Pope: Share wealth to poor
Manila Bulletin – Sun, May 11, 2014 8:06 AM PHT
Vatican City – Pope Francis called Friday for governments to redistribute wealth and benefits to the poor in a new spirit of generosity to help curb the “economy of exclusion†that is taking hold today.
He likewise urged the United Nations (UN) to promote development goals that attack the root causes of poverty and hunger, protect the environment, and ensure dignified labor for all.
Pope Francis made the appeal in a speech to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the heads of major UN agencies who met in Rome this week.
Latin America’s first Pope has frequently lashed out at the injustices of capitalism and the global economic system. On Friday, Francis called for the UN to promote a “worldwide ethical mobilization†of solidarity with the poor.
He said a more equal form of economic progress can be had through “the legitimate redistribution of economic benefits by the state, as well as indispensable cooperation between the private sector and civil society.â€
Friday’s audience came just days after the Holy See was battered in a second round of grilling by a UN committee over its record of handling priestly sex abuse. Neither the Pope nor Ban spoke of the issue. Francis did refer to another topic at the UN hearings: the church’s opposition to abortion, which UN committee members have criticized as an impediment to women’s access to reproductive health care.
