After the publication of several critical texts in recent years, Pope Francis has once again attacked capitalism. This week, the sovereign pontiff denounced the excesses of finance, which “tramples people” and promotes “an uncivilized economy”.
During an audience granted on Monday, December 16 to representatives of Italian credit institutions and cooperative credit banks, Pope Francis once again debunked capitalism, a financial system which is based on the exploitation of man by the man. The sovereign pontiff accused his right arm, finance, of trampling on people and fomenting inequalities, thus betraying his raison d'être. “It’s becoming an uncivilized economy,” said Jorge Bergoglio, who turned 88 on Tuesday.
“Finance no longer has a face”
The representative of the Catholic Church believes that “finance no longer has a face” and “moves away from people's lives when the only criterion is profit”. This conception has “negative consequences on the real economy” in a globalized world. Pope Francis also attacked the other counterpart of capitalism, multinationals. He accused them of moving their businesses to countries where it is easier to exploit people because of their poverty. Instead of helping, he believes, this cheap work puts families and communities in difficulty.
Pope Francis denounces usurious attitudes
Addressing the banks again, Jorge Bergoglio asked them to issue more fair credits to people in difficulty. Likewise, he renewed his call to rich countries to cancel the debt on the occasion of the jubilee year of 2025. For the Argentine Jesuit, healthy finance must not degenerate “into usurious attitudes, pure speculation and investments which harm the environment and encourage wars.”
For a more inclusive, sustainable and ethical finance
Pope Francis has warned banks that without inclusive and sustainable financial systems, the world will not experience integral and real human development. He also underlined the importance of ethical finance, which favors environmentally friendly investments and promotes income. To encourage businesses, the sovereign pontiff recalled the Church's commitment in the past. The institution paid particular attention to banking experiences at the popular level. In particular, it created Monti di pieta (institutional pawnbrokers run as a charity), rural banks and cooperative credit institutions, which offered “opportunities to those who had none”.
Pope Francis has already attacked the financial system on several occasions
This is not the first time that Jorge Bergoglio has attacked capitalism and its tentacles. In 2018, the Vatican published a text precisely criticizing a global financial system deemed generally amoral, with subprime mortgages and an offshore economy. Two years earlier, during the reception of members of a congress, the Fortune-Time Global Forum, the pope had stressed the need to put in place more inclusive and more equitable economic models which would allow everyone to to have our share of this planet's resources and to be able to realize its full potential.
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