[Peace-discuss] [sf-core] New bishop of Rome

[C. G. Estabrook]

Pope Ratzinger's response to liberation theology was complex - as those who read the documents from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith when he was head of it can see. The press has preferred a simpler narrative.
  
And those who read what he actually wrote as bishop of Rome will find a critique of neoliberalism and a call for the redistribution of wealth, well to the left of any mainstream US (and EU) politician.

E.g., from Caritas in Veritate, his major social encyclical (2009): - "The global market has stimulated first and foremost, on the part of rich countries, a search for areas in which to outsource production at low cost with a view to reducing the prices of many goods, increasing purchasing power and thus accelerating the rate of development in terms of greater availability of consumer goods for the domestic market. Consequently, the market has prompted new forms of competition between States as they seek to attract foreign businesses to set up production centres, by means of a variety of instruments, including favourable fiscal regimes and deregulation of the labour market. These processes have led to a downsizing of social security systems as the price to be paid for seeking greater competitive advantage in the global market, with consequent grave danger for the rights of workers, for fundamental human rights and for the solidarity associated with the traditional forms of the social State." 

Chomsky has written frequesntly of the US "war against the church," notably "... the murder of the Jesuit intellectuals [in November 1989]. There has been much debate about who deserves credit for the fall of the Berlin wall, but there is none about the responsibility for the brutal demolition of the attempt to revive the church of the Gospels [i.e., liberation theology]. Washington's School of the Americas, famous for its training of Latin American killers, proudly announced as one of its 'talking points' that liberation theology was 'defeated with the assistance of the US army' -- given a helping hand, to be sure by the Vatican, using the gentler means of expulsion and suppression" <http://www.chomsky.info/talks/20100323.htm>.   

--CGE

On Mar 13, 2013, at 3:31 PM, Paul Mueth <paulmueth at yahoo.com> wrote:

> 
> Yea, RATzinger was good on discourse as well, whilst repressing liberation theologians and activists, cooperating with Casey's CIA. 
> This pope was an opponent of LT probably all thru the dirty war. . . 
> 
> Roy Bourgeois has been excommunicated BTW
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 3GS, It doesn't chat!
> 
> On Mar 13, 2013, at 3:10 PM, "C. G. Estabrook" <carl at newsfromneptune.com> wrote:
> 
>>  
>> "We live in the most unequal part of the world, which has grown the most yet reduced misery the least. The unjust distribution of goods persists, creating a situation of social sin that cries out to Heaven and limits the possibilities of a fuller life for so many of our brothers."
>> 
>> --Pope Francis - Abp. Jorge Mario Bergoglio SJ of Buenos Aires - to a gathering of Latin American bishops in 2007
>> 
> 
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