Pope Francis on Money
Pope Francis called for an end to the "tyranny of money," as reported in the India Times. His comments address the global financial crisis and its effects on people around the world. He's got something here.
Having read a lot of his other public statements, I get the sense that this man has a deep understanding and empathy for people, specifically for the dignity of the individual person, most especially for the poor in this world.
"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.
The insight that really stands out for me in this article is this:
In many cases, the value of people is judged by their ability to consume.
When we see people merely as consumers, their humanity is pushed aside. And so they become "non-persons." If you do not recognize the fullness of the dignity of people as human persons, the results are always disastrous. A clear example of this would be the Nazis view of Jews, Slavs, Gypsies, etc. We all know how they treated such people, and the horrifying results of their actions. Another - even more horrifying example - is the way the Communist parties in the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China under Mao treated even their own people. They believed that the individual was simply not important, that individuals did not possess dignity as human persons, and should be treated accordingly.
Can we, or should we, compare our present financial system to Nazism and Communism? I think we can. The connection is in how the system sees and treats people. And the results, if the system continues as it has been, will inevitably be equally horrifying. Indeed, an argument can be made that we already have seen such results - although we're not going to get into details here.
Just remember that in the moment the value of the individual is in any way minimized, not recognized, not, indeed, treasured, as a human person, we've got big trouble. And that trouble will not go away until that root problem - the lack of dignity accorded to each and every human person - is addressed.
The Pope has hit the nail on the head.
Click HERE for the whole article.
Having read a lot of his other public statements, I get the sense that this man has a deep understanding and empathy for people, specifically for the dignity of the individual person, most especially for the poor in this world.
"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.
The insight that really stands out for me in this article is this:
In many cases, the value of people is judged by their ability to consume.
When we see people merely as consumers, their humanity is pushed aside. And so they become "non-persons." If you do not recognize the fullness of the dignity of people as human persons, the results are always disastrous. A clear example of this would be the Nazis view of Jews, Slavs, Gypsies, etc. We all know how they treated such people, and the horrifying results of their actions. Another - even more horrifying example - is the way the Communist parties in the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China under Mao treated even their own people. They believed that the individual was simply not important, that individuals did not possess dignity as human persons, and should be treated accordingly.
Can we, or should we, compare our present financial system to Nazism and Communism? I think we can. The connection is in how the system sees and treats people. And the results, if the system continues as it has been, will inevitably be equally horrifying. Indeed, an argument can be made that we already have seen such results - although we're not going to get into details here.
Just remember that in the moment the value of the individual is in any way minimized, not recognized, not, indeed, treasured, as a human person, we've got big trouble. And that trouble will not go away until that root problem - the lack of dignity accorded to each and every human person - is addressed.
The Pope has hit the nail on the head.
Click HERE for the whole article.
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