Newly published interview with Pope Francis on the economy
January 13, 2015
The Turin-based newspaper La Stampa has published an interview that two of its reporters, Andrea Tornielli and Giacomo Galeazzi, conducted with Pope Francis in October.
The interview has also been included in a newly-published book on Pope Francis and the economy.
Citing the Gospel, the Fathers of the Church, St. Francis, and the teaching of previous popes, Pope Francis said that his teaching on economics is not novel.
Commenting on the current economic situation, the Pope said that “globalization has helped many people rise out of poverty, but it has also damned many others to starve to death. It is true that global wealth is growing in absolute terms, but inequalities have also grown and new poverty arisen.”
“What I have noticed is that this system sustains itself through a culture of waste, which I have already discussed various times,” he continued. “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.”
Pope Francis added:
But I would also like to highlight an aspect of the culture of waste: that which 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. The culture of waste also leads to a hidden euthanasia of older people, who are abandoned. Instead of being considered as our memory, our link to our own past and a source of wisdom for the present. Sometimes I ask myself what the next waste will be. We need to stop before it is too late.
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Posted by: unum -
Jan. 14, 2015 9:13 AM ET USA
Pope Francis message is getting lost in translation. The Pope has an important message for each of us about how we live our lives and influence our governments to care for those who are unable to care for themselves. But, the message is getting lost as he talks about economic systems and national cultures and initiates debates with cultural elites, the hierarchy, and the political class. Jesus was not a politician. He spoke directly to the people ... and changed the world!
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Posted by: jrorr19609092 -
Jan. 13, 2015 11:27 PM ET USA
Pope Francis says, "We need to stop before it is too late." He says that connecting his belief in the "culture of waste" economically and the culture of declining birthrates due to abortion. In other words, he connecys prudential judgment issues with intrinsic evil - abortion. I don't buy this connection. Every abortion is an intrinsic evil; every business decision is not. Trying to do so is propaganda against free-enterprise which has as its basis providing something that somebody wants.
