Pope Francis on the Economy

Are we surprised that when he spoke to the Plenary of the Pontifical Council on Justice and Peace, the Holy Father did not begin with crony capitalism. Actually, his opening substantive paragraph read:

One of the aspects of today’s economic system is the exploitation of international disequilibrium in labor costs, which relies on billions of people living on less than two dollars a day. Such an imbalance not only does not respect the dignity of those who supply the cheap labor, but it destroys sources of employment in those regions where it is more protected. This raises the problem of creating mechanisms for the protection of labor rights and the environment, in the presence of a growing consumerist ideology, which does not show responsibility in the confrontation between the cities and the created world.

Labor right. The Environment. Growing consumerist ideology. Funny these were not the hot topics at last week's conference at "the pope's business school."