This post concerns my opinions regarding the selection of the new pope, an individual who dubbed himself Francis. These are the opinions of someone who is a Christian, but not a Catholic.
The good news is that he opposes abortion, describing the pro-choice movement as a "culture of death". And, in regards to homosexual marriage, Francis says it is "a machination of the Father of Lies that seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God".
So, it is good that he is a strong supporter of traditional marriage, although this is a hardly shocking position, given what it says in the Bible about this kind of perversion being an abomination.
The bad news is his views regarding wealth inequality. Francis believes that "unjust economic structures... give rise to great inequalities", and that "poor people are persecuted for demanding work, [while] rich people are applauded for fleeing from justice".
Blaming wealthy people for the plight of the poor is the Liberal shtick, and actually the opposite of the truth. Wealthy people are often innovators and job creators. Wealth flows FROM such individuals. They are creators of wealth, and the middle class and poor are better off because of their efforts.
It would be more accurate for him to speak against Socialism and Crony capitalism, because these corrupt forms of government are what we can really blame for poverty. Individuals who attain wealth due to either of these forms of thievery (government stealing from it's citizens) do deserve to be demonized, but certainly not all wealthy people fall into this category.
Also, Francis opposed the distribution of contraceptives in Argentina, which is probably not a good idea, simply because of STDs like AIDS. This is a position that likely costs lives. Yeah, we're talking about sinners having extramarital sex, but is this a sin deserving of the death penalty?
In any case, I think many Catholics do not adhere to this edict anyway. On the other hand, I do believe that promoting contraception for teens is wrong. Adults shouldn't be encouraging kids to have sex.
Finally, I've heard some of those discussing this new pope say that he needs to adopt a zero tolerance for clergy involved in covering up child abuse and moving clergy instead of defrocking them and cooperating with the police... which is a position I am in complete agreement with.
And the helping the poor thing is fine; however, the church holds great wealth, and does anyone think they are going to liquidate any large portion of their assets to further that goal (like in the film "The Shoes of the Fisherman")? That would be an exceedingly shocking turn of events.
If the church sold off the Vatican real estate and artwork, this would net a mere $2 billion dollars.
ReplyDeleteThis is a one-time shot. Yes, it would help the poor a lot. However, it is less than one-fifth of the annual amount of Obama's "welfare for the rich" government employee pay raise from earlier this year, which results in waste spending of $11 billion a year.
If you want to look at a gold mine of money to help the poor, you need to look no further than our ruling elites who are looking out for #1... claiming to be there to help all Americans but making lining their own pockets their top priority.
It should also be pointed out with the situation of the Obama auto industry handouts. This included $40 billion in a pure gift to GM. This is actually a one-time shot.... but it is 20 times the amount of what would be gained from the also one-shot Vatican sale.
OK, you've convinced me dmarks. The Catholic church should hold on to their valuable artifacts and other assets. I'm also in agreement with you about GM, which should have gone bankrupt.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what government employee pay raise you're referring to though. I thought the number of government employees was [1] decreasing AND [2] their level of pay was frozen. Although, he did raise the pay for those at the top by executive order. Is this what you're talking about? I don't see in the story (I just linked to) that the cost of this raise is 11 billion though.
I think that if the Catholic Church allowed a) woman to be priests and b) priests to marry, that would go a long way to solving a lot of their problems these days. I mean, this isn't the Middle-Ages anymore.
ReplyDeleteI agree on the marriage issue. Other religions allow their pastors to marry.
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