Pope Francis I: Your Exhortation Is Marxist- Part 1

By Marilyn MacGruder Barnewall
December 1, 2013
NewsWithViews.com

On November 26, 2013, two days before America’s celebratory day of Thanksgiving for the freedoms our Founding Fathers gave this Great Nation, Pope Francis I issued from the Vatican a 50,000 word “apostolic exhortation” (an 84 page Papal opinion). His opposition to capitalism and support for liberation theology was made quite clear. You can download the Pope’s commentary here.

Liberation theology was called a “Marxist myth” by the new Pope’s predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI. Conspiracy theorists can have a good night’s entertainment putting together a case for a forced retirement for Pope Benedict so a new Pope, Francis I who is more friendly to communist philosophies, could take control of the Catholic Church to help the communist-based New World Order move into high gear.

I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but the comments of Pope Francis certainly raised the hair on the back of my neck. I realize he is from South America where Liberation theology has a strong foothold, and I realize that His Holiness is far more qualified than I in the Catechism of the Holy Mother Church. But based on Pope Francis I’s comments about capitalism, I also realize that I am more qualified than he to define the values and downfalls of the system of economics known as capitalism.

Before providing comments of Pope Francis I, some definitional clarity of specific terms Pope Francis used is required. Anyone who reads my articles knows that I strongly believe that defining one’s words is the only means by which truth can be identified. According to an ancient Chinese philosopher, wisdom begins with the understanding of the meaning of the words we use. I agree with that thought.

Capitalism is defined by some as an economic system in which trade, industry and the means of production are controlled by private owners with the goal of making profits in a market economy.

That’s a simplistic definition dealing only with the application of capitalism within a free marketplace – dealing only with the subject as it applies to economics. Since we have not had a free marketplace for many years, we have not had capitalism for many years either. Pope Francis seems unaware of that sad fact in his apostolic exhortation.

Those of us in what is called “Western Civilization” have lived under a system run not by a free market, but by the Rothschild central banks of the world for a very long time. The War of 1812 was funded by the central bank of England because America, after winning the Revolutionary War, refused to establish a central bank. America, the newly-born nation, had a central bank right after the Revolutionary war – it had a 20-year contract which was not renewed when the contract ended because the theft of American wealth ran so rampant. Some things, it seems, never change..

So let’s expand the definition a bit.

Capitalism is also a social system. That system is based on principles of individual rights – and individual responsibilities. As I recall, the message of Jesus Christ is about individual responsibilities. I mention that only because Liberation theology, favored by Pope Francis I, places the concept of “we are our brother’s keeper” above the individual responsibility that goes with that statement. Capitalists manage the risk inherent in the system; socialists look to government to remove risk from their lives.

Socialists view risk as something one takes, not something one manages. They have yet to learn that security is something one finds within one’s self (perhaps one’s soul?), not in government. The best person you can rely on to do anything for you is YOU. Most Americans believe self reliance is strengthened by a loving God who, in response to their prayers, aids them in their personal endeavors.

Socialists and communists believe government is their strength – and the rejection of God in favor of government strengthens their endeavors. Perhaps that is why having the Catholic Pope favor a Marxist economic system (which can only be managed by a Marxist government) over a system supportive of individual rights and responsibilities surprised me so much.

We can also expand the definition of capitalism to say it is a spiritual system. Just as the socialist and communist systems are based on the philosophy that all things (including human rights) flow from government, capitalism is a system that makes possible the recognition that human rights flow from the hand of God. That is why our Founding Fathers told us they had given us a Republic – if we could keep it. They told us that capitalism could not succeed in other than a moral nation. Some went so far as to say morality had to be based on Christianity. It was our Founders who declared us “a Christian nation.” The last time I looked, Catholicism was a Christian religion… but perhaps not under this Pope.

So, capitalism (which is currently not practiced anywhere in the world) is not just an economic philosophy. It is not just a social philosophy. It is not just a spiritual philosophy. It is all three. It is the only political system with morality built into it because properly practiced it is dedicated to the protection of the rights which are necessary to all people to survive in the physical AND the spiritual world.

continue article at NWV:

http://www.newswithviews.com/Barnewall/marilyn193.htm