BEFORE BECOMING POPE, cardinal bergolio of agrentina did an interview with chris mathews, which the friend who sent the transcript to me claimed was a resounding affirmation not only of christian values, but also of capitalism. After reading the transcript, it seemed otherwise. It seemed that the cardinal was arrogant and misguided , a bad predictor of his own behavior, as well as one who does not respect the will of God.
He is adamant in asserting that the pope is always chosen by god, but that he (bergolio) would not be chosen by god, and that if elected, he would not serve, due to his involvement in the secular world teaching people that to render unto caesar is contrary to god's plan. The papacy is a spiritual position, not a political one, and i am a soldier, declared he. Considering all the pronouncements of a political nature made by popes over the centuries, and considering the collaboration of the church with hitler's nazi germany, this assertion is highly debatable.
cardinal bergolio then proceeded to trumpet the merits of capitalism over socialism. Evidently when one renders unto casear, one must do so voluntarily if at all. It requires capital to build churches, schools, and hospitals, and thus capitalism is the way. No mention was made as to whether socialists believe in spending money to build any of these.
Government, not corporate exploitation and greed, is responsible for the persistance of poverty, said the cardinal, while emphasizing that his understanding of politics and economics is comprehensive. He never mentioned andrew carnegie, cornelius vanderbilt, or j d rockefeller, who hired thugs to assault striking workers, hired desperate workers , and provided no job security, health care assistance, or living wages. Bergolio further declared that all economic transactions are voluntary, and omitted mention of desperate starvation as a motivation to seek employemnt for starvation wages.
Poverty is the result of evil politicians enacting welfare programs for the sole purpose of reducing the mases to dependency on the government, and rendering them debt ridden. this sounds vaguely remindful of american conservatives. No mention of whether the meat packing industry in chicago early in the twentieth century aided in the process of worker debt, hunger, of dependency on employer. Perhaps the pope should read "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair.
The cardinal must have told mathews ten times that he and the pope are catholics, and that by virtue of a promise jesus made to saint peter, anyone who becomes pope becomes infallible. Either he assumed that mathews is an idiot, or wanted to convince himself of his devotion to his own faith. Its too bad that the papacy is not a political office, and that bergolio had to give up his conservative capitalist activism to enter the papacy; he would have made a helluva conservative republican capitastic politician. But, since his two predecessors both admitted to being fallible, pope francis at least has some margin for error.
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