Francis: A Pope of the People from p. 1
December 27, 2013 - January 9, 2014
Serving the Seven Cities of the Harbor Area
to emerge at time of great transition and turmoil. If they are viewing Pope Francis a certain way, it has to do with a little bit of uncertainty with the way the world is going. “At least during the Cold War, not that the Cold War was a good thing; it was a bad thing, but it kind of defined the world,” Perez said. “And now, that that system has fallen, the Berlin Wall has fallen. So now it’s like where are we going? In light of that, people want the Pope to say something that conforms with the way they would like to see things go. But you cannot categorize them. They won’t be categorized by left or right. The gospels aren’t really about what’s left or right. They are about the salvation of souls and the preaching of Christ and his redemption.” Francis wrote at length about the problem of people being used at the service of financial systems rather than financial systems serving people. Neo-liberal economic apologists argue that if markets were left alone without government interference, poverty would be drastically reduced. Francis assigns this frame of thought as wishful thinking. Francis only needs to point to debtor nations forced to pass harsh austerity budgets that have torn the safety net, pushing the most vulnerable to the brink of destitution. Despite the growing numbers of wealthy people in the world, due in large part to rise of economic powerhouses, China and India, the gap in wealth between the rich and poor has grown even wider. “Even John Paul II was wary of globalization, if by globalization we’re talking about the mastery of money over people and cultures,” Perez noted. “Or, if you mean the predominance of a (single) culture over all others that you oppress or suppress other people’s cultures. And John Paul II used to decry the same thing. He decried globalization in that sense. He was critical of the money market and the imposition of a material global culture—a global culture that is materialistic and devoid of spiritual values.
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and were as critical of collectivist communism as they were of capitalism. They were critical of both. Both were systems over the people…. ‘The market had to be healthy.’ That was important in some people’s minds. More important than individual well being. Look at Mao Tse Tung, who killed about 30 million people to make his collectivism work. That’s an extreme example of systems over people. But they are both addressing that. People don’t serve systems. Systems have to serve people.” In any case, Pope Francis may continue on as a human Rorschach test that conservatives call him a Marxist, a communist, and President Barack Obama’s patron saint, while progressives view him as relief from the nasty demagoguery perpetrated thus far by the Christian right in the United States.
As Pope Francis emerges as the people’s Pope, conservatives attempt to brand him a Marxist. File photo.
“There are certain principles and values that are always applicable,” Perez said. “The circumstances change but certain principles always remain intact: love, justice and equitable distribution of goods no matter what period we’re under.” Perez cited Pope Pius IX as an example, who
came into power in the mid-19 century and Pope Leo XIII later in the 19th century. “Pope Pius IX seemed to be more proemployer but he was addressing a situation where strikers were taking advantage,” Perez said. “Pope Leo XIII came around and seemed to be pro-employee because the employers were oppressive. But the principles remain the same: love, justice and equity and distribution of goods equitably and charitably.” Perez always thought it silly how pundits project images onto the pope. Perez notes that this has occurred with previous popes as well. “We hear certain buzz words and we categorize it, ‘oh, that’s left or that’s right.’ When you do that, you miss the point,” Perez said. “If you look at John Paul II and Paul VI, they were equally critical of collectivist communism
Talk radio host Rush Limbaugh and Fox News’ Stuart Varney were just a few to take aim at Pope Francis with the release of the Evangelii Gaudium. File photos.