Pope Francis: Capitalism is 'Terrorism Against All of Humanity'

[CousinIT]

Pope Francis surprised reporters on a flight from Krakow to the Vatican late Sunday when he blamed the "god of money" for extremist violence in Europe and the Middle East, saying that a ruthless global economy leads disenfranchised people to violence.

"Terrorism grows when there is no other option, and as long as the world economy has at its center the god of money and not the person," the pope told reporters, according to the Wall Street Journal. "This is fundamental terrorism, against all humanity."

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/08/02/pope-francis-capitalism-terrorism-against-all-humanity


https://twitter.com/RobinHoodTax/status/813164949555904512

[OldYallow]

1. If You Won't Kill To Increase Profits....

You don't belong on Wall Street.

[El Supremo]

2. How precious, coming from the uber-capitalists of Christianity:

[pbmus]

8. LMAO...so true

[Truth321]

3. Guess he prefers the communism of Russia???

[tenorly]

4. Not quite. Francis is a social democrat and a populist.

Always has been.

[47of74]

7. Yeah and the right wing Catholics HATE Francis.

There are people where I live who were all about the Pope when JP II and Benny were in charge and loved to hit others over the head with how we had to listen to the Pope no matter what (and even for stuff where the Pope wasn't supposed to be infallible in the first place).

But now that we have someone who is the slightest bit progressive these same people say we shouldn't listen to the Pope. Hell, we even see it in the College of Cardinals with Lord High Ray Burke and his antics. Now that we have someone in the Vatican who's concerned with some of the same things that Jesus was concerned with they attack Francis on a regular basis. They have no respect for the current Pope at all and start all manner of stupid shit the second you point out their hypocrisy.

I'm not a Catholic anymore, nor do I intend to return unless a lot of things change. I like this current Pope and the direction he wants to take the Roman Church, but I've moved beyond the that church.

[tenorly]

9. Context is absolutely critical. Thank you for that.

And the anti-Francis hostility seems to be even more brazen among right-wing Catholic laity.

Even in his native Argentina the current right-wing administration (Macri) and its media surrogates were attacking Francis due to his opposition to Macri's trickle-down/austerity brew and to his weaponizing Argentina's largely Opus Dei judiciary against opponents.

The low point in this offensive had to be time when Macri tried to embarrass the Pope by decreeing a federal grant in June to Francis' educational foundation - Scholas Occurentes - in the amount of 16,666,000 pesos (about $1 million); Francis, needless to say, refused.

Not surprisingly, the stunt backfired - as did the IMF-endorsed policies. Today, a year into the Macri presidency, austerity has been essentially abandoned, and a $5 billion stimulus package - which the conservative Macri swore he'd veto just a month ago - will be signed into law within the next few days.

I'd like to think that Francis' direct personal warning that austerity "will only hurt those who are already hurting the most" must have had an effect on Panama Papers man (that, and mid-term elections this coming October).

[47of74]

10. Even when JP II and Benny XVI were in charge Republicans got very hard of hearing...

...when they or various people in the church said stuff they didn't agree with. When either said something that they didn't agree with they quietly ignored what JP II or Benny said.

Something that always burned me up during my Catholic days was how various Republicans had only to make the correct noises on abortion, gay marriage, and sometimes end of life issues and many Catholics would trip over each other to be the first to vote for these Republicans, no mater how awful these Republicans were.

[tenorly]

13. Grievance politics.

60% of the time, it works every time.

[Duppers]

5. Hmmm

You've been here since Dec 19, 2016.

You've some things to learn.

[Duppers]

6. K & R

From this old atheist.

[gulliver]

11. He didn't say "capitalism." He said "god of money."

Big difference.

If we trip on the way to the mailbox and skin our knee we don't blame the "evils of walking." It's wrong to blame capitalism or even money for our problems, and Pope Francis isn't doing that. We err when we make money a "god." The use of the word "god" isn't particularly helpful here, but that's the style of music his band plays.

[smirkymonkey]

12. +1000