"The marketplace by itself cannot resolve every problem, however much we are asked to believe this dogma of neoliberal faith," the pope wrote.
He added that free-market capitalism "reproduces itself" by resorting to the magic theories of "spillover" or "trickle" as the only solution to societal problems.
The pope said this "spillover" does not "resolve the inequality that gives rise to new forms of violence threatening the fabric of society."
The encyclical, called "Fratelli Tutti," or "Brothers All," reiterated the pope's vision for a more communal society, which extends to the use of private property.
"The Christian tradition has never recognized the right to private property as absolute or inviolable and has stressed the social purpose of all forms of private property," the pope wrote.
He also touched on racism, calling it a "virus that quickly mutates and instead of disappearing goes into hiding and lurks in waiting."
The pope also questioned why it took so long for the Catholic Church to unequivocally to condemn slavery.
This reads like a based onion article and I'm still not convinced it isn't. Veerrry critical support.
Yep, very critical support from me. Francis is like a black belt in using weasel words. Well that, and the media does like to selectively cut out some context from his comments. When you get past the headlines and read what he's actually saying, sometimes it's not really all that enlightened.
That said, I seem to remember Francis was a pretty big deal in liberation theology circles before he became pope, so idk maybe what you see is what you get with him when it comes to critiques of capitalism.
Tbh I don't understand catholicism enough to care if Francis is actually cool or fake cool. And he didn't really say anything here that I don't hear from any Democrat or Labour voter. Unbridled capitalism bad, racism bad. Trickle down economics bad. Like yeah, you're a Christian, way to do the bare minimum.
When we get our news from millionaires hired by billionaires to enforce neoliberal hegemony, it's bonkers that the fucking Pope sounds left wing compared to CNNs normal slop.