It’s hard to say what the Papal Conclave expected when
they elected the Argentinian Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the new pope, but they
couldn’t have anticipated this.
Since becoming the leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis has lit up the church with what some would consider very radical ideas about the role of the church in the lives of ordinary people. In his short time as Pope, Francis has done a lot. He has told Catholics to lay off freaking out over homosexuality. He’s met with anti-fracking activists in support of the environment. He has also deviated so far from conservative interpretations of Catholic teachings as to possibly even have given atheists a pass into Heaven. He is not the fire and brimstone Pope that some in the church had hoped.
Today, things between conservative Catholics and the Papacy just got more awkward when the Pope released an 84-page manifesto that seemingly picks a fight with the other guy conservatives view as infallible: Ronald Reagan.
Pope Francis’ document, called “Evangelii Gaudium,” (the Joy of the Gospel), he makes his most clearly articulated and concrete argument against unchecked Capitalism and notes the moral wrongness of letting the world continue its widening wealth inequality with impunity.
“As long as the problems of the poor are not radically resolved by rejecting the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation and by attacking the structural causes of inequality, no solution will be found for the world’s problems or, for that matter, to any problems,” the pope said.
Apparently, Pope Francis does not think the “invisible hand of the market” is God’s. Instead, he called on politicians to fight inequality with more empathy, understanding, and a willingness to rally for social justice.
And call me crazy, but he also may have hinted that people should elect more progressive politicians:
“I beg the Lord to grant us more politicians who are genuinely disturbed by the state of society, the people, the lives of the poor!” Pope Francis wrote. “It is vital that government leaders and financial leaders take heed and broaden their horizons, working to ensure that all citizens have dignified work, education and healthcare.”
That sounds an awful lot like he just called for higher wages, better education, and universal healthcare, but I’m not a theologian.
But Pope Francis wasn’t finished. He also had a stinging rebuke for Ronald Reagan’s (unsubstantiated) belief in so called “trickle-down economics,” the theory that by giving money to the richest, that money would then work its way down the economic food chain and enrich even the poorest in society. On paper (like, maybe an 9th grade social studies essay) it sounds like it could work.
But it didn't.
Speaking on trickle-down economics, the pope said:
“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,” Pope Francis wrote. “This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system.”
Now, the pope isn’t an economist, but he has worked his entire life with some of the poorest people on Earth, earning him the title of “slum pope”. It’s almost as if working within poverty and meeting the people it affects gives you a different perspective on the needs of the poor. Huh.
The pope saved some of his most intense criticisms for the individuals and corporations that perpetuate this wealth inequality with their callousness and greed.
“This imbalance is the result of ideologies which defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation,” Pope Francis wrote. “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.”
The pope noted that corporations and individuals were failing to pay taxes in nations around the world, depriving governments of funding needed to serve all their citizens, and banks and loan organizations had crippled emerging economies with staggering interest obligations.
“The thirst for power and possessions knows no limits,” Pope Francis wrote. “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.”[source]
It’s refreshing to see a global leader not only “get it,” but also have the courage to speak up. Unfettered Capitalism is destroying the environment. Destroying lives. Destroying countries. A major public figure just had the guts to publicly say it.
But let’s also keep things in perspective: The pope is no Che Guevara. He is not advocating Marxism (although think of the T-shirts that would sell at Urban Outfitters!). He is simply reminding us of the things that we used to take for granted but now seem heretical: The government has a responsibility first and foremost to its citizens and NOT to enriching a narrow few of them. A world who has seen a big corporate thumb pressed down to its moral compass, has lost its direction despite what the needle says. And societies that allow income inequality to rocket to historic levels are bankrupt in ways greater than what it says in their GDP indices.
The Catholic Church has more catching up to do (in the same document, Pope Francis reaffirms his conviction that women should be kept from major roles within the church and continues to hardline against abortion), but this is huge. Wealth disparity is, without a doubt, the number one global injustice on the planet. It’s a root so deep and so entrenched that many of the other problems facing the world and its people grow from its foundation. The phrase “money is the root of all evil,” may be true, but wealth disparity is its poison.
Perhaps the line that sticks with me the most from the document is ostensibly about the Catholic Church, but can apply to all of us. The pope writes:
I prefer a church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security.
Amen.
