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The Holy Father's World Day of Peace Message is stunning in many ways, but this is the paragraph that jumped out at me:
It is alarming to see hotbeds of tension and conflict caused by growing instances of inequality between rich and poor, by the prevalence of a selfish and individualistic mindset which also finds expression in an unregulated financial capitalism. In addition to the varied forms of terrorism and international crime, peace is also endangered by those forms of fundamentalism and fanaticism which distort the true nature of religion, which is called to foster fellowship and reconciliation among people.
Yes, the Supreme Pontiff just lumped "unregulated financial capitalism" together with terrorism and international crime, fundamentalism and fanaticism. Can you imagine the howls from the right if NCR had published such a paragraph in one of our editorials? And, I am very curious to know what our friends at the Acton institute make of these words from the Holy Father. The whole message is worth reading and evidences the consistency of the Church's worldview and the inconsistency of so many cafeteria Catholics on both left and right who fail to see the ways that secular ways of thinking have already kidnapped their thoughts. Bravo Holy Father.
