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The idolatry of money

‘TIS THE SEAON to be jolly, sure, but it’s also the season to reflect on big issues, to look back on the year past and make resolutions about leading a better life.

The new Pope, Francis, had some suggestions for the world in late November 2013.

The first Pope to hail from outside of Europe in 1 300 years is also turning out to be the most interesting Pope in a long time. I have a feeling that the brown-skinned, brown-eyed, homeless lang-harige opstoker who set the whole thing going 2000 years ago would be pleased – you know the oke who threw the money-changers out of the Temple and urged people to do unto others as you’d have them do to you?

In an apostolic exhortation, a document which is seen as the basic policy foundation for his papacy, Pope Francis wrote: “As long as the problems of the poor are not radically resolved by rejecting the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation and by attacking the structural causes of inequality, no solution will be found for the world's problems or, for that matter, to any problems.”

Francis sounded rather like the radical left-winger. It’s commonplace for those in the business world to despise and mock, calling on politicians to guarantee all citizens “dignified work, education and healthcare”, and suggesting that rich people should share their wealth.

“Just as the commandment 'Thou shalt not kill' sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say 'thou shalt not' to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills,” he said in the document.  

Questioning the values of modern society as a whole, he asked: “How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses 2 points?”

He took aim at the “idolatry of money” and said: “Some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world.”

This will never solve inequality, he wrote: “This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, express a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralised workings of the prevailing economic system.”

In the United States, leader of the free-market world, the reaction was sulphurous. Intelligent and well-informed commentators like Rush Limbaugh (okay, sarcasm is a pretty low form of wit) accused him of being a Marxist, even though the Pope has said plainly that he thinks “Marxist ideology is wrong”. And a Fox business anchor said the Pope was an adherent of ‘neo-socialism’.

Well. If he is, he’s only following in the footsteps of the founder of his faith, who said to a rich man, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” (Not surprising to read the rich dude’s response: “When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.” Mark 10:21-22 in the New Testament.)

And he’s hardly the first to notice that the Gospels contain quite a lot of stuff about money and material things and giving stuff away.

I once interviewed a writer from the US, Jim Wallis, author of the 2005 book, God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It, who told me a little story.  When he was studying at the seminary, he and fellow students took an old bible and they cut out of it every verse that referred to how one should treat the poor, the widow, the orphan, the vulnerable. In the end, he said, they had a bible that looked like lace and a pile of confetti on the floor – clear evidence of the importance of these issues in Judaeo-Christian faith.

“…the Gospels contain just enough economic material to suggest [Jesus] would have railed at the horrors of modern, unfettered capitalism,” writes Joel L Watts on the Huffington Post blog (4 December 2013).

It’ll be interesting to see how putative Catholics among the very rich react to this outspoken Pope – if they react at all. For example, Carlos Slim (who tops the Forbes Rich List) sends his children to Legion of Christ schools),  Amancia Ortega (worth $57 bn, the founder of Inditex which owns Zara) was raised Catholic, Bernard Arnault, head of LVMH which owns Louis Vuitton and Dior, may well be Catholic, as is Karl Albrecht, founder of the Aldi supermarket chain.

One final thought: it would greatly add value to our country if our current leadership paid heed to another comment in the same 84-page document: “I beg the Lord to grant us more politicians who are genuinely disturbed by the state of society, the people, the lives of the poor.”

And with that, I wish you all a very happy – and thoughtful – New Year!

- Fin24

*Mandi Smallhorne is a versatile journalist and editor. Views expressed are her own.

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