5min @Theeconomist clip - Is the #pope head of the world's most powerful #government ?

Text from you tube "Is the pope head of the world's most powerful government? The pope represents over one billion people, his government has a permanent presence at the United Nations and he runs the oldest diplomatic service on earth. We asked the man behind the Vatican's foreign policy to explain how the world's smallest country could house the world's most influential government" 

1 min 9sec #pope clip - don't abandon the #excluded and #marginalized

found via relevantmagazine

"We live in cities that throw up skyscrapers and shopping centers and strike big real estate deals … but they abandon a part of themselves to marginal settlements on the periphery

The result of this situation is that great sections of the population are excluded and marginalized: without a job, without options, without a way out. 

Don’t abandon them. 

Pray with me for those who are weighed down, especially the poor, refugees and marginalized, that they might find welcome and support in our communities.”

#youngturks comment on the #pope's remarks about #capitalism

found via thisfragiletent

Some of the quotes in the clip are below 

"How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses 2 points?"

"As long as the problems of the poor are not radically resolved by rejecting the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation and by attacking the structural causes of inequality, no solution will be found for the world's problems or, for that matter, to any problems."

"Today everything comes under the laws of competition and survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless.As a consequence, masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized: without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape."

"Human beings are themselves considered consumer goods to be used and then discarded. We have created a 'disposable' culture which is now spreading. It is no longer simply about exploitation and oppression, but something new.  . .. . The excluded are not the 'exploited' but the outcast, the 'leftovers.'"

"This imbalance is the result of ideologies which defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation. "

"We have created new idols. The worship of the ancient golden calf (cf. Ex 32:1-35) has returned in a new and ruthless guise in the idolatry of money and the dictatorship of an impersonal economy lacking a truly human purpose. "

"To all this we can add widespread corruption and self-serving tax evasion, which have taken on worldwide dimensions."

#10 #quotes from the #pope's recent exhortation

if you want to read the whole original exhortation document its here

the 10 quotes that struck me from Chapter 2 entitled "Amid the crisis of communal commitment" are

1) the majority of our contemporaries are barely living from day to day, with dire consequences

2) To sustain a lifestyle which excludes others, or to sustain enthusiasm for that selfish ideal, a globalization of indifference has developed. Almost without being aware of it, we end up being incapable of feeling compassion at the outcry of the poor, weeping for other people’s pain, and feeling a need to help them, as though all this were someone else’s responsibility and not our own. 

3) While the earnings of a minority are growing exponentially, so too is the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by those happy few. This imbalance is the result of ideologies which defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation.

4) Until exclusion and inequality in society and between peoples is reversed, it will be impossible to eliminate violence. The poor and the poorer peoples are accused of violence, yet without equal opportunities the different forms of aggression and conflict will find a fertile terrain for growth and eventually explode.

5) In the prevailing culture, priority is given to the outward, the immediate, the visible, the quick, the superficial and the provisional. What is real gives way to appearances.

6) In cities, as opposed to the countryside, the religious dimension of life is expressed by different lifestyles, daily rhythms linked to places and people. In their daily lives people must often struggle for survival and this struggle contains within it a profound understanding of life which often includes a deep religious sense.

7) The pain and the shame we feel at the sins of some members of the Church, and at our own, must never make us forget how many Christians are giving their lives in love.

8) In some people we see an ostentatious preoccupation for the liturgy, for doctrine and for the Church’s prestige, but without any concern that the Gospel have a real impact on God’s faithful people and the concrete needs of the present time. In this way, the life of the Church turns into a museum piece or something which is the property of a select few. In others, this spiritual worldliness lurks behind a fascination with social and political gain, or pride in their ability to manage practical affairs, or an obsession with programmes of self-help and self-realization. It can also translate into a concern to be seen, into a social life full of appearances, meetings, dinners and receptions. It can also lead to a business mentality, caught up with management, statistics, plans and evaluations whose principal beneficiary is not God’s people but the Church as an institution. The mark of Christ, incarnate, crucified and risen, is not present; closed and elite groups are formed, and no effort is made to go forth and seek out those who are distant or the immense multitudes who thirst for Christ. Evangelical fervour is replaced by the empty pleasure of complacency and self-indulgence.

9) In various countries, conflicts and old divisions from the past are re-emerging. I especially ask Christians in communities throughout the world to offer a radiant and attractive witness of fraternal communion. Let everyone admire how you care for one another, and how you encourage and accompany one another

10) Lay people are, put simply, the vast majority of the People of God. The minority – ordained ministers – are at their service. 

(ht wikipedia for the image)

the pope on being a christian in the digital world

photo from wikipedia

the full text is here but what struck me were his wise words on things to watch out for and on what being a christian in the digital world means

things to watch out for:

- one-sidedness of the interactions;

- only communicating part of your world;

- authenticity of your online image and avoiding enclosing yourself in a parallel existence; (yes I know!)

- being less present to those we physically encounter;

- distraction or lack of time given to reflect on choices and how we relate;

- using the power of the web to depersonalizes people, manipulate them emotionally or monopolize the opinions of others. 

being a christian in the digital world:

- communication which is honest and open, responsible and respectful of others; 

- witnessing consistently in your own digital profile;

- communicating choices, preferences and judgements that are fully consistent with the Gospel;

- be aware that the truth which we long to share does not derive its worth from its popularity or from the amount of attention it receives.