George Cardinal Pell once again shows that he is not a “yes man”. In a speech before The Global Foundation he praised free markets. Go here to read about it. This is at a time when the so-called Pink Tide of governments in South America are in trouble, with a free market President being elected in Argentina, Venezuela electing an opposition controlled National Assembly and the Socialist President of Brazil facing impeachment proceedings as the Brazilian economy tanks. Will any of this moderate the manifest hostility of the Pope to free markets? Doubtful. The Pope has reached an advanced age and what he has written about economics indicate that his beliefs in this area are completely impervious to facts contrary to what he wishes to believe. The Pope is ever optimistic about the ability of government to better the lives of people and ever pessimistic about the ability of free markets to do so. That this belief stands reality on its head the Pope seems to be either unaware of or indifferent to. In some of his more troubling statements about economics, the Pope has given the impression that he would favor heavy handed government regulation of markets even if people would be materially poorer as a result.
To paraphrase an old TV comedy about a boy nick-named “Beaver,”
the pope might label his economic views as, “Leave it to Caesar.”
Pope Francis is generally wrong about everything because he does not understand God or man. He is irrational and a servant of the evil one. While it may not help let us pray for him anyway.
Michael Dowd,
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I do not believe that the Pope is a servant of the evil one so much as a dupe and an idiot when it comes to science, economics, and even theology. He is the typical Latin American Peronist Marxist cleric. He genuinely believes that he is serving God and the best interests of humanity. If his eyes were to ever be opened to the stupidity that he advocates, then I think he would be aghast. But he is blind. Old. Senile. Decrepit. And blind.
Jesus made it quite simple. He said, “I am the truth.” Pope Francis should be worried.
I’ve often thought, very uncharitably I know, that the Church (hierarchy) loves the poor so much, they want more of them.
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The rich have no need of a Bishop and priest other than to speak the words of Christ (and offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass)–do good, avoid evil, obey the Ten Commandments, confess your sins, and “Follow Me” (Christ–in short, all that unpopular stuff no one wants to hear, except for those neo-Promethean Neo-Palagians who think that maybe, just maybe, it does a body good to be reminded of those kinds of things once in a while.
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The poor, on the other hand, need “mercy”–the type of comes in the form of food, clothing, housing, and the like that the hierarchy gets praised for supporting, and love supporting courtesy of the government trough. No matter that it is very inefficient and doesn’t work well. They get praised, and the hierarchy being all too human, who doesn’t want to be praised?
DJH has a point. And socialists want to make everyone equally poor, so the Episcopacy and Caesar with his minions from hell are set in alignment.
Lucius: I realize that Rush Limbaugh is not popular in Catholic circles, but he does point out something that is, I think, correct: free market types tend to see the economy/ markets as something that expands–kind of like a yeast dough (my analogy, not his). Socialists and their ilk look at it differently-an economy/market is like a pie. A pie, unlike yeast dough, doesn’t grow. A 9-inch pie will always be just that-9 inches.
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Depending on how the pie is sliced, someone may get more than another. We all want to increase our share of that pie. Socialists don’t mind impoverishing people, since they then get more pie. A free market type would be more likely to add yeast, flour, and sugar to it–causing the dough to expand.
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Not the best analogy. I can’t imagine a pie with yeast dough would be very good.
Lucius:
How about an unwitting servant of the evil one? I think this is a more charitable way of expressing my point of view.
I’m not sure clerics have the education, experience and knowledge to comment on complex economic issues.
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We should foster in ourselves the love of humility. Think of Mary’s humility when the angel Gabriel greeted her with these words, “Hail full of grace.” Humility may be an important factor in charity.
Agreed T. Shaw on “I’m not sure clerics have the education, experience and knowledge to comment on complex economic issues.” Add climate to that statement.
It is embarrassing whenever the Pope writes or speaks on those subjects. It’s the Western free market economies that subsidize the Vatican and fund the church worldwide.
“I’m not sure clerics have the education, experience and knowledge to comment on complex economic issues.”
People who advise American bishops on financial matters would agree, and not just on commenting. I know of a bishop who sold off church owned nursing homes and transferred the employees to the new owners, but kept the pension funds and their obligations with his diocese! How does that square with “education, experience and knowledge”?
“he would favor heavy handed government regulation of markets even if people would be materially poorer as a result.”
Henri-Dominique Lacordaire, the great preaqcher, who refounded the Dominicans in France after the Revolution, used to saythat the aim of Christianity was not to make the poor rich and the rich richer. It was to make the rich poor and the poor holy
“aim of Christianity was not to make the poor rich and the rich richer”
A perfect example of why the advice of clerics in regard to economics is almost always worthless.
Worthless pretty much. And even when they have an education in things economic and business, it isn’t any good.
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We have reached a cash flow point where it is difficult to give cash to our parish. Stock is the much preferred option–for one thing, the parish ends up getting more money. Our pastor, a business major, didn’t understand why we preferred to give them stock as oppose to simply sell it ourselves and then give them the cash. There is this little thing called Capital Gains Taxes. Sure, we can sell the stock ourselves. And then loose, what? (25%? I am unsure of the exact number at the moment) of the value to the IRS. As opposed to $100, the parish gets $75.
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This is actually why I lean to having a married priesthood–the modern day priests seem to have no understanding of money or family finances or what we go through to feed, clothe, and educate our children–especially the money involved. (Perhaps if the men who entered the seminaries were 50 years old bachelors who had to duke it out in the market place as oppose to fresh out of undergrad that would work as well.) I concede, that there are a lot of families out there that don’t seem to have much of that knowledge either, and a married priesthood brings with it its own problems, as noted on another part of TAC
DJH, the median age of a priest at ordination is now 37. A Jesuit that age might have spent his adult life in formation, but an ordinary secular priest enters the seminary at age 31. Most people do not have much practical experience with capital gains taxes.