Pope says rich nations 'plundered' Third World

[Hobarticus]

Source: Reuters

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Rich countries bent on power and profit have mercilessly "plundered and sacked" Africa and other poor regions and exported to them the "cynicism of a world without God," Pope Benedict writes in his first book. The Pope also condemns drug trafficking and sexual tourism, saying they are signs of a world brimming with "people who are empty" yet living among abundant material goods.

One section of the book was printed in Wednesday's Corriere Della Sera daily before publication later this month by Italian publisher Rizzoli, which owns the newspaper. A Rizzoli spokeswoman confirmed the authenticity of the excerpts.

In the 400-page book, called "Jesus of Nazareth," the Pope offers a modern application of Jesus's parable of the Good Samaritan, who stopped to help a man who had been robbed by thieves when others, including a priest, had not. "The current relevance of the parable is obvious," the Pope writes. "If we apply it to the dimensions of globalised society today, we see how the populations of Africa have been plundered and sacked and this concerns us intimately," the Pope says in his book, which comes out on April 16, his 80th birthday.

Read more: http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2007-04-04T102557Z_01_L04223253_RTRUKOC_0_US-POPE-BOOK.xml&src=rss&rpc=22

---

First thing he's said I actually agree with.

Wow, the replies are harsher than I expected. I'm no defender of Ratz, but maybe it'd have been best if he hadn't commented on the effects of centuries of explotaition, at all.

[valerief]

1. Once again the pot calls the kettle black! nt

[SteppingRazor]

3. No joke. As if the Roman Catholic Church never did any plundering

:eyes:

[Matariki]

12. Ha! From the man living in the uber luxurious Vatican City

filled with centuries of bling and 'pirate booty'.

[Bassic]

20. Though the source is dubious,

the words are true in this case.

[saigon68]

26. His subordinates have done a great deal of "Plundering"

In the choir loft

[EFerrari]

31. This kid gets no tip.

No kidding.

[verse18]

2. No shit, Sherlock! n/t

[sutz12]

4. Don't agree so fast...

After all, it was his church that supported the plundering of Latin America.

Once he apologizes for the Conquistadors, maybe I'll give him credence. The Pope has ancient blood on his hands, and he's trying to wipe it off with modern linen.

[Hobarticus]

15. I'm not denying any of that...

There are MANY in many developed nations who take this man's word as the word of God's. If he's saying "hey, we've kinda boned our fellow man in the name of gold, and it's still going on today"...maybe it will wake some of those people up to what we're doing to ourselves.

I'm a recovering Catholic (sixteen years without the host, thanks - clap clap clap) and I'm not denying that organized religion has done a great deal to spread hate and discontent, at all. I don't think he's denying that either. I guess I'm surprised that more wouldn't or won't see that this could be good thing. Call me idealistic, I guess.

[originalpckelly]

5. It's so sad he has to believe in this bullshit...

he sounds like a very good soul. I agree with the emotionally empty people, we have too many of them in America, however I tend to think they're the ones who believe in fairy tales

[Zhade]

22. Uh, he called gays like me evil. How is he "good"?

FUCK Ratzinger!

[Unvanguard]

38. He's a disgusting homophobe, sexist, and reactionary

and his useless token criticism of the imperialist machine doesn't change that in the slightest.

[marmar]

6. Yeah, all he has to do is take a walk around the Vatican and he'll find some of it....

This Pope is a real piece of work.

[soothsayer]

7. It ain't over! Maybe we're wiping out Africa's peoples so we can

take over that breadbasket (and its temperate climes) when global warming quickly turns to global cooling in the not too distant future.

[bunkerbuster1]

8. Golly Gee, Ratzi, if you hadn't worked so hard to re-elect Chimpy in 2004

maybe the world's most powerful nation would be doing something to rectify this inequity, instead of pissing away its treasure in the sand.

Anyway, FWIW I'm glad he's saying this so forthrightly, now, and if it pisses off the more wingnuttish RCers, so much the better.

[bluerum]

9. Wow. The pope speaks and the world listens. Don't believe your lying

eyes people. Just stand by and watch the world be raped and plundered by the rich and powerful.

But when a pompus rich catholic nazi gasbag says something --- well hells bells --- we look up from our lattes and tsk tsk the big bad capitalist system.

[goddess40]

10. it's the old republican tactic

point the finger and accuse someone else of doing the very thing your group has done for years. They seem to believe that makes you free from being pointed out as a liar - seems to be working for the right wingers.

[zalinda]

11. Not only has the church plundered long ago, but

they keep poor nations poor by not allowing birth control. I read a study that says when women get to control the amount of children that they have, their families do better. And the countries where they live also start prospering, I think the example was Vietnam.

zalinda

[sasha031]

13. if Jesus was to ever reincarnate

there are some Christians he would spend time with (jimmy Carter) but as far as the Vatican is concerned, they represent everything he stood for. They are the lost souls.

and now they want to make pope john a saint (bastards) Cardinal Romero was a Saint and all the priest and nuns who stood with him.

as for prostitution, the Vatican is an expert on that one, aliening themselves with the most corrupt. If he's talking about poor Little girls who sell themselves so they can eat, or drud traffickers who know no other way, if it's to put bread on the table and not for wars, that's for governments and the Vatican.

There are true Christians and other faiths that get it, pope Pravda shoes is clueless.

From a recovering Catholic,

[SemperEadem]

14. Well, Benny, why don't you melt down all of the

golden idols you worship and feed the 3rd world if this put you out so? Or better yet, return what your church has stolen from their lands over the course of the last 6 centuries. Yeah, I thought you'd sit down and shut the fuck up.

[Donnachaidh]

16. hey Ratzi -- open those VAULTS and do a photo-op for us.

Let's show the world what the catholic church has plundered for the last oh, say, 1000 years? You know, all that booty you keep in there? :sarcasm:

[Marrah_G]

17. I can't even come up with a response.

Crusades? anyone?

Can we just name him worst modern day Pope and be done with it. I miss John Paul.

[madrchsod]

18. south and central america--remember them pope?

[Bassic]

19. Gee whatever gave you that idea.?

:sarcasm:

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[youngdem]

23. Rich countries bent on power and profit have mercilessly "plundered and sacked" Africa ...

The infallible pope said from his multi-billion dollar, tax free private mansion stocked with miles of halls of priceless artwork.

That fucker could sell two paintings a year from their collections and feed half of Africa.

[Unvanguard]

40. "Sell all of your possessions and give your money to the poor"

So much for that.

[Celeborn Skywalker]

24. I agree with the Pope

I'm Catholic and it's good to see the leader of my church saying something I actually agree with for a change.

[VegasWolf]

25. BWAAHHH! The Catholic Church has certainly done its part. The Crusades, the Spanish

land grabs, removing all that gold, silver and land from those poor pagans. The Church's own history should make this pope hide in shame!

[IndianaGreen]

36. Plundering by Christians in the name of Christ is a virtue

Look at all the land in Hawaii that the Christian missionaries ended up with.

[damntexdem]

27. Even Inquisitor Benny is bound to get something right sometime.

Of course, historically the Church aided in some of the European depredations against the rest of the world.

[VegasWolf]

29. Exactly! The Catholic Church at one time was corrupt and evil, now it is all better. nt

[entanglement]

28. Ratzinger's right - I rarely agree with him, but he's correct

n/t

[ckramer]

30. Literally I agree with the Pope.

except the God referecnce.

[JoFerret]

32. Crikey*

Can the devil** speak true?

* contraction of Crist almighty

** used metaphorically for someone whose opinions I generally find silly and/or repugnant.

[Marie26]

33. He's right about that

[fshrink]

34. With your blessing.

And share of the profit.

[struggle4progress]

35. I think he's wrong about a lot of stuff -- but he's right about this

[ProudDad]

37. Hey, Ratz Bastard, can you spell hypocrite

Liberation Theology
by
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger


"An analysis of the phenomenon of liberation theology reveals that it constitutes a fundamental threat to the faith of the Church. At the same time it must be borne in mind that no error could persist unless it contained a grain of truth. Indeed, an error is all the more dangerous, the greater that grain of truth is, for then the temptation it exerts is all the greater.

Furthermore, the error concerned would not have been able to wrench that piece of the truth to its own use if that truth had been adequately lived and witnessed to in its proper place (in the faith of the Church). So, in denouncing error and pointing to dangers in liberation theology, we must always be ready to ask what truth is latent in the error and how it can be given its rightful place, how it can be released from error's monopoly."



http://www.christendom-awake.org/pages/ratzinger/liberationtheol.htm


That's what he thought of the real Saints like Romero who tried to help the poor, the meek, the downtrodden as their Master taught them to do...

H Y P O C R I T E !

[Unvanguard]

39. This is the guy who hated Liberation Theology.

Condemning the rich for their abuses is great - as long as you don't actually do anything about it.

:eyes:

[onager]

41. And if you're going to plunder, don't squander the profits...

...like the GW Bush and Don Rumsfeld of the 16th century did: Phillip II of Spain and the Duke Of Alba.

History geeks will remember that while Spain was hauling tons of gold and silver out of South America, they were spending it on a futile war in the Netherlands. (The Dutch were supported by the British, which gave Phillip a really good idea--the Invincible Spanish Armada of 1588.)

A primary purpose of that war was converting the Dutch back to Catholicism. Hardheaded Dutch insurgents made it pretty clear that they weren't interested.

The Dutch even launched Suicide Boaters who drowned themselves while destroying their own dikes and flooding their farmlands.

The war against the Dutch, part religious and part political, went on for 80 years and bankrupted Spain. Some historians say that war is exactly what turned Spain from a European powerhouse into an impoverished backwater. It never recovered.

As Bartleby.com notes, and this should sound familiar to any American in the Bush II era:

American gold and the proceeds of an increasingly burdensome taxation were not enough to finance Philip’s foreign wars and interventions and had to be supplemented with loans. The king repudiated his debts four times during his reign.

Hmmm. Bartleby has another similarity between Phillip II and Bush II: Isolated from reality, Philip lived and died in his strange court at the Escorial.

[w4rma]

42. Woah, I didn't expect him to say things like this. So, what is he going to *do*? (nt)

[Dutch]

43. Sounds like a really interesting book. I look forward to reading it. n/t

[Javaman]

44. That's the pot calling the kettle black as he sits on his golden throne.

unbelievable.

[Czolgosz]

45. A bit ironic coming from this particular pope, who has made it a "crusade" to stamp out liberation

theology.

Here's some background about one of the key moments when the Catholic church went wrong when it turned far right: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberation_theology

P.S. Before anyone pillories me for anti-Catholicism, know that I am Catholic and that I am not anti-Catholic at all; I'm only against the right-wing takeover of the Catholic church which has occurred in my lifetime and I am determined to fix that apostasy from within.

[rebel with a cause]

46. I agree with him in the part about rich nations exploiting the poor nations.

I would then state that most of this was done in the "name of God" and civilization, leading up to now when it is done in the name of "freedom and democracy building". The excuse that it was for "their own good" has always used as the riches are taken out and the vices are taken in.

I saw an educational film some time ago that showed a priest paying South American Indians with cigarettes (which he had introduced them to) for their works of art. They (the church) was going to make the Indians stop doing this century old craft of hand carving art pieces out of trees because it was part of their old religion, but for now the Priest was going to use them for "fund raising" I believe. Anyway, to point a finger means that you have four fingers pointing back at you, so it is true with the Catholic church. They have had a big part of what has been done to these poorer countries. With that said, they are no longer needed by the powerful countries today. bush does not need the church to invade a country, he may use them but he does not necessarily need them. This may be why they are willing to speak out against the practice, they are no longer a part of the process. In other words, they no longer are profiting from the conquests.

With all this said, more people need to speak out against the practice of robbing the poor and giving to the rich. It has went on long enough and is becoming more popular today than it has been in some time. Where it use to be done hidden by religion or other pious reasons, today it in done openly in the name of greed and accepted as being righteous. JMHO and my rantings on this cold April morning.

[Joe Chi Minh]

47. Very interesting article from the April 4, 2004 edition of "infowars.com"

on the pressure the neocons sought to exert on the Vatican for it to condone the Iraq war and their own vision and plans for a New World Order. Without success.

http://www.infowars.com/articles/nwo/pope_bush_proposed_chaplain_nwo.htm