Last month, in the papal statement Pope Francis wrote, “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 opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naive trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system.” He continued, highlighting this failing system’s creation of “a globalization of indifference” that leaves many “waiting.”
Pope Francis, the first leader of the Catholic Church from the southern hemisphere, is no stranger to poverty and its disastrous effects. In Argentina, he was known for sneaking out at night to distribute bread to the poor and would often engage in conversation with the homeless of his neighborhood.
Pope Francis does not parade around in elegant clothing, nor does he reside in the apostolic palace. He has instructed his clergy to sell their newer cars and give the profit they make to the poor. “Who am I to judge?” was his response to a question about homosexuals. He instructed the head of Vatican charities to get rid of his desk, as his work will be conducted out among the people. He chastised the present-day Catholic Church for its preoccupation with gays and contraception, and scolds bishops and priests alike for preaching ideology.
This progressive energy initiated by Pope Francis prompts an escape from binding orthodoxy, and is leading the church in a new direction, one focusing on the elimination of poverty, income disparities, economic injustices and the imperialistic monopoly this country’s wealthy have fallen into.
It is ironic, however, that the loudest critics of the new Pope are those who claim to stand firm alongside the Church. Those people, now whining at the Pope’s challenging of the deeply embedded, hierarchical Catholic Church, have turned their backs on the leader of the institution they claim to valiantly defend.
Sarah Palin was one of the first to offer her opinion, saying that the Pope sounded “kind of liberal.” “This is just pure Marxism coming out of the mouth of the Pope,” Rush Limbaugh later said. Palin, quick to politically classify, and Limbaugh, falling lazily to a scathingly pompous statement, both represent a large faction of self-proclaimed religious defenders.
Reza Aslan addresses the issue of self-styled “defenders of Christianity” in her recent article for the Milwaukee Journal Sentential. She says that to “peddle a profoundly unhistorical view of Jesus” and to “domesticate Jesus’ radical teachings to accommodate a specific political or economic agenda,” is to appeal to others not only in an exploitative manner, but to knowingly perpetuate a contradicting series of falsified ideologies for a self-serving purpose. These self-proclaimed, religiously sound conservatives who are calling Pope Francis radical today will be the same ones aligning themselves with him come November 2016.
Pope Francis is calling for dignified work, dignified pay, quality education, globalized healthcare and entitlements. In essence, he is calling for the guaranteed provision of human rights regardless of political or religious ideology. What a radical!
He also wrote, “the current financial crisis can make us overlook the fact that it originated in a profound human crisis: the denial of the primacy of the human person.” The truth is, you need only look at the past 30 years to see that trickle- down economics works for the “tricklers,” not the “tricklees.” The Pope has witnessed this effect in action, from Chile to Argentina to the slums of Buenos Aires and Haiti.
Pope Francis has revealed the true message of Christ within a church that has been consistently operating without it, and the scathing opposition heard from conservatives and religious authorities alike is only proof of this. The opposition heard comes from those who have something to lose from this reconstruction, whether that be authoritative power or money or both. Catholicism does not coincide with capitalism, “Christ did not preach income equality between the rich and the poor, but the complete reversal of the social order.” It is more than refreshing to see that Pope Francis not only understands this, but is planning to instill an atmosphere of lasting change within a church marred by inconsistencies.
Grant Hattenhauer ([email protected]) is a freshman majoring in biology.
