Pope Francis Tweets "Inequality is the root of social evil”

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I do not see any problems with using a lower paying job as a stepping stone for better employment, but the lower ranking jobs should still have a decent minimum wage. I’m not understanding how such workers would be getting other peoples money.

LOVE! ❤️
Well, in so far as businesses would raise their prices to pay their workers more money, everyone would pay more. But the businesses might also just not higher as many workers, so the net effect of forcing them to pay for this “decent minimum wage” you’re talking about might be that fewer people get jobs. Either way it sounds like a lose lose situation.

Ishii
 
Somehow, I don’t think Pope Francis is talking about the difference between a fast-food restaurant worker and an accountant.

Around the world, there’s abject poverty, lack of infrastructure (e.g., education, electricity, clean water, medical care), corruption, and greed that lead to a vast chasm between the have’s and have-nots. It’s the indifference of politicians/leaders to inequality/injustice that maintains the status quo in many areas of the world.

It’s about lacking access to basic human needs, not being unable to afford an Audi.
 
Haven’t you even looked at the Pope’s twitter feed? The English version is right there.
No, I don’t follow anything on twitter.
Are you saying that the Pope and his personal staff do not understand what he meant by the Latin and mistranslated his own statement?
I am saying that, whatever the pope meant, the Latin phrase “Iniquitas radix malorum” does not properly translate to “Inequality is the root of social evil.”

Ender
 
Well, in so far as businesses would raise their prices to pay their workers more money, everyone would pay more. But the businesses might also just not higher as many workers, so the net effect of forcing them to pay for this “decent minimum wage” you’re talking about might be that fewer people get jobs. Either way it sounds like a lose lose situation.

Ishii
So, we are stuck with poverty and there is nothing we can do about it? I do not buy that at all. It’s too easy to use what you say as a ploy for maintaining the status quo. Increasing the minimum wage would successfully allow the low income wage workers to move up on the economic ladder.

LOVE! ❤️
 
Somehow, I don’t think Pope Francis is talking about the difference between a fast-food restaurant worker and an accountant.

Around the world, there’s abject poverty, lack of infrastructure (e.g., education, electricity, clean water, medical care), corruption, and greed that lead to a vast chasm between the have’s and have-nots. It’s the indifference of politicians/leaders to inequality/injustice that maintains the status quo in many areas of the world.

It’s about lacking access to basic human needs, not being unable to afford an Audi.
I think trying to read much of anything into a 7 word" tweet" is a mistake.
 
I think trying to read much of anything into a 7 word" tweet" is a mistake.
Certainly for this particular tweet.

But any time issues of “inequality” come about in conservative fora, someone always brings up, “So you think [insert low-wage worker by American standards] should get paid as much as [insert high-wage worker]?”
 
Certainly for this particular tweet.

But any time issues of “inequality” come about in conservative fora, someone always brings up, “So you think [insert low-wage worker by American standards] should get paid as much as [insert high-wage worker]?”
Go read post 1 It was not conservatives who politicized the thread.
 
Go read post 1 It was not conservatives who politicized the thread.
I never said anything about politicization.

What I said was what inevitably comes up misses the bigger picture of inequality in the world that goes beyond McDonal’s worker paycheck vs. H&R employee.
 
One more reason for Catholics to abandon “trickle down wealth” economics.
Go, sell what you have and give to the poor, then you will have treasure in Heaven. Perhaps you could do without your computer. 🤷
 
Somehow, I don’t think Pope Francis is talking about the difference between a fast-food restaurant worker and an accountant.

Around the world, there’s abject poverty, lack of infrastructure (e.g., education, electricity, clean water, medical care), corruption, and greed that lead to a vast chasm between the have’s and have-nots. It’s the indifference of politicians/leaders to inequality/injustice that maintains the status quo in many areas of the world.

It’s about lacking access to basic human needs, not being unable to afford an Audi.
Well said, thank you.

Also, now this will be a little controversial for a number of reasons, but I have always felt that the left in Latin American countries can tend to harbor a uniquely vivid resentment of the wealth, materialism and imperialism of the US. In many incidents, particularly where we have undermined regimes and otherwise interfered with the autonomy of nations, sometimes for years to the great detriment of the population, this resentment is very well justified and we would do well to acknowledge that fact when addressing this issue. (I am also certainly not an expert in Latin American history or culture and am generalizing a bit here.) There is long standing crippling poverty, social inequality, and political corruption in many parts of the region compared to North America or Europe (and again sometimes aided and abetted by US foreign policies). Maybe this is another cultural layer in the Pope’s approach to this topic (the rich vs. the poor) that you would not necessarily see in a European pope who otherwise of course shares the Pope’s basic Christian concern for the poor and excesses of the 1st world, its manipulation and exploitation of the 3rd world, etc. It’s just a little different flavor. I also personally feel that there is often a very fine line between expression of sincere Christian mercy and virtue on this topic and ressentiment.

I am certainly not accusing the Pope of ressentiment; I am saying though that ressentiment can get triggered off and nourished in others who misunderstand him. Equally dangerous is the tendency of the right to get so defensive about US political spats that their capacity to feel genuine Christian empathy and compassion for the suffering that afflicts so many throughout the world is completely undermined. I think the Pope is speaking to his Argentine experience and background and carrying the torch for the suffering there - he is universalizing their plight in a completely responsible and truthful way. We are taking these remarks and applying them to Democratic/Republican spats about minimum wage, unemployment, universal health care, etc. There’s a cultural chasm there we need to be aware of.
 
Pope Francis was giving a personal opinion. And it was wrong. Sin is the cause of all evil, social as well. Inequality is not evil, there will always be inequality becuase some people are shiftless, many are sinners, we are all sinners. Inequality that is caused by these can’t be remedied, they are a part of life.

Linus2nd
I agree that inequality is not the cause of evil. What do you think about the Catholic Church, The Vatican hold so much wealth when there are people homeless or starving all over the world. I find it ironic that those in the Vatican (excluding Pope Francis) live in such safe luxury which others live in such poverty, yet the Pope ( who I like very much) speaks of this. Thoughts?
 
I agree that inequality is not the cause of evil. What do you think about the Catholic Church, The Vatican hold so much wealth when there are people homeless or starving all over the world. I find it ironic that those in the Vatican (excluding Pope Francis) live in such safe luxury which others live in such poverty, yet the Pope ( who I like very much) speaks of this. Thoughts?
Watch it, dude. You’re in dangerous territory. You’ll get labeled a Protestant or worse. :o:eek:

Inequality is part of life. You’ll always have the poor with you. It’s part of the mystery of evil and suffering (the Fall) - you’ll never figure it out as long as you live - and you won’t fix it. 🙂
 
Watch it, dude. You’re in dangerous territory. You’ll get labeled a Protestant or worse. :o:eek:

Inequality is part of life. You’ll always have the poor with you. It’s part of the mystery of evil and suffering (the Fall) - you’ll never figure it out as long as you live - and you won’t fix it. 🙂
Trust me I have often thought I should be. As Pope Francis was (is) a Jesuit, I am such the thought has crossed his mind if only for the slightest second. Most college students with the most modest of dorm rooms live in nicer rooms than the Jesuit have.
 
Trust me I have often thought I should be. As Pope Francis was (is) a Jesuit, I am such the thought has crossed his mind if only for the slightest second. Most college students with the most modest of dorm rooms live in nicer rooms than the Jesuit have.
The Vatican possesses an art collection, the depth, quality and expanse of which surpasses more than a few European nations. 😉

Personally I am glad of it. I think they have done a great job (or service to mankind) of protecting the cultural treasures of the West and Christianity in particular.
 
So, we are stuck with poverty and there is nothing we can do about it? I do not buy that at all. It’s too easy to use what you say as a ploy for maintaining the status quo. Increasing the minimum wage would successfully allow the low income wage workers to move up on the economic ladder.

LOVE! ❤️
No, not at all. Economic growth - opportunity - is the best way to help people improve their lives. Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime. The problem with policies which seek to make everyone equal is that they deny nature. And an ideology which seeks to deny nature and force everyone to be equal, or more “equal” is an ideology that will allow all kinds of abuse, injustices, and devaluation of the dignity of the individual in favor of “the people” all in the name of “equality” cf: Soviet Russia, Cuba, East Germany, Cambodia, etc.

Ishii
 
No, not at all. Economic growth - opportunity - is the best way to help people improve their lives. Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime. The problem with policies which seek to make everyone equal is that they deny nature. And an ideology which seeks to deny nature and force everyone to be equal, or more “equal” is an ideology that will allow all kinds of abuse, injustices, and devaluation of the dignity of the individual in favor of “the people” all in the name of “equality” cf: Soviet Russia, Cuba, East Germany, Cambodia, etc.

Ishii
How is raising the minimum wage making everyone equal? And why do you think that there cannot be economic growth with it? If we took away the minimum wages that exist today, would that lead to greater economic growth, and make things more ‘fair?’ Any trustworthy data to back up these claims?

LOVE! ❤️
 
So, we are stuck with poverty and there is nothing we can do about it? I do not buy that at all. It’s too easy to use what you say as a ploy for maintaining the status quo. Increasing the minimum wage would successfully allow the low income wage workers to move up on the economic ladder.

LOVE! ❤️
No. Having a job will allow a person to move up on the economic ladder. Without a job, one is stuck. So the question is, does increasing the minimum wage help more people to obtain jobs?
 
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