“Inequality is the
root of social ills.” – Pope Francis
On March 13, the day
he was first elected CEO of the Catholic Church by its Board of Directors, I posed this question to twitter: “Is Pope Francis a
progressive?”
Just as the
commandment “Thou shalt not kill” sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the
value of human life, today we also have to say “thou shalt not” to an economy
of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills. How can it be that it is
not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is
news when the stock market loses two points?
Human beings are
themselves considered consumer goods to be used and then discarded. We have
created a “disposable” culture which is now spreading. It is no longer simply
about exploitation and oppression, but something new. Exclusion ultimately has
to do with what it means to be a part of the society in which we live; those
excluded are no longer society’s underside or its fringes or its
disenfranchised – they are no longer even a part of it. The excluded are not
the “exploited” but the outcast, the “leftovers”.
54. In this context,
some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic
growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about
greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never
been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness
of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the
prevailing economic system. Meanwhile, the excluded are still waiting.
To
sustain a lifestyle which excludes others, or to sustain enthusiasm for that
selfish ideal, a globalization of indifference has developed. Almost without
being aware of it, we end up being incapable of feeling compassion at the
outcry of the poor, weeping for other people’s pain, and feeling a need to help
them, as though all this were someone else’s responsibility and not our own.
The culture of prosperity deadens us; we are thrilled if the market offers us
something new to purchase; and in the meantime all those lives stunted for lack
of opportunity seem a mere spectacle; they fail to move us.
In his exhortation,
Pope Francis makes direct references to income inequality and how it erodes the
social fabric.
When a society –
whether local, national or global – is willing to leave a part of itself on the
fringes, no political programmes or resources spent on law enforcement or
surveillance systems can indefinitely guarantee tranquility. This is not the
case simply because inequality provokes a violent reaction from those excluded
from the system, but because the socioeconomic system is unjust at its root.
In chapter 4 of his address,
he adds:
As long as the
problems of the poor are not radically resolved by rejecting the absolute
autonomy of markets and financial speculation and by attacking the structural
causes of inequality, no solution will be found for the world’s problems or,
for that matter, to any problems. Inequality is the root of social ills.
He writes about the
concept of “dignified sustenance for all people.”
We are not simply
talking about ensuring nourishment or a “dignified sustenance” for all people,
but also their “general temporal welfare and prosperity”. This
means education, access to health care, and above all employment, for it is
through free, creative, participatory and mutually supportive labour that human
beings express and enhance the dignity of their lives.
At times, he seems to
speak about issues that matter m0st to Rhode Island progressives, like income
tax structure and minimum wage:
It must be reiterated
that “the more fortunate should renounce some of their rights so as to place
their goods more generously at the service of others”
And:
A just wage enables
them to have adequate access to all the other goods which are destined for our
common use.
These are the
principles the Catholic Church in Rhode Island should spend its time and
resources advocating for too. This blog again calls on RI Bishop
Thomas Tobin to follow the Pope’s lead in abandoning the
politics of discrimination in favor of the politics of lifting people up.
Bob Plain is the
editor/publisher of Rhode Island's Future. Previously, he's worked as a
reporter for several different news organizations both in Rhode Island and
across the country.
