The Pope and social movements – Francis is not communist, just Catholic

[Otavio]

I’m a Catholic from Brazil and I wrote this article in my personal blog, claiming that the Pope is only following the social doctrine of the Church in his pronunciations.

otaviopinto.com/index.php/2015/07/16/the-pope-and-social-movements-francis-is-not-communist-just-catholic/

PS: Since english is not my first language, feel free to tell me if there is any grammar mistake in the article, something not written in a formal way or something a english speaking person cannot understand.

God bless.

 

[Otavio]

I posted at “Catholic News”, but it got deleted. Don’t know why…

 

[Genesis315]

I think this is a pretty good summation that provides a handy collection of passages from the Church on this topic.

The Church rejects both an unregulated capitalism/economic liberalism, which essentially just amounts to economic Darwinism (survival of the fittest, with the strong/rich dominating the weak/poor) and communism/socialism which is built on class warfare and a denial of the right to private property (not to mention its atheistic forms which makes religion as an impediment to man’s social and economic "liberation),

If anything, as Pius XI noted in Quadrigesimo Anno, take away two marks of Socialism (denial of private proprerty and class warfare) and you’re left with Catholic social teaching:

113. The other section, which has kept the name Socialism, is surely more moderate. It not only professes the rejection of violence but modifies and tempers to some degree, if it does not reject entirely, the class struggle and the abolition of private ownership. One might say that, terrified by its own principles and by the conclusions drawn therefrom by Communism, Socialism inclines toward and in a certain measure approaches the truths which Christian tradition has always held sacred; for it cannot be denied that its demands at times come very near those that Christian reformers of society justly insist upon.

1. For if the class struggle abstains from enmities and mutual hatred, it gradually changes into an honest discussion of differences founded on a desire for justice, and if this is not that blessed social peace which we all seek, it can and ought to be the point of departure from which to move forward to the mutual cooperation of the Industries and Professions. So also the war declared on private ownership, more and more abated, is being so restricted that now, finally, not the possession itself of the means of production is attacked but rather a kind of sovereignty over society which ownership has, contrary to all right, seized and usurped. For such sovereignty belongs in reality not to owners but to the public authority. If the foregoing happens, it can come even to the point that imperceptibly these ideas of the more moderate socialism will no longer differ from the desires and demands of those who are striving to remold human society on the basis of Christian principles. For certain kinds of property, it is rightly contended, ought to be reserved to the State since they carry with them a dominating power so great that cannot without danger to the general welfare be entrusted to private individuals.
2. Such just demands and desire have nothing in them now which is inconsistent with Christian truth, and much less are they special to Socialism. Those who work solely toward such ends have, therefore, no reason to become socialists.

 

[Otavio]

I think this is a pretty good summation that provides a handy collection of passages from the Church on this topic.

The Church rejects both an unregulated capitalism/economic liberalism, which essentially just amounts to economic Darwinism (survival of the fittest, with the strong/rich dominating the weak/poor) and communism/socialism which is built on class warfare and a denial of the right to private property (not to mention its atheistic forms which makes religion as an impediment to man’s social and economic "liberation),

If anything, as Pius XI noted in Quadrigesimo Anno, take away two marks of Socialism (denial of private proprerty and class warfare) and you’re left with Catholic social teaching:

Thank you, Genesis!

Indeed!

 

[Darryl1958]

Before discussing the social movements theme,it is ** important to dismiss a myth about the Bishop of Rome. Because of several criticisms on capitalism stated by Pope Francis during his pontificate, specially the most recent stated in the Encyclical Laudato Si’ and in a speech on Bolivian soil to the Latin-American social movements (there** was also his acceptance of a peculiar gift from Evo Morales, a crucifix in the shape of the sickle and hammer), many accuse the Pope of being a communist. This label has no basis whatsoever, as will be explained below.

 

[Darryl1958]

Initially, **it is ** important to be informed that the Pontiff does not see the comparison as an insult, since, despite considering the Marxist ideology wrong, he recognizes that he has met a lot of Marxists who are good people.

“Wrong**.!**”, says the Pope. ? The view of the Church against Marxism/communism toward history is that Marxism is notorious. (meaning of your sentence is ambiguous) In several Encyclicals and papal speeches, hard criticisms were not spared on the Marxist materialistic vision of history, the atheism inherent to the Marxist ideology, the religious persecution in “communist” countries, the suppression of private property, among many others factors.

 

[Darryl1958]

I posted at “Catholic News”, but it got deleted. Don’t know why…

The ‘news’ subforum needs to be sourced to a news article from an established news agency, and not to an opinion piece.

I think that is why.

 

[Darryl1958]

Personally, I see the hammer and sickle as notorious a symbol as a swatzika. It is forever associated in my mind with gulags, and forced starvations, and cradle to grave oppression of the people of the soviets that communist took over under the banner of that hammer and sickle.

No doubt there were members of German society who were Nazis and were good people too. Pope Bemedict was a member of Hitler’s youth league when he was a boy, because that is what being a German was all about back then.
But for anyone to associate themselves with Nazism these days, or the hammer and sickle of Marxism, is insulting the millions upon millions of martyrs that have been lost because of the evil of those two systems.
Moreover, Marxism does not just destroy the body, but it aims for the soul, and the destruction of religion itself. However well meaning a good person who endorses Marxism might be, to be associated in any way with the hammer and sickle and the ideals that that hammer and sickle represents, is to associate oneself with the most insidious and sinister political movements that has ever existed in this world.

 

[Mickey_Finn]

Personally, I see the hammer and sickle as notorious a symbol as a swastika. It is forever associated in my mind with gulags, and forced starvation’s, and cradle to grave oppression of the people of the soviets that communist took over under the banner of that hammer and sickle.

No doubt there were members of German society who were Nazis and were good people too. Pope Bemedict was a member of Hitler’s youth league when he was a boy, because that is what being a German was all about back then.
But for anyone to associate themselves with Nazism these days, or the hammer and sickle of Marxism, is insulting the millions upon millions of martyrs that have been lost because of the evil of those two systems.
Moreover, Marxism does not just destroy the body, but it aims for the soul, and the destruction of religion itself. However well meaning a good person who endorses Marxism might be, to be associated in any way with the hammer and sickle and the ideals that that hammer and sickle represents, is to associate oneself with the most insidious and sinister political movements that has ever existed in this world.

There were no “Soviets” prior to the forming of the Soviet Union. The Europeans were known as Russians, and the Ethnic minorities by their own names. Likewise it’s important to recall that most of the momentum behind the Soviet take over were in response to the behavior of the Royal families across Europe. Had the various faiths taken a stronger stance against this “Royalty” things would have most likely played out differently. Poke a bear…

 

[Otavio]

Before discussing the social movements theme,it is ** important to dismiss a myth about the Bishop of Rome. Because of several criticisms on capitalism stated by Pope Francis during his pontificate, specially the most recent stated in the Encyclical Laudato Si’ and in a speech on Bolivian soil to the Latin-American social movements (there** was also his acceptance of a peculiar gift from Evo Morales, a crucifix in the shape of the sickle and hammer), many accuse the Pope of being a communist. This label has no basis whatsoever, as will be explained below.

Initially, **it is ** important to be informed that the Pontiff does not see the comparison as an insult, since, despite considering the Marxist ideology wrong, he recognizes that he has met a lot of Marxists who are good people.

“Wrong**.!**”, says the Pope. ? The view of the Church against Marxism/communism toward history is that Marxism is notorious. (meaning of your sentence is ambiguous) In several Encyclicals and papal speeches, hard criticisms were not spared on the Marxist materialistic vision of history, the atheism inherent to the Marxist ideology, the religious persecution in “communist” countries, the suppression of private property, among many others factors.

Thanks a lot, Darryl. I corrected it.

God bless!

PS: In portuguese, no need to anything before the “important do dismiss”. Actually, you can write something a lil similar to “It is” (é), but it is not good and formal writing.

 

[Otavio]

The ‘news’ subforum needs to be sourced to a news article from an established news agency, and not to an opinion piece.

I think that is why.

Yes. My mistake. My apologies to everyone.

 

[Otavio]

There has been a anti-communist paranoia in Brazil lately (fueld by nutjobs who think the current administration is communist - banks have never made so much money before here in Brazil). Everyone sees communism in the any view that mentions social justice and/or criticizes the problems of capitalism. Some famous journalists even attacked the Pope, unfairly calling him a communist, because of his speeches. They have no idea that the Pope only repeats the Church’s doctrine on social justice.