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timotheos
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OK, I’ll jump in.
Why, when the Holy Father speaks of greed and sin, do many people automatically think this only applies to the bad rich people in the US? Does anyone really think that middle class and poor people in the US are incapable of making bad, sinful, greedy decisions that have a cumulative effect on socioeconomics here also?
Articles like this simply try to take the words of the Holy Father and twist them into something that fits a specific political agenda. Capitalism bad, socialism good; hey look, the Holy Father said so. Yeah right.
There are some wealthy capitalists that give much to charity, and some that give little or nothing. There are some poor people that give much of their time and talent to performing charitable acts, and some that give little or nothing. The problem is not one purely limited to economic class, the problem is one of sin and greed, period.
Anyone who thinks the Holy Father is coming from the same social justice stance as the president better think a little longer on the subject.
-Tim
Why, when the Holy Father speaks of greed and sin, do many people automatically think this only applies to the bad rich people in the US? Does anyone really think that middle class and poor people in the US are incapable of making bad, sinful, greedy decisions that have a cumulative effect on socioeconomics here also?
Articles like this simply try to take the words of the Holy Father and twist them into something that fits a specific political agenda. Capitalism bad, socialism good; hey look, the Holy Father said so. Yeah right.
There are some wealthy capitalists that give much to charity, and some that give little or nothing. There are some poor people that give much of their time and talent to performing charitable acts, and some that give little or nothing. The problem is not one purely limited to economic class, the problem is one of sin and greed, period.
Anyone who thinks the Holy Father is coming from the same social justice stance as the president better think a little longer on the subject.
-Tim
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catholicknight
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He’s supposedly a “liberal” when it comes to economic issues. Then he’s supposedly an “arch-conservative” when it comes to moral issues. I guess they can’t make up their minds. Come on, this is the media we’re talking about here. How many practicing Catholics are there among them? Do you really think they know anything about what makes the pope tick? For that matter, do they know anything about what makes Catholicism tick?
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lil_flower_luv
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Does it really matter? I mean, as long as he follows the Catholic Churches teachings, who cares? I don’t think God has a specific political standing and neither does the pope.
God Bless!
God Bless!
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roveau
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We all should know what the Press does with anyone’s statements and reputation.
Quote: "…calling for greater regulation of the markets and – get this – “a true world political authority” that can put “real teeth” into international governance."
The Press could have said that the Pope was advocating a dictatorship on the above quote. But who else thinks he may have been referring to Jesus Christ returning to Earth? It fits anyway. An improved version of the United Nations?
Just musing, Rove
Quote: "…calling for greater regulation of the markets and – get this – “a true world political authority” that can put “real teeth” into international governance."
The Press could have said that the Pope was advocating a dictatorship on the above quote. But who else thinks he may have been referring to Jesus Christ returning to Earth? It fits anyway. An improved version of the United Nations?
Just musing, Rove
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lil_flower_luv
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mlchance
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If different people all describe the same person in contradictory ways, it stands to reason that none of those people have really seen the person they’re describing.
– Mark L. Chance.
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jwashu
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I knew! 
IMHO anyone who has actually read the New Testament and the works of many of our Saints / Theologians can’t be a fiscal conservative in the US Republican sense of the word.
Totally free markets don’t work… that has been proven. Just like communism won’t work for the exact same reason… greed. Neither of those systems can work without divine intervention where the majority of people actually took care of one another in the completely free market or was completely at ease with what they have in the second.
Fiscal Liberal / Moral Conservative - that’s me, and I have no party. Maybe we should start one!
Joe
IMHO anyone who has actually read the New Testament and the works of many of our Saints / Theologians can’t be a fiscal conservative in the US Republican sense of the word.
Totally free markets don’t work… that has been proven. Just like communism won’t work for the exact same reason… greed. Neither of those systems can work without divine intervention where the majority of people actually took care of one another in the completely free market or was completely at ease with what they have in the second.
Fiscal Liberal / Moral Conservative - that’s me, and I have no party. Maybe we should start one!
Joe
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Holly3278
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Our beloved Pope is most certainly not a liberal! A liberal in American terms is someone who supports things like abortion, gay marriage, and embryonic stem cell research. 
Our beloved Pope is against all of these things and vehemently so just as I am!
Our beloved Pope is against all of these things and vehemently so just as I am!
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cyberwolf001
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Not necessarily. Some Liberals are against those three you’ve mentioned. Also remember on the world stage American liberals are considered far right conservatives. Yes Obama is a conservative anywhere but here in the States…Our beloved Pope is most certainly not a liberal! A liberal in American terms is someone who supports things like abortion, gay marriage, and embryonic stem cell research.
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Hunho
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SedesDomi, where did the quote that you posted at the beginning of this thread come from? Who is being quoted? Where did this item originally appear?
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Ridgerunner
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There might be liberals who really and truly oppose abortion and embryo experimentation, but I don’t know who they are. There are certainly none on my ballot, and there have been none for years.
I’m not sure Obama is a conservative elsewhere when his spending policies have been rejected by most of the developed countries.
But getting back to the topic, it has seemed to me various political groups would seize upon this or that portion of the encyclical. Nothing new in that. My read of it, however, persuades me that what it really is, is a call for conversion. He does not call for world domination by the degraded U.N. we currently have, for example. Nor does he call for any kind of program that involves exploitation of others. What he is trying to do is change our minds and hearts about our attitude toward other human beings and, if we do so, how that might be expressed in policies and institutions.
We are a long, long, long way from the world he would like to see, and precisely because political institutions presently do not value human beings, born or unborn. Those institutions do not do so, because too many individuals have refused to do so. This world is up to its eyeballs in the culture of death, and a little tinker here and a bit of political pork there will do nothing to change it. Nor will massive changes, unless there are major changes in the human heart and peoples’ sense of morality.
It is clear to me, and it’s not the first time Popes have said it, we cannot have a just society until human life from conception to natural death is valued. If our compassion does not extend that far, our compassion is a falsehood. All we can have is the push and pull of competing selfishness, which is exactly what we have right now.
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jwashu
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Gottle_of_Geer
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He would be conservative in the UK, but probably in the Labour Party, so not a Conservative.
One can be liberal in some ways and not in others - to insist that liberalism in one aspect must mean liberalism in all, is bad logic
One can be very conservative on bio-ethics, while being not at all conservative in economics; or the Bible; or whatever the subject may be.
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Holly3278
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I don’t believe this. Every liberal I have ever met was pro-abortion, pro-embryonic stemm research, and pro-gay marriage. That is simply what liberals are. They are for abherrent morals.
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cyberwolf001
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Other than gay marriage you have just meet one in me Holly and from day to day I am not all that sure of gay marriage.
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mlchance
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Nat Hentoff is an anti-abortion liberal. He was pretty much excommunicated from the Left as a result. Governor Casey of Pennsylvania faced similar treatment. While there are liberals that aren’t pro-abortion, the Left in the U.S. has an official position, namely that abortion for any reason during any stage of pregnancy must be kept legal no matter what.
Of course, this has nothing to do with Benedict XVI and the ridiculousness of trying to pigeonhole him with political labels.
– Mark L. Chance.
Of course, this has nothing to do with Benedict XVI and the ridiculousness of trying to pigeonhole him with political labels.
– Mark L. Chance.
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Ridgerunner
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There are “liberals” and then there are “dedicated Democrats”. It’s possible to be the first and not be pro-abortion. I consider myself liberal in some ways (REAL care for the poor, not this bogus middle class welfare), though (by today’s standards) conservative in others.
It is not possible, in my view, to be a dedicated Democrat and not support abortion.
It is totally impossible to be a true-blue Obama supporter and not, at the very same time, be an abortion supporter.
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pnewton
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In the Catholic Church, the Holy Father is the one who leads us and is the first teacher of faith and morals. This process does not include journalist, bloggers or anyone else that likes to engage in anticatholic rhetoric. I do not care one whit what these people think, most of whom have not even taken the time to read this rather lengthy encyclical. I am still working through it and having found one thing in it yet that pigeonholes it politically.
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peacefulwarrior
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There are all types of lefties just like there are all types of righties. I don’t know where you are from, but where I live we have the whole spectrum. Crazy conservatives, super conservatives, very conservative, conservative, barely conservative, perfect middlecrat, liberatarian, blue doggy Democrats, barely liberal, liberal, super liberal, crazy liberal. They all have different positions. I know someone who is anti-Gay mirrage but, pro-choice. I know someone who is gay, but against abortion. I know who doesn’t even want the government to touch the economy at all, while I know someone who believes that their should be prayer at school, but there should be stem cell research. I know someone who say’s we shouldn’t even subsidized corn. If you know about corn, you know how big a deal it is, and the problems that will happen if we stop subsidizing, but that got us in that ditch to begin with. I had a teacher that was a true bleeding heart conservative, but still wanted welfare programs to the poor. You can’t be a true capitalist and believe in welfare programs, it impossible. There are all, types, and I won’t complain. A soldier has died to protect our freedoms. I will let them believe what they wan’t to believe. But, back into the subject, if you were to really pay attention, you can see why the pope is liberal at times. Liberal for some subject, not others. Think about what the conservatives want, and liberals want carefully. Really carefully, and you would see that the bible apply’s to both sides, they both have their own virtues and flaws.
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