Money must be a servant, and not the master of man

Since his election a few months ago, Pope Francis has won over the hearts of all, even unbelievers, with his direct style and his straigthforwardness in calling a spade a spade. In recent weeks, the Holy Father has used strong words to denounce the money powers. For example, on May 16, in an address to new ambassadors, Pope Francis spoke about the tyranny exercised by money over human beings and societies, a new form of “worship of the golden calf of old... that unilaterally and irremediably imposes its own laws and rules... Money has to serve, not to rule!” (See page 4.) As Louis Even wrote, money has become a god and a tyrant. (See page 6.)

The Holy Father said in his homily at Mass on Sunday morning, June 2, at the Casa Santa Marta: “War comes from hatred, from envy, from desire for power, and – we’ve seen it many times - it comes from that hunger for more power. So many times in history, we have seen that the great ones of the earth want to solve local problems, economic problems, economic crises with a war. Why? Because, for them, money is more important than people! And war is just that: it is an act of faith in money.” (It was indeed the declaration of war in 1939 that put an end to the Depression that began in 1929.)

Picture: During the audience of May 15, 2013, in St. Peter’s Square, a dove lies on the hand of Pope Francis. As it can be seen in all of his statements, it is really the Holy Spirit who inspires the  Holy Father!

The Pope explains that at main cause for all this disorder is that man has lost the place that belongs to him in God’s creation; it is the first principle of the Church’s social doctrine that is being denied, the dignity and primacy of the human person: systems must be at the service of man, and not the other way around; the order of things is to be subordinate to the order of persons, and not the other way around. (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 26.) In other words, money, the symbol, must be a servant, and not the master of man.

On June 5, 2013, during the Wednesday general audience, speaking about the environment, the Pope continued on the theme of money that dominates instead of serving: “Man is not in charge today, money is in charge, money rules... People are disposed of, as if they were trash.” (See page 12.) It is this mentality that puts the human being aside when he is no more “productive”, and brings so-called solutions like euthanasia.

We hope these important words of Pope Francis will encourage those among our readers, who have not yet done it to read and study the articles of Louis Even and others on economic democracy (sometimes also called social credit, but which has nothing to do with political parties bearing that name). The disorder in the present economic system does a lot of harm to human beings, and even puts into jeopardy their eternal salvation.

Consider all the different problems affecting society, and you will see that they are practically all related to money: employees of the public or private sector who go on strike to get wage increases; governments trying to reduce their deficits and debts by cutting into services and increasing taxes; corporations that lay off their employees to reduce their costs; families that cannot make both ends meet, etc. So, good reading and good study!