On Monday June 9, 2014 Pope Francis sat down for an interview with La Vangardia, a Spanish Language magazine. During the interview the Pope said that the global economic system "can't hold up anymore" in response to a question about the growing inequality between rich and poor.
The pope didn't specifically say in this interview what he thought should be done about the disparity between rich and poor. However, on May 9 during a speech in Rome that he made to United Nations dignitaries including United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the pope made reference to the conversation between Jesus and Zacchaeus. The pope's take-away from this story is that the wealthy must be willing, in the name of justice and because of their guilty conscience, to give to the poor what they have. However, the pope did not directly acknowledge that Zacchaeus had become wealthy because of a corrupt system of government taxation under autocratic rule, not through capitalistic business practices.
In his interview with La Vangardia, the pope did give some more insight into his thinking on wealth redistribution and how it might work on a global level.
This unique thought takes away the wealth of diversity of thought and therefore the wealth of a dialogue between peoples. Well understood globalization is a wealth. Poorly understood globalization is that which nullifies differences. It is like a sphere in which all points are equidistant from the center. A globalization that enriches is like a polyhedron, all united but each preserving its particularity, its wealth, its identity, and this isn’t given. And this does not happen. -Pope Francis
It sounds like the Pontiff would like to see things get leveled out globally. His vision seems to be a global economy in which all are equal but still respecting the diversity of cultures (by which he would mean religion). Perhaps a one world religion with diverse practices. Perhaps a one world economy with diverse opportunities but with equal wealth. Perhaps a system of one currency based on hours worked so all workers would be paid the same for an hour worked.
If you think this sounds far fetched then you have forgotten that back on October 24, 2011, the Vatican under Pope Benedict XVI called for the establishment of a global economic authority that would level the global economic playing field. The note on financial reform from the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace also called for a central world bank.
But, if I can be allowed one more 'perhaps'; Perhaps the idea of storing money in banks is outdated. In these days in which the wealth of most people is just a number on a spreadsheet and has no real property to back it up, you could store all of your savings information on a chip on your hand (or on your forehead). As we wrote on News of the Beast yesterday, Barclays, one of the worlds largest banks, is now producing a payment wristband. It is not a far stretch to realize that the bank is superfluous. All of the necessary data including your biometric identity can be stored on the device and credits and debits can be made by a communication link to the device.
I know that I have put a lot of imagination into this writing. But there is nothing here that cannot be done from a technical standpoint. And all of the groundwork of the big ideas of wealth redistribution and global central authorities have already been laid by the Vatican, the United Nations and others. If you are a person who takes the Book of Revelation seriously, then you already know that something similar to what I have written here is going to happen...soon.
And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. - Revelation 22:12-14
Pope Francis Warns The Global Economy Is Near Collapse
The global economic system is near
collapse, according to Pope Francis.
An economy built on money-worship and
war and scarred by yawning inequality and youth unemployment cannot
survive, the 77-year-old Roman Catholic leader suggested in a newly
published interview.
“We are excluding an entire
generation to sustain a system that is not good,” he told La
Vanguardia’s Vatican reporter, Henrique Cymerman. “Our global economic system can’t take any
more.”
The pontiff said he was especially
concerned about youth unemployment, which hit 13.1 percent last year,
according to a report by the International Labor Organization.
"The rate of unemployment is very
worrisome to me, which in some countries is over 50 percent," he
said. "Someone told me that 75 million young Europeans under 25
years of age are unemployed. That is an atrocity."
That 75 million is actually the total
for the whole world, according to the ILO, but that is still too much
youth unemployment.
Read about Jesus and Zacchaeus here.
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