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Pope Francis: I’m No Marxist

Pope Francis: I’m No Marxist

Pope Francis has responded to recent accusations from conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, who said the Pope’s ideas about Church reform were “pure Marxism.” Earlier in November, the Pope warned about the “idolatry of money” in culture, and said that unchecked capitalism was “a new tyranny” because it often ignored the needs of the poor. As part of his 84-page apostolic exhortation, he said, “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?” Evidently, Limbaugh had a problem with these thoughts. In response to the talk radio shock jock’s comments, the Pope told the Italian paper La Stampa , “The Marxist ideology is wrong.” Time’s Person of the Year also added, that he didn’t even take the ideological accusation as an insult, saying, “But I have met many Marxists in my life who are good people, so I don’t feel offended.” Clarifying his criticism of economic world systems, he said:

The promise was that when the glass was full, it would overflow, benefiting the poor. But what happens instead, is that when the glass is full, it magically gets bigger nothing ever comes out for the poor. This was the only reference to a specific theory. I was not, I repeat, speaking from a technical point of view but according to the church’s social doctrine. This does not mean being a Marxist.

Limbaugh is yet to give his thoughts about the Pope’s clarification, but if history is any indication, we fully expect a measured, thoughtful response …

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