In an Easter letter to members of popular movements and organizations, Pope Francis suggested that the coronavirus crisis may be an occasion to consider a universal basic wage.
“I know that you have been excluded from the benefits of globalization,” he wrote April 12. “You do not enjoy the superficial pleasures that anesthetize so many consciences, yet you always suffer from the harm they produce. The ills that afflict everyone hit you twice as hard.”
He reflected that “Many of you live from day to day, without any type of legal guarantee to protect you. Street vendors, recyclers, carnies, small farmers, construction workers, dressmakers, the different kinds of caregivers: you who are informal, working on your own or in the grassroots economy, you have no steady income to get you through this hard time … and the lockdowns are becoming unbearable.”
“This may be the time to consider a universal basic wage which would acknowledge and dignify the noble, essential tasks you carry out. It would ensure and concretely achieve the ideal, at once so human and so Christian, of no worker without rights,” he claimed….
The above comes from an April 12 story on the website of the Catholic News Agency.
As I noted, on Easter, this most holy day, the day we celebrate Christ’s Resurrection and victory over sin and death, the Pope makes international news by proposing an international minimum wage! And, this, after last week, linking this pandemic with nature’s being upset by human ambivalence about human-caused climate change! I pray that our Holy Father will speak clearly about matters of faith and morals, rather than economics, climatology and viruses. I pray he heeds the call of the Second Vatican Council that it is the role of the lay faithful to influence the temporal order, be it economics or public health, and not the job of the clergy.
Charity begins at home, Holy Father. If you find guaranteed basic wage to be important lead by example with your Vatican employees. Cut every budget under your control to provide for your workers before you pay for synods and offices. In the meantime do what we priests were ordained to do: pray, dive into the Bible, sit before the Blessed Sacrament, celebrate reverent liturgies, refrain from politics, rather teach the sheep that Jesus came to save us from sin, to make us over into his image in our minds, desires, and wills, and to clothe us with eternal life if we hold out to the end.
I have come to the sad conclusion that Pope Francis does not possess the soaring intellect required of his office as Supreme Pastor. Instead, he is mired in the pedantic matters of the day: gossip among hair-stylists, Capitalism as the “dung of the devil” (did he not actually mean “Consumerism”?), and, in 2015, in a stunning quip about birth control, “Catholics do not have to breed like rabbits”. Now, and not even surprisingly, he espouses global welfarism. The Pope can indulge his wishful-thinking about economics, but the reality of such thinking is fiscally preposterous.
Silent Observer , I don’t think a soaring intellect is needed , a good holy man with who has supernatural faith is needed ,who is an example to the world of his piety and his clarity in speech , writings and teachings of the church . Pius XII of happy memory is the best example I can think of , a smart man but not given to appealing to the world, and a example of restraint and holy tradition. This pontiff has no idea how such a marxist fantasy could not be implemented , the Vatican banking and other financial scandals show his inability to steward the churches finances , and keep the trust of the faithful. From paceamama, to this judas pronouncement , mocking the traditional clothes of priests, and other scandals , has shown his true character and mindset to the faithful and the world. Amen on both your posts.
Does he expect the money to be provided by pachamama? Again, Francis should keep his private political opinions to himself.
One more thought: Our Pope espouses a basic wage (universal welfare) for aIl, yet he sneers at capitalism. Oh, the irony! Free trade and for-profit industries are the engines that keep our economies humming. Business owners provide work, and work empowers people, and people who are employed pump money back into the system. It’s a beautiful system! Without the economics of capitalism, there would be no money to fund a basic wage for all, as the Pope would wish.
He’s a little late to the Democratic Presidential debates
The Holy Father is right…God Bless him. When one considers the poverty in this world and the wage and wealth gaps, a universal basic wage makes sense.
FHK – I believe our Pope would do well if prayed fervently for an end to Spiritual Poverty – – a scourge more devastating to our society than wage and wealth gaps.
FHK , where has it worked before ? how can it work now in countries and their current financial status ? how much do they get , what is a living wage ? 30 pieces of silver ?. Does the Vatican practice this ? would it include illegal aliens ? what happens when hyper inflation / economic crashes occur ?.Add this to the list of bad ideas that pf has espoused, his time would be better spent in silence , and penance after he releases the mccarick report .
FHK, if you’re a member of the lay faithful, the majority of the Church, it is YOUR job and that of other members of the lay faithful to influence the secular order (economics, politics, etc.). That is not the job of bishops or other clergy, including the Bishop of Rome, the Pope. Do you think the Pope should be giving out dietary, travel, investment and restaurant advice as well as reviews of movies and new cars? The Holy Father should speak out publicly and clearly on matters of faith and morals. That is what the Bishop of Rome, the successor of Saint Peter, is called to do and why Christ established that office. See what our Lord said in Luke 22:31-32. Saint Peter was under no illusion about how great the Roman government was, yet, he didn’t start a petition drive to the Emperor or call for the restoration of power to the Roman Senate.
anonymous clergyman: Hear, hear!
I just have to believe that the Holy Spirit sent Francis to be our Pope for a reason. I wish I knew the reason. I do know that our Pope looks at the world through the eyes of a southern hemisphere Latin, and that is much different from the viewpoint of the typical American. I suspect, however, that the typical American looks at our great nation through the lens of a bygone era that has morphed into a nation that no longer supports the myth. The current pandemic shows us the fault lines of our economic system, one that once grew the economy in a way that created a vast middle class. That no longer exist for the majority of people. We are at the point where twenty people own more wealth than the rest of the population, where healthcare is rationed to the rich, where families can’t buy food. Someone from afar could reasonably look at the situation and say that our economic system needs an adjustment.
Bob One ,” Someone from afar could reasonably look at the situation and say that our economic system needs an adjustment.” and someone closer and without a marxist agenda , with a knowledge of history ,business and economics could give a better analysis and solution. Again how would this “adjustment ” work ? how much to who and who decides ? . This would not be an adjustment , it would be destruction , and that would be by force , by the same incompetents that run this state, i.e train no nowhere , the homless problem , etc. As far as the Holy Spirit , given the paceamama profanation, the judas rehabilitation , and the overdue mccarrick report , I don’t think they are listening to the Holy Spirit.
Rick W. “As far as the Holy Spirit , given the paceamama profanation, the judas rehabilitation , and the overdue mccarrick report , I don’t think they are listening to the Holy Spirit.” excellent points
Bob One is typical of the modern liberal; he believes that the country should be content with decline. The fault lines that have been exposed are the fault lines of globalism. For all his faults Trump has stopped this movement dead in its tracks.