When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.”Ī few days ago Pope Francis commented on the charge of being a Marxist: “When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. Perhaps Francis will recall the words of the late Dom Helder Camara of Brazil-known as the Bishop of the slums-who once noted, Not to be left out, Sarah Palin was, “alarmed by the Pope’s liberalism.” Fox Business host Stuart Varney weighed in to say, “The Pope is engaging in neo-socialism,” while a Fox analyst observed that the document “reveals a disturbing ignorance” by the Pope. Within days Rush Limbaugh foamed, “This is beyond Catholicism-it’s pure Marxism!” At the same time Forbes magazine and a JP Morgan economist scolded the Pope for his lack of economic acumen. “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.”Īs might have been expected, the once hailed Pope has been excoriated. “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 two points?” What the Pope is distressed over is that today, humanity serves capitalism. These can, and have, served humanity and have reduced poverty. Note here that the Pope has not decried regulated free markets. “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. The principle target of the Pope’s critique is our “idolatry of money.” And his most pointed reproof is what he calls “unfettered capitalism.” And so, by rights, it is both a meditation on the Christian motivation of love-the example, par excellence, being Jesus-and a clear-bell call for social justice and economic equitability. At root, it’s an impassioned exhortation for the faithful to proclaim the gospel by living it out. However, a month ago the Pope released his 200-plus page Evangelii Gaudium, The Joy of the Gospel. The fact that he calls the church to minister to the poor, and that he has personally modelled this almoner mission, has been lauded even by his detractors. Of course, as he’s noted, he’s not onto something new, he’s simply pointing at the heart of the gospel. In fact, this has been a habit (pardon me) with Francis.Īs Bishop of Buenos Aries, he would often put on the garb of a regular priest and sit with the homeless, talk, eat with them, “to show that they were loved.” (This was after his days as a bar bouncer…yes it’s true.)Įver since his election in March, Pope Francis has made poverty a central issue. And it turns out, except for perhaps the cap and goatee, that the rumours are probably true. One user, in reply to Fact's tweet, shared a photoshopped image of current Pope Francis' head on the body of a club bouncer.There are rumours that Pope Francis sneaks out of the Vatican at night, dons cap and fake goatee, and hangs out on the streets of Rome giving alms to the poor. The news caused widespread, comedic reactions on social media when it first emerged and more recently after Facts on Twitter revived the detail about Pope Francis' past. "That's one of the things he did while he was putting himself through school to study to become a priest," CNN reported live in 2013. That was the first time he shared that information since becoming pope. It was reported that during the visit, Pope Francis told parishioners about his life prior to being elected pope and detailed jobs he had, such as his stint as a nightclub bouncer. news outlets from coast to coast shared this detail and referred to a report from the Catholic News Service that cited the Vatican's official newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, which shared how Pope Francis visited a group of parishioners at the Church of Saint Cyril of Alexandria in Rome. Later in December of that year, major U.S. That fact was first reported in March of 2013 by Italian newspaper Gazzetta del Sud, which wrote: "As a student he worked as a bouncer at a nightclub to support himself." Pope Francis used to work as a former nightclub bouncer in the city of his birthplace, Buenos Aires, Argentina. When he became the first pope from South America and the first pope from the Western Hemisphere, details of his past began to emerge. Pope Francis used to be a nightclub bouncer.- Fact MaThe Factsīefore Pope Francis, 84, assumed his holy title as leader of the Roman Catholic church in 2013, he was known by his name, Jorge Mario Bergoglio.
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