Rome: Pope Francis has attacked the ''dictatorship'' of the global financial system and warned that the ''cult of money'' is making life a misery for millions.

He said free market capitalism had created a ''tyranny'' and that people were being judged purely by their ability to consume goods.

Money should be made to ''serve'' people, not to ''rule'' them, he said on Thursday, calling for a more ethical banking system and curbs on financial speculation. Countries should impose more control over their economies and not allow ''absolute autonomy'', in order to provide ''for the common good''.

The gap between rich and poor was growing and the ''joy of life'' was diminishing in many developed countries, the Pope said. ''While the income of a minority is increasing exponentially, that of the majority is crumbling,'' said the pontiff who, as archbishop of Buenos Aires, visited slums, opted to lived in a modest flat rather than an opulent church residence and went to work by bus. In poorer countries, people's lives were becoming ''undignified'' and marked by violence and desperation, he said.

The Pope, who was elected two months ago, made the remarks in his first substantial speech on finance and the economy, during an address to foreign ambassadors in the Vatican. It underlined his reputation for showing deep concern for the plight of the poor and vulnerable.

''The worship of the golden calf of old has found a new and heartless image in the cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly human goal,'' he told the ambassadors.

As the Catholic leader in Argentina, he often spoke out about the plight of the poor during the country's economic crisis. Unchecked capitalism had created ''a new, invisible, and at times virtual, tyranny'', he said.

''The Pope loves everyone, rich and poor alike, but the Pope has the duty, in Christ's name, to remind the rich to help the poor, to respect them, to promote them,'' he said.

Pope Francis will make the first foreign trip of his papacy to Brazil in July. He will visit a Rio de Janeiro slum, meet young prison inmates and attend World Youth Day, a week-long event expected to attract more than 2 million people.

Edited by prikryl (May 21, 2013 03:05:39)

slumlord posted:

cool pope guys

4. To remedy these wrongs the socialists, working on the poor man's envy of the rich, are striving to do away with private property, and contend that individual possessions should become the common property of all, to be administered by the State or by municipal bodies. They hold that by thus transferring property from private individuals to the community, the present mischievous state of things will be set to rights, inasmuch as each citizen will then get his fair share of whatever there is to enjoy. But their contentions are so clearly powerless to end the controversy that were they carried into effect the working man himself would be among the first to suffer. They are, moreover, emphatically unjust, for they would rob the lawful possessor, distort the functions of the State, and create utter confusion in the community.

5. It is surely undeniable that, when a man engages in remunerative labor, the impelling reason and motive of his work is to obtain property, and thereafter to hold it as his very own.

Hurricane_Faggot posted:

“People shouldn't serve money. Money should serve people.” Well, frankly, Hitler would have agreed with it

This is 100% correct and not coincidental

gyrofry posted:

Primate of Italy

daddyholes posted:

Hurricane_Faggot posted:

“People shouldn't serve money. Money should serve people.” Well, frankly, Hitler would have agreed with it

This is 100% correct and not coincidental

benedict's term as pope and resignation were part of a long term nazi plot to clear the field of potential pontiffs and install a genetically engineered nazi superpope in the vatican

dipshit420 posted:

http://www.infowars.com

roseweird posted:

hmm this pope is actually pretty cool apart from being a pope