189
" In the absence of social goods, ‘profit-first’ economic growth has fed a crony capitalism that serves not the common good but speculators in the ‘liquid economy.’ Collateral banking systems, offshore sites providing fiscal havens for corporate tax avoidance, extracting value from companies to boost the earnings of shareholders at the expense of stakeholders, the smoke-and-mirrors world of derivatives and credit default swaps-all these suck capital from the real economy and undermine a healthy market, creating historically unprecedented levels of inequality.
There is a major disjuncture between the awareness of social rights on the one hand and the distribution of actual opportunities on the other. The stupendous rise in inequality of recent decades is not a stage of growth but a brake on it, and the root of many social ills in the twenty-first century. Barely more than one percent of the world’s population owns half of its wealth. A market detached from morality, dazzled by its own complex engineering, which privileges profit and competition above all else, means not just spectacular wealth for a few but also poverty and deprivation for many. Millions are robbed of hope. "
― Pope Francis , Let Us Dream: The Path to a Better Future
![Pope Francis QUOTES](/image/2632602.png)
191
" 3. Invito a cada cristiano, en cualquier lugar y situación en que se encuentre, a renovar ahora mismo su encuentro personal con Jesucristo o, al menos, a tomar la decisión de dejarse encontrar por Él, de intentarlo cada día sin descanso. No hay razón para que alguien piense que esta invitación no es para él, porque «nadie queda excluido de la alegría reportada por el Señor»[1]. Al que arriesga, el Señor no lo defrauda, y, cuando alguien da un pequeño paso hacia Jesús, descubre que Él ya esperaba su llegada con los brazos abiertos. Este es el momento para decirle a Jesucristo: «Señor, me he dejado engañar, de mil maneras escapé de tu amor, pero aquí estoy otra vez para renovar mi alianza contigo. Te necesito. Rescátame de nuevo, Señor, acéptame una vez más entre tus brazos redentores». "
― Pope Francis , Evangelii Gaudium: The Joy of the Gospel
193
" It’s the same problem as ever: poverty conceals itself in shame. In order to see, understand, and feel it, you have to come close. You can’t know poverty from a distance; you have to touch it. To recognize and come close-that’s the first step. The second step consists in responding practically and immediately, because a concrete act of mercy is always an act of justice.
But a third step is necessary if we are not to fall into mere welfarism: to reflect on the first two steps and open ourselves to the necessary structural reforms. An authentic politics designs those changes alongside, with, and by means of all those affected, respecting their culture and dignity. The only time it is right to look down on someone is when we are offering our hand to help them get up. As I put it in a talk to some religious men and women: “The problem is not feeding the poor, or clothing the naked, or visiting the sick, but rather recognizing that the poor, the naked, the sick, prisoners, and the homeless have the dignity to sit at our table, to feel ‘at home’ among us, to feel part of a family. This is a sign that the Kingdom of Heaven is in our midst. "
― Pope Francis , Let Us Dream: The Path to a Better Future
195
" When the accumulation of wealth becomes our chief goal, whether as individuals or as an economy, we practice a form of idolatry that puts us in chains. It is inconceivable that so many women and children are being exploited for power, pleasure, or profit. Our brothers and sisters are being enslaved in clandestine warehouses, exploited as undocumented migrants and in prostitution rings, and the situation is even worse when it is children subject to such injustices, all for profit and the greed of a few.
Human trafficking is often tied to other global plagues-trafficking in arms and drugs, the trade in wildlife and organs-which degrade our world. These vast networks generating hundreds of billions of dollars cannot survive without the complicity of powerful people. States would seem powerless to act. Only a new kind of politics, which partners state resources with organizations and institutions rooted in civil society close to the problem, can rise to these challenges. "
― Pope Francis , Let Us Dream: The Path to a Better Future