He Said WHAT?????

Headline about Papa Benedetto's speech opening CELAM in Aparacida, Brazil:

Pope assails Marxism, capitalism

The problem, that isn't really what he said about capitalism.

The article (typical of most media coverage & all this proving what I said in a previous post about reading news reports like this with skepticism) is a little more accurate:

"Pope Benedict XVI blamed both Marxism and unbridled capitalism for Latin America‘s problems on Sunday, urging bishops to mold a new generation of Roman Catholic leaders in politics to reverse the church‘s declining influence in the region.

Like his predecessor Pope John Paul II, Benedict criticized capitalism‘s negative effects as well as the Marxist influences that have motivated some grass-roots Catholic activists.

He also warned of unfettered capitalism and globalization, blamed by many in Latin America for a deep divide between the rich and poor. The pope said it could give "rise to a worrying degradation of personal dignity through drugs, alcohol and deceptive illusions of happiness.""

(The above link has a shorter version of the article, FoxNews has the full article on its website, Pope Benedict XVI Addresses Latin American Bishops in Brazil . While I will credit FoxNews with a fairer headline, I wish they would develop other sources of their own that live up to their "Fair & Balanced News" that they usually are .)

But what did Papa Benedetto really say?

I would like to start by saying the AP article was more of a hit piece on the Pope & orthodox Catholicism than fair & unbiased reporting of what the Pope said & did.

1st of all, the part on capitalism & Marxism is only a small part of the address, not the heart/main theme of the talk. To read the above you would have thought that Papa Benedetto went on & on about the evils of capitalism. The talk was about the Catholic Faith & living it out in their local situations. Early on he does make a mention of them. But it wasn't until over half way through the talk that he seriously talks about Marxism & Capitalism. It is only a section of the talk where he deals with problems & concerns facing the Church in Latin America. He goes on to talk about several more concerns. (See my seperate post for the entire address.)

2nd , he didn't assail capitalism, just Marxism. He does warn about the growing disparity between rich & poor & that something needs to be done. He also talks about the need to have a society (not just a political or financial system) with God at the heart of it.

Rather than paraphrase what the Pope says, here is the pertanant section (color coded to point out what he really said about things, see below) after which I will make a couple more comments:

"Having arrived at this point, we can ask ourselves a question: how can the Church contribute to the solution of urgent social and political problems, and respond to the great challenge of poverty and destitution? The problems of Latin America and the Caribbean, like those of today’s world, are multifaceted and complex, and they cannot be dealt with through generic programmes. Undoubtedly, the fundamental question about the way that the Church, illuminated by faith in Christ, should react to these challenges, is one that concerns us all. In this context, we inevitably speak of the problem of structures, especially those which create injustice. In truth, just structures are a condition without which a just order in society is not possible. But how do they arise? How do they function? Both capitalism and Marxism promised to point out the path for the creation of just structures, and they declared that these, once established, would function by themselves; they declared that not only would they have no need of any prior individual morality, but that they would promote a communal morality. And this ideological promise has been proved false. The facts have clearly demonstrated it. The Marxist system, where it found its way into government, not only left a sad heritage of economic and ecological destruction, but also a painful destruction of the human spirit. And we can also see the same thing happening in the West, where the distance between rich and poor is growing constantly, and giving rise to a worrying degradation of personal dignity through drugs, alcohol and deceptive illusions of happiness.

Just structures are, as I have said, an indispensable condition for a just society, but they neither arise nor function without a moral consensus in society on fundamental values, and on the need to live these values with the necessary sacrifices, even if this goes against personal interest.

Where God is absent -- God with the human face of Jesus Christ -- these values fail to show themselves with their full force, nor does a consensus arise concerning them. I do not mean that non-believers cannot live a lofty and exemplary morality; I am only saying that a society in which God is absent will not find the necessary consensus on moral values or the strength to live according to the model of these values, even when they are in conflict with private interests.

On the other hand, just structures must be sought and elaborated in the light of fundamental values, with the full engagement of political, economic and social reasoning. They are a question of recta ratio and they do not arise from ideologies nor from their premises. Certainly there exists a great wealth of political experience and expertise on social and economic problems that can highlight the fundamental elements of a just state and the paths that must be avoided. But in different cultural and political situations, amid constant developments in technology and changes in the historical reality of the world, adequate answers must be sought in a rational manner, and a consensus must be created -- with the necessary commitments -- on the structures that must be established.

This political task is not the immediate competence of the Church. Respect for a healthy secularity -- including the pluralism of political opinions -- is essential in the authentic Christian tradition. If the Church were to start transforming herself into a directly political subject, she would do less, not more, for the poor and for justice, because she would lose her independence and her moral authority, identifying herself with a single political path and with debatable partisan positions. The Church is the advocate of justice and of the poor, precisely because she does not identify with politicians nor with partisan interests. Only by remaining independent can she teach the great criteria and inalienable values, guide consciences and offer a life choice that goes beyond the political sphere. To form consciences, to be the advocate of justice and truth, to educate in individual and political virtues: that is the fundamental vocation of the Church in this area. And lay Catholics must be aware of their responsibilities in public life; they must be present in the formation of the necessary consensus and in opposition to injustice.

Just structures will never be complete in a definitive way. As history continues to evolve, they must be constantly renewed and updated; they must always be imbued with a political and humane ethos -- and we have to work hard to ensure its presence and effectiveness. In other words, the presence of God, friendship with the incarnate Son of God, the light of his word: these are always fundamental conditions for the presence and efficacy of justice and love in our societies.

This being a Continent of baptized Christians, it is time to overcome the notable absence -- in the political sphere, in the world of the media and in the universities -- of the voices and initiatives of Catholic leaders with strong personalities and generous dedication, who are coherent in their ethical and religious convictions. The ecclesial movements have plenty of room here to remind the laity of their responsibility and their mission to bring the light of the Gospel into public life, into culture, economics and politics."

(Marxism, capitalism, both, need & role of Christian faith in political sphere)

He does point out a problem in the West. But he goes on to say that the real problem is a value system without Jesus at the center, not capitalism. His only criticism of capitalism is a criticism of it being presented with " no need of any prior individual morality, " & that it "would promote a communal morality". As I also pointed out in that previous point, a capitalism without the Christian moral center of fairness, etc, is not truly capitalism.

Lets go back a second & look at the 1st mention of capitalism in his address. (Section 3)

"As a first step, we can respond to this question with another: what is this "reality"? What is real? Are only material goods, social, economic and political problems "reality"? This was precisely the great error of the dominant tendencies of the last century, a most destructive error, as we can see from the results of both Marxist and capitalist systems. They falsify the notion of reality by detaching it from the foundational and decisive reality which is God. Anyone who excludes God from his horizons falsifies the notion of "reality" and, in consequence, can only end up in blind alleys or with recipes for destruction." (Emphasis mine.)

His comment on capitalism says that the problem comes when God is left out of the equation. He said that reality can't be detatched from God. Marxism as a system allows no room for God. Capitalism does. It is only when people attempt to seperate capitalism from a foundation in Christian ethics, a morality that has as its foundation the only true reality, God, that the errors pop up in a capitalistic system.

Another thing he really attacks is "Liberation Theology" in its various guises. As Papa Benedetto puts it found in those "authoritarian forms of government and regimes wedded to certain ideologies that we thought had been superseded, and which do not correspond to the Christian vision of man and society as taught by the Social Doctrine of the Church " that still exist in parts of Latin America. Much of what he says throughout the talk is aimed at this mindset, worldview, false theology.

Also, the article says he attacks globalism. While I am not defending globalism, I don't see it mentioned anywhere in the talk.

As I pointed out earlier, the real heart of the message was living out the Gospel message in all spheres of human life, private, public, business, etc. That message means following the teachings of Jesus, avoiding sin, repenting, dying to self, etc. The article makes no mention of that. WHY? Simple, to do so is to call for something that the main stream media is opposed to: "Living a life with God & in particular Christ, at the center of it." & even though they wouldn't admit it, the majority of those in the media are opposed to God, Christ & orthodox Christianity.

An news article like this 1 I looked at tries to accomplish several things, there is an agenda in they way they present things in it. It tries to show the Catholic Church as dying out rather than alive, active & offering something of value. In misrepresenting Catholicism it attempts to harm it because the Church is opposed to their socialist/communist agenda. & part of the harm it tries to do is put a wedge between Catholicism & capitalism that isn't there in an attempt to destroy both the Church & capitalism. & to the extent that people blindly accept what it presents as accurate it succeeds. But, & ask Dan Rather if this isn't true (after you scrape him off the ceiling because he gets angry for you reminding him), fortunately the blogosphere & alternative media (while not perfect itself & not always accurate) is now out there to see that people have a chance to see what is really going on & find out the truth that the media should, but doesn't always present.

(As a small aside, I heard Fr. Trigilio on tonite's Web of Faith on EWTN make the same point about people taking things the Pope says out of context to prove a point, liberal or conservative. He mentioned the Church's social teaching in particular.)