SANTA CRUZ: Pope Francis has urged the downtrodden to change the world economic order, denouncing a “new colonialism” by agencies that impose austerity programs and calling for the poor to have the “sacred rights” of labor, lodging and land.
“Do we realize that that system has imposed the mentality of profit at any price, with no concern for social exclusion or the destruction of nature?” he asked at a powerful speech before a gathering of social movements in Bolivia.
Once “capital” becomes an “idol” and guides individuals and once “greed for money presides over the entire socioeconomic system,” it ruins society, Francis said. It enslaves individuals and destroys “ fraternity,” a system which “excludes, debases and kills.”
“This system is by now intolerable. So let’s not be afraid to say it: we need change; we want change,” Pope Francis said.
Quoting a fourth century bishop, he called the unfettered pursuit of money “the dung of the devil”, and said poor countries should not be reduced to being providers of raw material and cheap labour for developed countries.
The Pope called on his followers to create a “truly communitarian economy,” a system that would guarantee the three “L’s” of land, lodging and labor.
The pope used this visit to Bolivia to ask forgiveness for the sins committed by the Roman Catholic church in its treatment of native Americans during what he called the “so-called conquest of America”.
Francis praised Bolivia’s social reforms to spread wealth under Morales. On Friday, he will visit Bolivia’s notoriously violent Palmasola prison.
