Pope: Caring For The Poor A ‘Touchstone’ Of Christianity, Not Communism
Some U.S. conservatives have branded the first Latin American pope a Marxist for his frequent critiques of consumerism and focus on a church “that is poor and for the poor.” But in an interview contained in a new book, Francis explains that his message is rooted in the Gospel and has been echoed by church fathers since Christianity’s first centuries.
“The Gospel does not condemn the wealthy, but the idolatry of wealth, the idolatry that makes people indifferent to the call of the poor,” Francis says in “This Economy Kills,” a study of the pope’s economic and social teachings, excerpts of which were provided Sunday to The Associated Press.Specifically, Francis summarized a verse from the Gospel of Matthew which is the essential mission statement of his papacy: “I was hungry, I was thirsty, I was in prison, I was sick, I was naked and you helped me, clothed me, visited me, took care of me.”
“Caring for our neighbor, for those who are poor, who suffer in body and soul, for those who are in need: this is the touchstone. Is it pauperism? No. It is the Gospel.”
He cites church fathers dating to St. Ambrose and St. John Chrysostom as expressing the same concerns, and noted somewhat wryly that if he had said the same “some would accuse me of giving a Marxist homily.”
“As we can see, this concern for the poor is in the Gospel, it is within the tradition of the church, it is not an invention of communism and it must not be turned into some ideology, as has sometimes happened before in the course of history,” an apparent reference to the Latin American-inspired liberation theology.
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88 responses to Pope: Caring For The Poor A ‘Touchstone’ Of Christianity, Not Communism
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arc99 January 11th, 2015 at 15:20
Anybody checked the comments on the original article over abcnews.go.com?
Right wing heads are audibly exploding.
Only a matter of time before these loonies write off the Pope as a “godless” socialist.
JohnBull January 12th, 2015 at 10:37
Too bad they can’t physically explode and leave us alone for good.
arc99 January 11th, 2015 at 16:20
Anybody checked the comments on the original article over abcnews.go.com?
Right wing heads are audibly exploding.
Only a matter of time before these loonies write off the Pope as a “godless” socialist.
JohnBull January 12th, 2015 at 11:37
Too bad they can’t physically explode and leave us alone for good.
William January 11th, 2015 at 16:34
Apparently some long haired liberal with crazy ideas about charity, mercy and peace has gotten to this Pope and filled his head with left wing nonsense
RIVietnameravet January 11th, 2015 at 18:14
William I have got to believe you are kidding..
William January 11th, 2015 at 21:37
‘Bout time to get that detector recharged eh?
William January 11th, 2015 at 17:34
Apparently some long haired liberal with crazy ideas about charity, mercy and peace has gotten to this Pope and filled his head with left wing nonsense
RIVietnameravet January 11th, 2015 at 19:14
William I have got to believe you are kidding..
William January 11th, 2015 at 22:37
‘Bout time to get that detector recharged eh?
burqa January 11th, 2015 at 16:54
Beginning with Lenin, and repeated by one communist regime after the other was hostility to the church and those of faith whom they viewed as an enemy to be destroyed. Communism was not just an economic system, but an effort to completely remake society and form a new kind of person for whom faith was not a part of their life.
Lenin was willing to let millions starve to death in a famine he caused and cut off aid from Quakers that was feeding something like 11 million people in Russia.
There was persecution of people of faith everywhere communism took over.
In about a 72 year period, the communists killed about 100 million people and they were opposed by people of faith, including the Catholic Church.
Nitwits who think the Pope is some sort of ally to the commies merely demonstrate their profound ignorance of history.
Bunya January 11th, 2015 at 18:23
I suggest you read up on the Crusades and the inquisition. Then come here and demonize the Atheists.
burqa January 11th, 2015 at 20:08
I have.
I have also read up on Christianity and there’s nothing in the Christian doctrine supporting either.
But the Leninist doctrine supported what I described and it led to more people being killed in about 72 years than in all the wars of recorded history put together.
Lenin was big on using famine as a weapon and intentionally caused one that killed over 5 million people.
Pol Pot killed about a quarter of the population of his country.
Ever read what the commies did in Tibet? I’ll be happy to fill you in….
Changing the subject isn’t a rebuttal of the point I made, either.
Bunya January 12th, 2015 at 00:56
Did I mention the atrocities inflicted on the Native Americans by the Christians? How about those who were suspected of witch craft being burned alive?
burqa January 12th, 2015 at 17:27
Oh yeah?
Well what about the Gadsden Purchase, huh? What about THAT?
I prefer a conversation on the topic at hand where one person replies on the subject of the OP and someone else replies to that comment, expanding upon, rebutting, or otherwise discussing points made. Then the first person responds to that reply, and in so doing a discussion is held on the topic at hand.
It gets rather tiresome when I reply to someone or the OP and address the subject, only to have a response come that has nothing to do with what I spoke of, and no actual conversation takes place. It’s just someone talking AT me, rather than discussing an issue with me.
Anything on the topic at hand?
Anything on points I made?
Or is the urge to somehow get in digs so irresistible that having an adult point counterpoint conversation is impossible?
Chris Cunliffe January 13th, 2015 at 14:10
Im sorry but you cant saddle Atheists with communism , they are mutually exclusive ….
burqa January 14th, 2015 at 22:56
Lenin and all the communist leaders were atheists. Communist doctrine called for atheism as part of their restructuring of society. In every country where the communists took over, they tried to destroy faith among the people (obviously, they had other targets as well).
In 1902 Vladimir Lenin was in Britain:
“Visiting the Seven Sisters Church seven miles north-east of Holford Square, they found English socialists praying to the Lord. Lenin considered that genuine socialism absolutely had to involve atheism. When he became a Marxist, Lenin felt that he had chosen the path of Science and Progress and that Christian socialism was a contradiction in terms.”
– page 149
“Non-Bolshevik socialism, religion and intellectual dissent
was primary [443] potential agencies for opposition, and Lenin was determined to grind them to dust.”
– page 442-443
above quotes from “Lenin: A Biography,” by Robert Service
(Harvard University Press, 2000)
If you are saying all atheists are not communists, I would say that is a true statement.
The worst killers of all time – the communist regimes of the 20th century – were atheists attempting to form a society of atheists is also a true statement.
Chris Cunliffe January 15th, 2015 at 02:32
Like I said , they are mutually exclusive. German people had mostly brown hair , and the Germans are responsible for the holocaust, so all brown haired people are murderous jew killers … Makes about as much sense as your line of thinking , Atheism can be described in a single sentence , lack of belief in a deity , that’s it , nothing about socialism or communism or how to grow rhubarb or make Kraft dinner or how to part the red sea , nothing else …. There is no way for someone to kill another person in the name of “Atheism” as there is nothing else attached , it is a single small sentence , no 500 pages of Dogma and rules , its not a belief system , and has no moral baggage , just a single simple idea , that’s it …..
You can try to attach as much baggage as you want but it wont work ….
burqa January 15th, 2015 at 04:59
Communism did not exclude atheism. It was part of their doctrine. From the communist side, they were inclusive, which is what the Lenin quotes illustrate as well as their history, which I’m ready to quote extensively, from Russia to China to Albania to Cambodia to Tibet and everywhere in between.
So there goes your “mutually exclusive” argument.
Atheism is not necessarily communist, but atheism was necessarily a main aspect of communism.
You’re wrong, by your own logic, in blaming all Germans for the Holocaust. The only ones responsible are those who participated in it. (Same with communism).
You then went on to read what you wanted to, instead of what I wrote, which you didn’t rebut.
But I like what you wrote and look forward to a repetition of the point. I happen to agree with it. I am a Christian and there is nothing in the Christian doctrine about holding inquisitions, crusades or pretty much all of the wacky things said about them here.
I look forward to you pointing that out.
The way I see it, Christianity can be boiled down to people being given certain things in love from our God and we then react in love, by giving what we’ve received, for example. That’s about it. Receive what’s given in love and react in love. In this we keep the only law given to us and as far as I am concerned, everything outside that will of necessity fall outside Christianity.
Chris Cunliffe January 15th, 2015 at 12:54
Hey , I never said anything about Christianity ,I didn’t mention it once , I never saddled the inquisition to Christianity , all I said is you cant saddle communism to atheism ….. It seems you are guilty of the same thing you are accusing me of , accept I never mentioned religion or Christianity or the inquisition …. You are arguing with the wrong person ..
burqa January 16th, 2015 at 22:04
I know you didn’t mention Christianity. Let’s not lose sight of the topic – the Pope says caring for the poor is a touchstone of Christianity, not the Communism he’s been falsely accused of being an adherent of.
Communist regimes around the world consistently carried out campaigns of repression against whatever faith the people practiced. The Catholic Church has a long history of being oppressed in communist countries. Some of their priests and nuns showed extraordinary courage in their service to believers. The refusal of many of these priests and nuns to be cowed or intimidated, even though it cost them their lives is inspiring. Many others were sent to the gulags. So to accuse the Pope of being a commie is ridiculous.
You continue to miss my point, because it’s not the one you want me to make, I guess. You keep trying to restate it rather than take my words as they are and deal with them directly.
I find it curious to say communism and atheism are “mutually exclusive” when, in fact, neither excludes the other.
I don’t consider this an argument as much as a discussion. If you were to pay closer attention to what I actually wrote, and were so-minded, I think you’d find areas of agreement or places where we are not so far apart.
burqa January 11th, 2015 at 17:54
Beginning with Lenin, and repeated by one communist regime after the other was hostility to the church and those of faith whom they viewed as an enemy to be destroyed. Communism was not just an economic system, but an effort to completely remake society and form a new kind of person for whom faith was not a part of their life.
Lenin was willing to let millions starve to death in a famine he caused and cut off aid from Quakers that was feeding something like 11 million people in Russia.
There was persecution of people of faith everywhere communism took over.
In about a 72 year period, the communists killed about 100 million people and they were opposed by people of faith, including the Catholic Church.
Nitwits who think the Pope is some sort of ally to the commies merely demonstrate their profound ignorance of history.
Bunya January 11th, 2015 at 19:23
I suggest you read up on the Crusades and the inquisition. Then come here and demonize the Atheists.
burqa January 11th, 2015 at 21:08
I have.
I have also read up on Christianity and there’s nothing in the Christian doctrine supporting either.
But the Leninist doctrine supported what I described in their effort to reform society and the individual. It led to more people being killed in about 72 years than in all the wars of recorded history put together.
Lenin was big on using famine as a weapon and intentionally caused one that killed over 5 million people. Other communist regimes followed suit and all the major famines of the 20th century came after commies came to power.
Pol Pot killed about a quarter of the population of his country.
Ever read what the commies did in Tibet? I’ll be happy to fill you in….
Changing the subject isn’t a rebuttal of the point I made, either.
If you’re going to saddle Christianity with the Crusades and the Inquisition, then atheists get to be pinned with communism.
They got the all-time record for mass murder.
100 million.
Bunya January 12th, 2015 at 01:56
Did I mention the atrocities inflicted on the Native Americans by the Christians? How about those who were suspected of witch craft being burned alive?
burqa January 12th, 2015 at 18:27
Oh yeah?
Well what about the Gadsden Purchase, huh? What about THAT?
I prefer a conversation on the topic at hand where one person replies on the subject of the OP and someone else replies to that comment, expanding upon, rebutting, or otherwise discussing points made. Then the first person responds to that reply, and in so doing a discussion is held on the topic at hand.
It gets rather tiresome when I reply to someone or the OP and address the subject, only to have a response come that has nothing to do with what I spoke of, and no actual conversation takes place. It’s just someone talking AT me, rather than discussing an issue with me.
Anything on the topic at hand?
Anything on points I made?
Or is the urge to somehow get in digs so irresistible that having an adult point counterpoint conversation is impossible?
Chris Cunliffe January 13th, 2015 at 15:10
Im sorry but you cant saddle Atheists with communism , they are mutually exclusive ….
burqa January 14th, 2015 at 23:56
Lenin and all the communist leaders were atheists. Communist doctrine called for atheism as part of their restructuring of society. In every country where the communists took over, they tried to destroy faith among the people (obviously, they had other targets as well).
In 1902 Vladimir Lenin was in Britain:
“Visiting the Seven Sisters Church seven miles north-east of Holford Square, they found English socialists praying to the Lord. Lenin considered that genuine socialism absolutely had to involve atheism. When he became a Marxist, Lenin felt that he had chosen the path of Science and Progress and that Christian socialism was a contradiction in terms.”
– page 149
“Non-Bolshevik socialism, religion and intellectual dissent
was primary [443] potential agencies for opposition, and Lenin was determined to grind them to dust.”
– page 442-443
above quotes from “Lenin: A Biography,” by Robert Service
(Harvard University Press, 2000)
If you are saying all atheists are not communists, I would say that is a true statement.
The worst killers of all time – the communist regimes of the 20th century – were atheists attempting to form a society of atheists is also a true statement.
Chris Cunliffe January 15th, 2015 at 03:32
Like I said , they are mutually exclusive. German people had mostly brown hair , and the Germans are responsible for the holocaust, so all brown haired people are murderous jew killers … Makes about as much sense as your line of thinking , Atheism can be described in a single sentence , lack of belief in a deity , that’s it , nothing about socialism or communism or how to grow rhubarb or make Kraft dinner or how to part the red sea , nothing else …. There is no way for someone to kill another person in the name of “Atheism” as there is nothing else attached , it is a single small sentence , no 500 pages of Dogma and rules , its not a belief system , and has no moral baggage , just a single simple idea , that’s it …..
You can try to attach as much baggage as you want but it wont work ….
burqa January 15th, 2015 at 05:59
Communism did not exclude atheism. It was part of their doctrine. From the communist side, they were inclusive, which is what the Lenin quotes illustrate as well as their history, which I’m ready to quote about extensively, from Russia to China to Albania to Cambodia to Tibet and everywhere in between.
So there goes your “mutually exclusive” argument.
Atheism is not necessarily communist, but atheism was necessarily a main aspect of communism.
You’re wrong, by your own logic, in blaming all Germans for the Holocaust. The only ones responsible are those who participated in it. (Same with communism). The net you cast would necessarily sweep up, oh, say, Harro Schultz-Boysen and Erika Brockdorf, for example.
You then went on to read what you wanted to, instead of what I wrote, which you didn’t rebut.
But I like what you wrote and look forward to a repetition of the point. I happen to agree with it. I am a Christian and there is nothing in the Christian doctrine about holding inquisitions, crusades or pretty much all of the wacky things said about them here.
I look forward to you pointing that out.
The way I see it, Christianity can be boiled down to people being given certain things in love from our God and we then react in love, by giving what we’ve received, for example. That’s about it. Receive in love what’s given in love and react in love. In this we keep the only law given to us and as far as I am concerned, everything outside that will of necessity fall outside Christianity.
Chris Cunliffe January 15th, 2015 at 13:54
Hey , I never said anything about Christianity ,I didn’t mention it once , I never saddled the inquisition to Christianity , all I said is you cant saddle communism to atheism ….. It seems you are guilty of the same thing you are accusing me of , accept I never mentioned religion or Christianity or the inquisition …. You are arguing with the wrong person ..
burqa January 16th, 2015 at 23:04
I know you didn’t mention Christianity. Let’s not lose sight of the topic – the Pope says caring for the poor is a touchstone of Christianity, not the Communism he’s been falsely accused of being an adherent of.
Communist regimes around the world consistently carried out campaigns of repression against whatever faith the people practiced. The Catholic Church has a long history of being oppressed in communist countries. Some of their priests and nuns showed extraordinary courage in their service to believers. The refusal of many of these priests and nuns to be cowed or intimidated, even though it cost them their lives is inspiring. Many others were sent to the gulags. So to accuse the Pope of being a commie is ridiculous.
You continue to miss my point, because it’s not the one you want me to make, I guess. You keep trying to restate it rather than take my words as they are and deal with them directly.
I find it curious to say communism and atheism are “mutually exclusive” when, in fact, neither excludes the other.
I don’t consider this an argument as much as a discussion. If you were to pay closer attention to what I actually wrote, and were so-minded, I think you’d find areas of agreement or places where we are not so far apart.
Boehner-Monkey January 11th, 2015 at 18:21
A Christian actually acting like a Christian. You don’t see that every day.
burqa January 11th, 2015 at 20:13
Volunteer at the local homeless shelter or food pantry and you will….Where I live, over 3 quarters of the food pantries are run by faith-based organizations.
Tonight, with temps in the teens, the homeless shelters here will be full, thanks to the people of faith running them. Tomorrow, they’ll be fed by people of faith running soup kitchens.
Get involved with efforts to collect and distribute coats, blankets and other necessities for the homeless and poor and you’ll see Christians every day, acting like Christians.
Too bad SOME people around here resist giving them credit for helping out, but there you have it…..
Boehner Monkey January 11th, 2015 at 19:21
A Christian actually acting like a Christian. You don’t see that every day.
burqa January 11th, 2015 at 21:13
Volunteer at the local homeless shelter or food pantry and you will….Where I live, over 3 quarters of the food pantries are run by faith-based organizations.
About the same proportion is over there fighting ebola in Africa.
Tonight, with temps in the teens, the homeless shelters here will be full, thanks to the people of faith running them. Tomorrow, those homeless will be fed by people of faith running soup kitchens.
Get involved with efforts to collect and distribute coats, blankets and other necessities for the homeless and poor and you’ll see Christians every day, acting like Christians.
Too bad SOME people around here resist giving them credit for helping out, but there you have it…..
allison1050 January 11th, 2015 at 20:27
I love what this Pope has to say! This is the Catholic Church that I was raised in and this is Christianity.
allison1050 January 11th, 2015 at 21:27
I love what this Pope has to say! This is the Catholic Church that I was raised in and this is Christianity.
JohnBull January 12th, 2015 at 10:36
Taking care of the poor is communism but giving tax cuts to the rich is capitalism? This is why I teach my kids to distrust anybody in power in America today.
edmeyer_able January 12th, 2015 at 12:21
Trust but verify.
JohnBull January 12th, 2015 at 11:36
Taking care of the poor is communism but giving tax cuts to the rich is capitalism? This is why I teach my kids to distrust anybody in power in America today.
edmeyer_able January 12th, 2015 at 13:21
Trust but verify.