sweetchuck:
And your argument that you don’t know of anything the Pope said urging people to give to the poor is not a valid argument either. The pope did much for 3rd-World nations, including going there personally (inasmuch as he could, many 3rd-World nations are governed by dictators, totalitarians and Islamofascists and prevented papal visits). He worked closely with Blessed Mother Teresa, who was down in the gutters of Calcutta. Much of the pope’s life testifies to a call to help the poor.
Now, a homily that calls for aid for the poor by the world’s Catholics does not draw the PR that a denouncement of abortion or homosexual activity does, so that is why you do not see much media publicity on it. But I think you should rather pick up and read John Paul II’s many works and encyclicals to find his call for aid for the poor. It’s there, I’ve heard him say it many times.
hello sweetchuck,
The media sure ran JP2’s demands that the World Bank forgive third world debt. I heard it many times for about a decade. Not once did I hear the Pope demand that Catholics tithe to pay off third world debt. Doe the World Bank go to heaven for paying off third world debt or do Catholics go to heaven for paying off third world debt?
If a Pope really wants to help the poor, he should lay it out on the table, how much Catholics pay and how much they should pay.
Even if 1.1 billion Catholics only made $10,000 per year on average, that would be a trillion dollars of tithe money. One trillion dollars a year would go a long way to help the poor. What is your best guess at what 1.1 billion Catholics pay today hundreds of millions, a billion, tens of billions? Still a far cry from a trillion dollars. I do not see even hundreds of millions of dollars flying around when I see Church donations going to the poor.
Jesus does not promise eternal life to the world, World Bank or Western Nations governments. Jesus promises eternal life to those in His Church who obey Him and care for the poor. Let us hope Pope Benedict goes after the trillion dollars from Catholics which would do quite a bit for the poor in the world. In so doing he will bring a few more Catholics into heavan who otherwise would have suffered Christs
'Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food. Let us just get our Pope to get Christ’s Churh’s work done.
NAB MAT 25:31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ Then he will say to those on his left,
'Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’ Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’ He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’
And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." (ISA 58)