Pope calls for “global authority” for economy–conspiracy theorists may be right!
This is pretty scary because it plays right into the theories you see on conspiracy websites…how the New World Order proponents are slowly but surely guiding this world toward a single overarching government, probably the UN, and now this from the Pope???? Im sure he’s hinting at the Catholic Church being appointed that “global authority” he’s calling for……perhaps those folks over at the conspiracy sites are right???
Pope calls for a “global authority” on economy
Tue Jul 7, 2009 3:25pm EDTVATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Benedict called on Tuesday for a “world political authority” to manage the global economy and for more government regulation of national economies to pull the world out of the current crisis and avoid a repeat.
The pope made his call for a re-think of the way the world economy was run in a new encyclical which touched on a number of social issues but whose main connecting thread was how the current crisis has affected both rich and poor nations.
Parts of the encyclical, titled “Charity in Truth,” seemed bound to upset free marketers because of its underlying rejection of unbridled capitalism and unregulated market forces, which he said had led to “thoroughly destructive” abuse of the system and “grave deviations and failures.”
An encyclical is the highest form of papal writing and gives the clearest indication to the world’s 1.1 billion Catholics — and to non-Catholics — of what the pope and the Vatican think about specific social and moral issues.
The pope said every economic decision had a moral consequence and called for “forms of redistribution” of wealth overseen by governments to help those most affected by crises.
Benedict said “there is an urgent need of a true world political authority” whose task would be “to manage the global economy; to revive economies hit by the crisis; to avoid any deterioration of the present crisis and the greater imbalances that would result.”
Such an authority would have to be “regulated by law” and “would need to be universally recognized and to be vested with the effective power to ensure security for all, regard for justice, and respect for rights.”
“Obviously it would have to have the authority to ensure compliance with its decisions from all parties, and also with the coordinated measures adopted in various international forums,” he said.
The United Nations, economic institutions and international finance all had to be reformed “even in the midst of a global recession,” he said in the encyclical, a booklet of 141 pages.
The pope’s call for a supranational body to tackle global economic woes disturbed some Catholic capitalists.
“There is a difference between coordination and mandate … a reckless loan in the United States can and did impoverish people in Latvia. So obviously coordination is important as long as it is not mandates,” said Frank Keating, CEO of the American Council of Life Insurers and former Governor of Oklahoma.
LOFTY MESSAGE
The encyclical was addressed to all Catholics and “all people of good will” and was released on the eve of the start of the G8 summit in Italy and three days before the pope is due to discuss the global downturn with U.S. President Barack Obama.
In several sections of the encyclical, Benedict made it clear he had great reservations about a totally free market.
“The conviction that the economy must be autonomous, that it must be shielded from ‘influences’ of a moral character, has led man to abuse the economic process in a thoroughly destructive way,” he said.
“In the long term, these convictions have led to economic, social and political systems that trample upon personal and social freedom and are therefore unable to deliver the justice that they promise,” he added.
Profit was useful only if it served as a means to a brighter future for all humanity.
“Once profit becomes the exclusive goal, if it is produced by improper means and without the common good as its ultimate end, it risks destroying wealth and creating poverty,” he said.
He said the current economic crisis was “clear proof” of “pernicious effects of sin” in the economy.
“Financiers must rediscover the genuinely ethical foundation of their activity …,” he said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had rebuked the pope earlier this year at the height of the row over a Holocaust-denying bishop, welcomed the encyclical as important encouragement for world leaders ahead of a G8 meeting in Italy.
“Pope Benedict has encouraged the state leaders to create rules so that this sort of worldwide economic crisis isn’t repeated,” Merkel told reporters. “I also saw this as an order to work toward a social market economy in the world.”
The pope appeared to back government intervention “in correcting errors and malfunctions” in the economy, saying “one could foresee an increase in the new forms of political participation, nationally and internationally.”
(Additional reporting by Daniel Bases in New York and Sabine Siebold in Berlin; Editing by Matthew Jones)
When I went to my favorite conspiracy theory site (Above Top Secret) I fully expected to see outrage and verbal spewage on this topic, but I found nary an article. I must admit, I was very surprised, this is right up their alley, and they said nada…..
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Inside Information said this on July 13, 2009 at 3:40 am |
What the Pope seems to be forgetting is that the purpose of the market is profit. According to the laws of economics, every trade is profit-motivated. If it isn’t, it’s charity (under whatever name you prefer). Both have their place. This declaration of the Pope at least implicitly condemns for-profit businesses that try to maximize profits.
However, I think for now at least the status quo is probably safe. According to Tariq Ramadan (an Oxford professor of Islamic Studies), “…this isn’t just a question of finance, but a question of political power. And if the western financial system collapses, the western political body goes with it…The cost has always been paid by the people in the past. The elites have gotten away with it.”
Translation: the “powers that be” will do what it takes to maintain their power rather than giving it up to someone else. This means they probably won’t be able to agree on a leader for any hypothetical NWO.
http://orangelaserbeam.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php