A papal anti-Davos
The following is an extract from an article headlined ‘A papal anti-Davos’ that appeared in the business section of the print edition of The Economist:
“In Assisi, in March 2020, Pope Francis will host a gathering of students, academics and socially conscious entrepreneurs. They will draw up what the dark-robed friars of Assisi’s Sacred Convent hope will be a magna carta for a new type of economy: one that reproduces the small-scale market economy and social harmony of Assisi. ‘The economy of Francesco’ will be named in homage to the nature-loving saint.
“The explicit aim is to find more sustainable ways of living that ease the burden on the poor, via the development of a ‘circular economy’ in which all benefit, including the planet. The implicit one is to explore alternatives to the free-market capitalist system.”
God offers His own son
In his Angelus address last Sunday 19, Pope Francis said:
“Whereas in all religions it is man who offers and sacrifices something to God, in the event Jesus is God who offers His own Son for humanity’s salvation. John manifests his astonishment and his consensus to this novelty brought by Jesus, through an expression that we repeat every time in the Mass: ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’ (v. 29).
“John the Baptist’s testimony invites us to always begin again our journey of faith: to begin again from Jesus Christ, lamb full of mercy that the Father has given for us. To let ourselves be surprised again by God’s choice to be on our side, to make Himself solidary with us sinners, and to save the world from evil taking charge of it totally.”
Marxist communism in Spain
In a letter posted on January 11 on the diocesan website, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, vice president of the Spanish bishops’ conference, wrote:
“Marxist communism, which seemed destroyed with the fall of the Berlin Wall, has been reborn and is certain to govern Spain. The sense of democracy is substituted for the imposition of a single way of thinking and by authoritarianism and absolutism incompatible with democracy. With much pain, I have to tell you and warn you that I have perceived an attempt to make Spain stop being Spain.”
(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)