Will Obama run into Pope San Francisco at Mandela's funeral?
Pope Francis Seems to Be Making Republicans Nervous
Popes, bishops, pastors, and other leaders in the church do not sit down and write theological treatises, pastoral letters, and other exhortations in a vacuum. They see something in the world around them that moves them to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboards and address what they see going on. Thus it was that earlier this week, Pope Francis released his first major apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel) [pdf].
I gave it a fast read when it first came out, and I’m still working my way through it more carefully, but it’s clear that some of what Francis had to say ought to make certain US political, media, and business leaders very, very uncomfortable:
53. Just as the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say “thou shalt not” to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills. How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points? This is a case of exclusion. Can we continue to stand by when food is thrown away while people are starving? This is a case of inequality. Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless. As a consequence, masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized: without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape. Human beings are themselves considered consumer goods to be used and then discarded. We have created a “throw away” culture which is now spreading. It is no longer simply about exploitation and oppression, but something new. Exclusion ultimately has to do with what it means to be a part of the society in which we live; those excluded are no longer society’s underside or its fringes or its disenfranchised – they are no longer even a part of it. The excluded are not the “exploited” but the outcast, the “leftovers”.
Stuart Varney of Fox Business has taken note of this, and is not pleased:
“I go to church to save my soul,” Varney said. “It’s got nothing to do with my vote. Pope Francis has linked the two. He has offered direct criticism of a specific political system. He has characterized negatively that system. I think he wants to influence my politics.”
Why yes, yes he does, Mr. Varney, and the fact that you think your religious beliefs have nothing to do with your vote speaks volumes about the selfishly inward focus of your cramped spiritual life.
But let’s return to Francis and his direct criticism:
54. In this context, 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. 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. Meanwhile, the excluded are still waiting. To sustain a lifestyle which excludes others, or to sustain enthusiasm for that selfish ideal, a globalization of indifference has developed. Almost without being aware of it, we end up being incapable of feeling compassion at the outcry of the poor, weeping for other people’s pain, and feeling a need to help them, as though all this were someone else’s responsibility and not our own. The culture of prosperity deadens us; we are thrilled if the market offers us something new to purchase. In the meantime all those lives stunted for lack of opportunity seem a mere spectacle; they fail to move us.
In the US context, some people not only defend trickle-down theories, but actively promote them as a governing philosophy. See “Ryan, Paul”, who holds himself out as the epitome of a good Catholic who put his faith into action. Ryan tried this last year just up the road at the Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, but it did not go over well. Earlier this month, Ryan was featured in a Washington Post story noting how he’s trying to bolster his compassionate credentials, by improving the path of Jack Kemp, but as the story noted, this isn’t going all that well either, for Ryan or his GOP colleagues:
Ryan’s new emphasis on social ills doesn’t imply that he’s willing to compromise with Democrats on spending more government money. His idea of a war on poverty so far relies heavily on promoting volunteerism and encouraging work through existing federal programs, including the tax code. That’s a skewed version of Kempism, which recognizes that “millions of Americans look to government as a lifeline,” said Bruce Bartlett, a historian who worked for Kemp and has become an acerbic critic of the modern GOP.
“They want to care,” Bartlett said of Ryan and modern Republicans. “But they’re so imprisoned by their ideology that they can’t offer anything meaningful.”
Which brings us to Sam Brownback, whose devotion to the gospel of trickle down led him to give a $75,000 state consulting contract to that gospel’s Prophet in Chief, Arthur Laffer. Despite a number of comments on the governor’s Facebook page asking for his reaction to Francis’ exhortation, the silence from Topeka has been deafening.
[Aside: If you missed it before, go check out spocko's account from last year of Jesus' annual performance review, done by those who follow this same kind of gospel.]
But Francis went on:
No to the new idolatry of money
55. One cause of this situation is found in our relationship with money, since we calmly accept its dominion over ourselves and our societies. The current financial crisis can make us overlook the fact that it originated in a profound human crisis: the denial of the primacy of the human person! We have created new idols. The worship of the ancient golden calf (cf. Ex32:1-35) has returned in a new and ruthless guise in the idolatry of money and the dictatorship of an impersonal economy lacking a truly human purpose. The worldwide crisis affecting finance and the economy lays bare their imbalances and, above all, their lack of real concern for human beings; man is reduced to one of his needs alone: consumption.
56. 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. This imbalance is the result of ideologies which defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation. 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. Debt and the accumulation of interest also make it difficult for countries to realize the potential of their own economies and keep citizens from enjoying their real purchasing power. To all this we can add widespread corruption and self-serving tax evasion, which have taken on worldwide dimensions. The thirst for power and possessions knows no limits. 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.
Francis does not mince words, which is going to make life very difficult for Catholic politicians who want to trumpet their faith while at the same time bowing to the Golden Calf of Wall Street. Gone, it seems, are the days when a GOP politician could say “I’m pro-life” and that would be the end of the discussion as far as the Catholic hierarchy in the US was concerned.
There’s a new shepherd in town, and he seems to be very concerned about the structures of the world economy and the behavior of The Powers That Be within it.
Jesus once told a story about TPTB of his day that started, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. . . .” Sounds to me like Francis is a much different kind of priest than the one in the story, and wants PTBs with a similarly different kind of view of things as well.
I’m Lutheran, not Catholic, but I’m fine with that. Indeed, I’ve been suggesting that again and again and again.
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