule.” – Pope Francis
Other quotes from this man…
“…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 naive 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.”
*”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.”
*”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.”