Pontiff says 'throwaway culture' had discarded a generation of young Europeans
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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The pope insisted that the Church must reform itself and pay more attention to the poor. He also says that the church needs to abandon the complacent attitude that says "we have always done it this way."
Issuing an 84-page platform for his eight-month-old papacy, Francis blasted unrestrained capitalism as "a new tyranny." Francis linked high European unemployment to its twin problem of neglecting older people who are past their earning prime.
"Today we are living in unjust international system in which 'King Money' is at the center," he said in the interview.
"It's a throwaway culture that discards young people as well as its older people. In some European countries, without mentioning names, there is youth unemployment of 40 percent and higher," he said. "A whole generation of young people does not have the dignity that is brought by work."
European leaders have failed to adequately tackle youth unemployment. There have been no new ideas to confront this problem which is dangerously fueling social unrest.
Nearly six million people under the age of 25 are without work in the European Union, with jobless rates among the young at close to 60 percent in Spain and Greece.
The pope's skepticism of free markets and concern about the lack of ethics in finance were shared by his predecessor, Benedict XVI. The current pope's modesty and rejection of the traditional trappings of office lend his words particular weight.
"A people that cares neither for its youth nor for its older people has no future," the pope said. "Young people take society into the future, while the older generation gives society its memory, its wisdom."
At one time the archbishop of Buenos Aires, Francis in March became the first non-European pontiff in 1,300 years. He is the first South American pope.
Francis has called for a more austere church that sides with the poor, and has promised to clean up the murky finances of the Vatican bank.
A birth foretold: click here to learn more!
© 2013, Distributed by THE NEWS CONSORTIUM.
Issuing an 84-page platform for his eight-month-old papacy, Francis blasted unrestrained capitalism as "a new tyranny." Francis linked high European unemployment to its twin problem of neglecting older people who are past their earning prime.
"Today we are living in unjust international system in which 'King Money' is at the center," he said in the interview.
"It's a throwaway culture that discards young people as well as its older people. In some European countries, without mentioning names, there is youth unemployment of 40 percent and higher," he said. "A whole generation of young people does not have the dignity that is brought by work."
European leaders have failed to adequately tackle youth unemployment. There have been no new ideas to confront this problem which is dangerously fueling social unrest.
Nearly six million people under the age of 25 are without work in the European Union, with jobless rates among the young at close to 60 percent in Spain and Greece.
The pope's skepticism of free markets and concern about the lack of ethics in finance were shared by his predecessor, Benedict XVI. The current pope's modesty and rejection of the traditional trappings of office lend his words particular weight.
"A people that cares neither for its youth nor for its older people has no future," the pope said. "Young people take society into the future, while the older generation gives society its memory, its wisdom."
At one time the archbishop of Buenos Aires, Francis in March became the first non-European pontiff in 1,300 years. He is the first South American pope.
Francis has called for a more austere church that sides with the poor, and has promised to clean up the murky finances of the Vatican bank.
A birth foretold: click here to learn more!
© 2013, Distributed by THE NEWS CONSORTIUM.
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