Pope Francis: Concern for the Poor Is Rooted in the Gospel, Not Communism

Discusses Ethics Within Social and Economic Systems in New Interview Vatican City, January 12, 2015 (Zenit.org) Junno Arocho Esteves | 773 hits

In an interview with Vatican journalists Andrea Tornielli and Giacomo Galeazzi, Pope Francis said that concern for the poor is in the Gospel, and not an invention of communism.

Excerpts from the interview were released by the Italian newspaper, La Stampa, and is part of a new book titled Papa Francesco - Questa Economia Uccide (Pope Francis - This Economy Kills).

The book, which profiles the social teaching of the Church under the direction of Pope Francis, was released today in Italian.

Among the issues discussed by the Holy Father was the current state of capitalism and globalization. While saying that globalization has helped many out of poverty, the Pope noted that inequalities have arisen.

When money, instead of man, is at the center of the system, when money becomes an idol, men and women are reduced to simple instruments of a social and economic system, which is characterized, better yet dominated, by profound inequalities, he said.

So we discard whatever is not useful to this logic; it is this attitude that discards children and older people, and is now affecting the young.

The Holy Father echoed his thoughts on youth unemployment, which he said is a consequence of a culture of waste. It is that same culture, he said, that leads people to discard babies through abortion.

I am shocked by the low birth rates here in Italy; this is how we lose our link to the future, he said. The culture of waste also leads to a hidden euthanasia of older people, who are abandoned.

The Pope went on to call for a society and an economy where man and woman are at the center, instead of money.

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Pope Francis: Concern for the Poor Is Rooted in the Gospel, Not Communism

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