This encyclical takes on the death sentence and capitalism. He opposes both.
By Charles P. Pierce
Papa Francesco (click here) has had a nice month for himself. First, he tells Mike Pompeo to pound sand. And, over the weekend, he issued an encyclical entitled Fratelli Tutti (All Brothers), a title drawn from the "admonitions" of St. Francis of Assisi, from whom the pope took his papal name. Among its other elements, the encyclical pretty much aligns the Church against the death penalty more firmly and finally than it ever has before. But its overarching theme is to confront our present moment and to do so directly and in the language of our time.
“The marketplace, by itself, cannot resolve every problem, however much we are asked to believe this dogma of neoliberal faith. Whatever the challenge, this impoverished and repetitive school of thought always offers the same recipes … the magic theories of ‘spillover’ or ‘trickle’ — without using the name.”
That's not Bernie Sanders. That's the pope.
“Anyone who thinks that the only lesson to be learned was the need to improve what we were already doing, or to refine existing systems and regulations, is denying reality. God willing, after all this, we will think no longer in terms of ‘them’ and ‘those’, but only ‘us’. … If only we might keep in mind all those elderly persons who died for lack of respirators, partly as a result of the dismantling, year after year, of healthcare systems.”
That's not AOC. That's the pope.
As is customary, the encyclical is broken into numbered parts. This is a particularly relevant passage, at least to me.
Things that until a few years ago could not be said by anyone without risking the loss of universal respect can now be said with impunity, and in the crudest of terms, even by some political figures. Nor should we forget that “there are huge economic interests operating in the digital world, capable of exercising forms of control as subtle as they are invasive, creating mechanisms for the manipulation of consciences and of the democratic process. The way many platforms work often ends up favouring encounter between persons who think alike, shielding them from debate. These closed circuits facilitate the spread of fake news and false information, fomenting prejudice and hate.”
The most interesting thing about this section of the encyclical is its number.
It's 45.
October 1, 2020
By Christopher Brito
A high-ranking Vatican official (click here) said Wednesday that Pope Francis would not meet with U.S. Secretary of state Mike Pompeo during his visit to Rome, citing the proximity of the U.S. general election in November....
