Page 30 - Michael Journal March 2020

Return undeliverable U.S. addresses to: Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to:
MICHAEL U.S. Postage Paid Head office:
P.O. Box 38 Standard mailing
Richford, VT 05476-0038 MICHAEL
U.S.A. Permit No. 11 1101 Principale St.,
(U.S. subscribers who want to contact Richford, VT 05476 Rougemont, QC, J0L 1M0
us should use the following address: CONVENTION 40063742
P.O. Box 86, South Deerfield, MA 01373) USA Canada

Printed in Canada

Make sure to renew your subscription before the expiration date. (The first line on the label indicates the year and month.)

Pope Francis Denounces the World Financial System

An essay written by tion, isolated from all other
Louis Even, “The Biggest considerations, leads to a
Thief of All is Still at Large,” model of exclusion – auto-
was published in the August/ matic, no? – that violently
September 2019 edition of inflicts on those who suf-
MICHAEL. The thief in ques- fer its social and economic
tion? The financial system costs in the present, while
which creates money as condemning future genera-
debt. The essay concluded: tions to pay for its environ-
“The [current] financial sys- mental costs.
tem is a rat that lays waste: “The first thing jurists
a thief, swindler and extor- should ask themselves
tionist. It is all these things today is what they can do
which leave in its wake vic- with their own knowledge
tims suffering from want, to counter this phenome-
privation and insecurity... non, which puts democra-
Yet nothing is done to halt tic institutions and the very
the predation of this infamous thief. It has the elected development of humanity at risk…
representatives of the people as its protector.” “One of the frequent omissions of criminal law,
There are laws to arrest “petty” thieves who steal a consequence of selectivity in sanctioning, is the
hundreds or thousands of dollars, but there is no law scarce attention – or lack therefore – to crimes
for those who steal billions of dollars from the popula- committed by the most powerful, in particular the
tion, purloining a nation’s credit (the capacity for pro- macro-delinquency of corporations. I am not exag-
duction) and then creating debt by issuing loans. Not gerating with these words. I appreciate that your
only are these thieves not arrested, they receive pro- Congress has taken this issue into consideration.
tection under the law since their system of creating
“Global financial capital is the source of serious
debt-money is legal and sanctioned by governments! crimes not only against property but also against
In an address to the participants at the XXth people and the environment. It is organized crime
World Congress of the International Association of that is responsible, among other things, for the
Penal Law, given on November 15, 2019 at the Vati- over-indebtedness of states and the plundering of
can, Pope Francis spoke on the same theme as Louis the natural resources of our planet.
Even. He lamented “the scarce attention – or lack the- “Criminal law must not remain unconnected
refore – to crimes committed by the most powerful”, with conduct in which, by taking advantage of
even comparing the global financial system to orga- asymmetrical situations, a dominant position is
nized crime, adding that it “exercises more power exploited to the detriment of collective welfare…
than the States themselves”. Excerpts from the Holy These are crimes that have the seriousness of cri-
Father’s address follow: mes against humanity, when they lead to hunger,
“Today, some economic sectors exercise more misery, forced migration and death from avoidable
power than the States themselves: a reality that is diseases, environmental disaster and ethnocide of
even more evident in times of globalization of spe- indigenous peoples.” v
culative capital. The principle of profit maximiza- Pope Francis

32 MICHAEL January/February 2020 www.michaeljournal.org