Pope Francis Calls Unfettered Capitalism "a New Tyranny"
Criticizes the "idolatry of money"
Pope Francis called for renewal of the Roman Catholic Church and attacked unfettered capitalism as "a new tyranny", urging global leaders to fight poverty and growing inequality in the first major work he has authored alone as pontiff. The 84-page document, known as an apostolic exhortation, amounted to an official platform for his papacy, building on views he has aired in sermons and remarks since he became the first non-European pontiff in 1,300 years in March.
In it, Francis went further than previous comments criticising the global economic system, attacking the "idolatry of money" and beseeching politicians to guarantee all citizens "dignified work, education and healthcare".
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post comments
Lighten Shut up, Francis.
Okay....I'm done with this guy.
Sounds like he's up to his neck in "liberation theology", which is nothing more than "social justice", which is nothing more than "Marxism", which is nothing more than....
Need I go on?
Somebody needs to play that great Milton Friedman response to Phil Donahue for His Holiness:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWsx1X8PV_A
Would the Catholic Church even recognize tyranny and freedom?
They certainly recognize the threat of independent thought to their regime.
Railing against markets and their threat to the weak is as useful as railing against gravity and its treat to the weak.
Railing against money is just railing against property.
He wants everyone to take a vow of poverty.