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

[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).