Pope Francis attacks mega-salaries, wealth gap

[sly_wolf 199]

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/12/21876326-pope-francis-attacks-mega-salaries-wealth-gap?lite&gt1=43001

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis said in the first peace message of his pontificate that huge salaries and bonuses are symptoms of an economy based on greed and inequality and called again for nations to narrow the wealth gap.

In his message for the Roman Catholic Church's World Day of Peace, marked around the world on January 1, he also called for sharing of wealth and for nations to shrink the gap between rich and poor, more of whom are getting only "crumbs."

"The grave financial and economic crises of the present time ... have pushed man to seek satisfaction, happiness and security in consumption and earnings out of all proportion to the principles of a sound economy," he said.

"The succession of economic crises should lead to a timely rethinking of our models of economic development and to a change in lifestyles," he said.

Francis, who was named Time magazine's Person of the Year on Wednesday, has urged his own Church to be more fair, frugal and less pompous and to be closer to the poor and suffering.

The magazine's managing editor, Nancy Gibbs, tells Matt Lauer that Pope Francis was selected for changing the tone of the Vatican.

His message will be sent to national leaders, international organizations such as the United Nations, and NGOs.

Titled "Fraternity, the Foundation and Pathway to Peace," the message also attacked injustice, human trafficking, organized crime and the weapons trade as obstacles to peace.

Anger at multi-million payouts for executives has swept across the globe as the economic crisis has deepened and the gap between the super-rich and the poor has widened.

But last month, Swiss voters rejected a proposal to cap the salaries of top executives at 12 times that of a company's lowest wage, heeding warnings from industry leaders that the measure could harm the country's economy.

Francis said many places in the world were seeing a "serious rise" in inequality between people living side by side.

He attacked the "widening gap between those who have more and those who must be content with the crumbs," calling on governments to implement "effective policies" to guarantee people's fundamental rights, including access to capital, services, educational resources, health care and technology.

Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina was elected to lead the Catholic Church following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI.

The new pope's style is characterized by frugality. He shunned the spacious papal apartment in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace to live in a small suite in a Vatican guest house, and he prefers a Ford Focus to the traditional pope's Mercedes.

A champion of the downtrodden, he visited the island of Lampedusa in southern Italy in July to pay tribute to hundreds of migrants who had died crossing the sea from North Africa.

Last month, in a document seen as a manifesto of his papacy, he attacked unfettered capitalism as "a new tyranny."

Since his election in March as the first non-European pope in 1,300 years, the Argentinian has several times condemned the "idolatry of money" and said it was a depressing sign of the times that a homeless person dying of exposure on the street was no longer news but a slight fall in the stock market is.

I like this guy and I totally agree with this: "The grave financial and economic crises of the present time ... have pushed man to seek satisfaction, happiness and security in consumption and earnings out of all proportion to the principles of a sound economy,"

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

I like this pope. He gets it.

[GandD 5,966]

Me too.

[sly_wolf 199]

I like this pope. He gets it.

Now we just need our so called Christian politicians and business leaders to get it.

[GandD 5,966]

Or stop acting like they're even half way following the example of Christ.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Now we just need our so called Christian politicians and business leaders to get it.

I'm not holding my breath on that.

[spookyturtle 9,465]

He not only talks the talk, he walks it.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Yes, the commies love a commie Pope. No surprise there.

[sly_wolf 199]

Or stop acting like they're even half way following the example of Christ.

Some of them think they are his right hand man .... at least in their reality.

[sly_wolf 199]

Always a different code for the affluent .... check this out.

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2013/12/teen_who_killed_4_drunk_driving_claims_affluenza_gets_probation.html#incart_m-rpt-2

Yes, the commies love a commie Pope. No surprise there.

I was waiting for someone to say this and here it is.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Yes, the commies love a commie Pope. No surprise there.

Jesus was a commie.

[GandD 5,966]

Yeah he was.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Jesus was a commie.

Hardly. Jesus was an extraterrestrial. "My kingdom is not of this world."

[JohnR! 5,495]

Yes, the commies love a commie Pope. No surprise there.

ergo, captioning the obvious is now considered a commie practice.

[GandD 5,966]

Hardly. Jesus was an extraterrestrial. "My kingdom is not of this world."

What, there can't be extraterrestrial commies?