Pope Benedict XVI, on the eve of a global economic summit, lashed out at modern capitalism for being shortsighted and short on ethics.
"Today's international economic scene, marked by grave deviations and failures, requires a profoundly new way of understanding business enterprise," the pontiff said in his third encyclical letter, "Charity in Truth," which was released Tuesday.
The papal letter was released as the heads of leading industrialized nations started gathering in central Italy for the Group of Eight economic summit, which begins Wednesday.
U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to speak about the economic outlook. The leaders of the other G-8 nations -- Japan, Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Canada and Russia -- also are scheduled to speak.
Pope Benedict will meet Obama on Friday at the close of the three-day summit, which is being held near the central Italian city of L'Aquila. A magnitude-6.3 earthquake hit the city on April 6, killing about 300 people and leaving some 45,000 homeless.
In his letter, Benedict challenged bankers to turn away from the practices blamed for bringing about the global economic crisis and instead use their power to help the world create wealth and economic development.
"Above all, the intention to do good must not be considered incompatible with the effective capacity to produce goods," Benedict said. "Financiers must rediscover the genuinely ethical foundation of their activity, so as not to abuse the sophisticated instruments which can serve to betray the interests of savers."
The world financial crisis and the downturn in markets took a big chunk out of the retirement savings of millions of people.
Eileen, who provided this information, also said, “This isn’t all the pope said: he endorsed Unions, and said that businessmen are ruining the environment because of their greed---my question is this, why aren’t the right wing Christians using this papal letter to judge and scold American businessmen as sinners and not worthy of our acceptance....as the right wing loves to point out, you can’t just pick what you like about Christian beliefs and leave the rest behind.”
Thanks Eileen
4 comments:
Shoes of the Fisherman. Anthony Quinn. When the pope follows that lead, I’ll listen to him.
And boys should not masterbate either. People must choose governments that establish rules and laws and systems that make self interest equate to the public interest. Adam Smith observed that this occured automatically but not quite.
To ask a business person to behave based upon some view of morality is as hopeless and futile - even unfair, as to ask a cat to swim.
Particularly, the new encyclical offers a much-needed reminder that to create an economy that works for everyone it is critical to protect workers’ fundamental right to join together as a union and bargain for a better future. As the Pope makes clear, it is not only working people, but also entire communities - - nations even - - that stand to benefit when workers exercise this right. In the document, the Pope reaffirms the Church’s longstanding position that labor unions play a vital role in efforts to build a more just economy—one in which even the most marginalized workers are guaranteed basic dignity and respect.
James T.:
Cats can swim.
Post a Comment