My article for Aleteia this week disses secular media’s obsession with viewing everything as a right wing-left wing conflict.
They loved to portray Pope Benedict as a stern right wing arch conservative neo Nazi. Now they love to portray Pope Francis as a kind, loving and gentle socialist.
Both are crazy wrong
The simple fact of the matter is that Pope Francis is neither left, nor right; he is Catholic. His economic message is nothing new. Like his predecessors, the pope is developing established Catholic social teaching which has always been critical of unbridled capitalism. Most of what he says is Christian common sense. The pope is against the idolatry of money just as all Christians should be. He is against greed because it is one of the seven deadly sins. He is in favor of “the preferential option for the poor” because Jesus was, and it’s part of the Christian gospel. He is opposed to false economic ideologies that put themselves above ordinary people because that has always been the Christian message. Consequently Pope Francis is opposed to both socialism and a tyrannical form of capitalism that endorses aggressive and absolute autonomy of the marketplace.
Go here for the full article
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