The Vatican's Journey From Anti-Communism to Anti-Capitalism

[TomCADem]

It is funny how the Atlantic, which is sometimes portrayed as liberal, seems to describe the Pope's statements on capitalism as almost being revolutionary when in truth it simply brings Catholic doctrine more in line with actual scripture, which repeatedly discusses the plight of the poor, rather than spending much time on abortion or gay marriage, which preoccupies most of the religious right.

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/11/the-vaticans-journey-from-anti-communism-to-anti-capitalism/281874/

Pope Francis is once again shaking things up in the Catholic Church. On Tuesday, he issued his first “apostolic exhortation,” declaring a new enemy for the Catholic Church: modern capitalism. “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,” he wrote. “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.”

He couldn't be much clearer. The pope has taken a firm political stance against right-leaning, pro-free market economic policies, and his condemnation appears to be largely pointed at Europe and the United States. His explicit reference to “trickle-down” economic policies—the hallmark of Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and their political successors—is just the beginning: Throughout 224 pages on the future of the Church, he condemns income inequality, “the culture of prosperity,” and “a financial system which rules rather than serves.”

Taken in the context of the last half-century of Roman Catholicism, this is a radical move. Fifty years ago, around the time of the Second Vatican Council, Church leaders quietly declared a very different economic enemy: communism. But Pope Francis’s communitarian, populist message shows just how far the Church has shifted in five decades—and how thoroughly capitalism has displaced communism as a monolithic political philosophy.

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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… 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.

[struggle4progress]

1. The Atlantic once was liberal -- but rightwingers bought the magazine in the Bush era

[bemildred]

2. The Pope has a big PR problem created by his predecessors.

And he seems to have hit on the only strategy that makes sense to address that, i.e. to make the church walk it's talk, meanwhile giving a voice to the voiceless. That sold well 2000 years ago, and it will sell well now.

I hope he has good bodyguards.