www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Pope Benedict Calls For Wealth Redistribution

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/16/pope-benedict-wealth-distribution_n_1154798.html

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Noting a "rising sense of frustration" at the worldwide economic recession, Pope Benedict XVI said that a more just and peaceful world requires "adequate mechanisms for the redistribution of wealth."

The pope's words appeared in his message for the World Day of Peace 2012, released on Friday (Dec. 16) at the Vatican.

The message laments that "some currents of modern culture, built upon rationalist and individualist economic principles, have cut off the concept of justice from its transcendent roots, detaching it from charity and solidarity."

Authentic education, Benedict writes, teaches the proper use of freedom with "respect for oneself and others, including those whose way of being and living differs greatly from one's own."

Peace-making requires education not only in the values of compassion and solidarity, but in the importance of wealth redistribution, the "promotion of growth, cooperation for development and conflict resolution," Benedict writes.

The pope also calls on political leaders to "ensure that no one is ever denied access to education."

The message was presented on Friday by officials of the Vatican's Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace. The same body published a controversial document in October blaming the world's economic and financial crisis on an "economic liberalism that spurns rules and controls," and calling for global regulation of the financial industry and the international money supply.


Dissapointing.

Alexandr

What exactly is disappointing about this?

You find nothing disappointing about the Pope of Rome supporting the Marxian concept of "Jeder nach seinen Fähigkeiten, jedem nach seinen Bedürfnissen!" "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need"? My family spent 70+ years in the workers paradise that espoused these views. Many of those years in Kolyma and Magadan. For the leader of the world's Roman Catholics to espouse this concept is unbelievable to those who have suffered under the hell of Communism.

You're getting your religion news from the Huffington Post?

Be serious.

People who want to know what the Pope said should read what the Pope said.

Some people don't really want to know. It's not as much fun that way and you don't get to huff and puff and feign outrage.

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/b...mes_20111208_xlv-world-day-peace_en.html

"In order to be true peacemakers, we must educate ourselves in compassion, solidarity, working together, fraternity, in being active within the community and concerned to raise awareness about national and international issues and the importance of seeking adequate mechanisms for the redistribution of wealth, the promotion of growth, cooperation for development and conflict resolution."

There, do you like that website better?

Alexandr

Yes, that is better. Now I refer you to Stuart's suggestion that you read what the pope said. Find the bit about protecting individuals' goods, and compare it with the paranoid railing you offer about a workers' paradise.

It seems as if what you've done, rather than read the statement, is take your cue from the wackos at Huffington, then read the pope's statement through that lens, seeking a proof text for a pre-supposition that doesn't match reality, because clearly a conclusion that has the pope teaching in favour of communism doesn't match reality.

Perhaps Fr Alexandr might be happier if redistribution of wealth referred to the appropriation of the assets of the Soviet Union by a handful of oligarchs whilst the rest of the Russian population struggles with poverty?

You've split your syllogism. Marx said X, The Pope says X, therefore... A cat is an animal, a dog is an animal, therefore a dog is a cat.

The good Hungarian nun who taught me and members of my class, some of whom had fled with their families during the 1956 uprising, had no qualms, as I distinctly recall, teaching that the "From each...to each..." was in itself very Christian, something Jesus could have said (actually I think He went even further). And the same sister considered (atheistic) communism to be evil. It is well known that a distributist philosophy permeates Catholic social teaching.

link [en.wikipedia.org]

A fairly recent application of some note is Small Is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered [en.wikipedia.org]. Of the author E. F. Schumacher [en.wikipedia.org]:The Holy Father Benedict is on solid, familiar, and well-respected ground.

I think that to take this particular statement by the Pope in isolation might be a mistake. However, he also just recently called for the formation of an international body to take control of the world's financial system and provide for a redistribution of wealth from rich to poorer nations.

This thinking is not new. The Catholic Catechism makes references to it in a section entitled "Social Justice" (paragraphs 1929 to 1948) and the teaching about the application of the Seventh Commandment (paragraphs 2401 to 2463).

Along the way The Catholic Church makes clear that the right to private property must be understood in relation to the community or group--something that skates IMHO close to the communism and socialism she claims to be bad.

The theory about stewardship may be good in itself, but how it plays out in concrete terms is surely up for debate. There are people who do not plan or conserve and to say that they should then have the fruits of those who work hard and sacrifice to put aside something for the future is certainly as unjust as the scenarios that seek to pit the poor against the rich: Marx's class warfare. It seems that the theory of personal responsibility is left out when the discussion takes the turn to redistribution of wealth, not to mention the fact that there is a mixing of the ideas of redistribution of wealth and the redistrribution of income in this whole discussion.

Bob

The international body thing was not the Pope's word. It's the word of some African cardinal... be aware, that such view is considered progressive in the developing world, where corruption abounds...

My dear friend Theophan nails it, cleanly and squarely. Call it what you will, wealth redistribution, involuntary benevolence, whatever, it all boils down to the same thing, taking from those who justly labored and distributing it to those who have not, while lining the pockets of those administering this travesty. This will do nothing but discourage production, and eventually see to it that all are destitute, save those who have lined their pockets whilst administering this debacle.

Matt 26:11 "For ye have the poor always with you"

1 Corinthians 3:8 "Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour."

Now I am speaking of only America and Canada here, but in these 2 countries, if one is healthy, there is no excuse to be destitute other than because of one's own choosing. Opportunities abound, requiring only the desire to honestly WORK! That, my dear friends is the problem. We have an attitude of entitlement, largely fostered and supported by the powers that be, that pervades society today. Those of us who do work hard are getting sick and tired of supporting those too lazy to work. Last year $.29 of every dollar I earned went to federal income taxes, whilst those who do nothing at all, not only paid nothing, but receive monetary support from me in the form of crazy social programs! What incentive is there for those like myself to continue to work? Now for the head of the Roman Church to come out in favor of taking from me to give to those unwilling to help themselves, well, I DO find it disappointing, to say the least!

Alexandr

Involuntary benevolence?

Super. Now we know where you stand on communism, and calumny.

Did Christ or the Fathers have much to say about economics?

That is a serious question.