Consider these 11 Principles for Wealth and Poverty Relief

6. Anti-poverty political and economic policies – paired with giving of all our excess wealth, of course – is the pro-family choice: “Their plight of poverty obliges many of them to emigrate in search of a better standard of living. Emigration often has negative consequences for the stability of marriage and the family.” – Pope Benedict on 28 February, 2008;

7. Our spiritual poverty – often leading to abortions, infanticide, euthanasia, drug abuse, divorce, non-commitment, fornication, etc., – is directly related to our original rationalization of wealth hoarding, or, put more gently, deciding to maintain excess wealth for ourselves or future dependents, while others are in so much need – obviously leading to a culture of consumerism and individualism which is reinforced by and reinforces our economic and social structures, that is, capitalism: “To strengthen the human basis of the social and political situation it is necessary to be attentive to another kind of poverty: that of the loss of reference to spiritual values and to God. This emptiness makes the discernment of good and evil more difficult as well as the surmounting of personal interests with a view to the common good. It facilitates adherence to the current trends by evading the effort required by reflection and criticism. And many young people in search of an ideal, turn to artificial paradises which destroy them. Addiction, consumerism, materialism and well-being do not fulfill the human heart which is made for the Infinite. For the greatest poverty is the lack of love. In distress, sympathetic and disinterested listening are a comfort. It is possible to be happy without great material resources. It is possible to live simply in harmony with what one believes and become ever more so. I encourage all efforts made, especially for families. Furthermore, education must awaken awareness of the spiritual dimension, for “the human being develops when he grows in the spirit” (Caritas in Veritate, n. 76). Such an education makes it possible to weave and to reinforce more authentic relations because education opens people to a more fraternal society which it helps to build.” – Pope Benedict on 4 May, 2012;

8. Don’t think “give, save, spend” or “make a wise will”, but have a preference for and insist on an equitable distribution of goods now: “There is a need for renewed determination to act in harmony and solidarity with all the different elements of the human family in order to ensure equitable access to the earth’s resources now and in the future. The motivation to do this comes from love: love for the poor, love that cannot tolerate injustice or deprivation, love that refuses to rest until poverty and hunger are banished from our midst. The goals of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, as well as promoting food security and rural development, far from being over-ambitious or unrealistic, become, in this context, imperatives binding upon the whole international community.” – Pope Benedict on 20 February, 2009;

9. If we believe in our God given dignity, poverty is on its way out – so, with that in mind, realize that our “wealth” can only exist in excess if we’re short changing others on their dignity by not paying/charging fair prices for products made with labor paid family wages and/or resulting in the destruction of other (non-human) life: “Poverty is fought if humanity becomes more fraternal as a result of shared values and ideals, founded on the dignity of the person, on freedom joined to responsibility, on the effective recognition of the place of God in the life of man.” – Pope Benedict XVI on 8 January, 2009;

10. We can make room for distinctions between unacceptable socialisms and acceptable socialism, but Capitalism – or liberalism in its economic materialization – is purely anti-life and always unacceptable; thus our capitalistic accumulation of wealth is plainly theocidal, fratricidal, and biocidal – often resulting in man losing his sense of God (Don’t forget #7): “In recent centuries, ideologies that praised the cult of nation, race and social class have proved to be real idolatries; and the same could be said of reckless capitalism with its worship of profit that results in crisis, inequality and poverty.” – Pope Benedict on 19 January, 2013;

Again: “Back to Europe. A third model was added to the two models of the 19th century: socialism. Socialism took two main paths — the democratic and the totalitarian one. Democratic socialism became a healthy counterbalance to radically liberal positions in both existing models. It enriched and corrected them. It proved itself even when religious confessions took over… In many ways, democratic socialism stands and stood close to the Catholic social teachings. It in any case contributed a substantial amount to the education of social conscience.” —Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) in Europe: Today and Tomorrow;

Again: “Nature expresses a design of love and truth. It is prior to us, and it has been given to us by God as the setting for our life. Nature speaks to us of the Creator and his love for humanity…. It is necessary to reject [the position], which aims at total technical dominos over nature, because the natural environment is more than raw material to be manipulated at our pleasure; it is a wondrous work of the Creator containing a ‘grammar’ which sets forth ends and criteria for its wise use, not its reckless exploitation … Today much harm is done to development precisely as a result of these distorted notions. Reducing nature merely to a collection of contingent data ends up doing violence to the environment and even encouraging activity that fails to respect nature itself.” – Pope Benedict XVI on 29 June, 2009;

And, last, a number 11, because the 12th apostle couldn’t say no to wealth, so we’ll stop with:

11. The state of poverty, as many Liberation Theologians have written, is where the church of and for the poor can most effectively embrace and practice its prophetic mission: Secularizing trends – whether by expropriation of Church goods, or elimination of privileges or the like – have always meant a profound liberation of the Church from forms of worldliness, for in the process she as it were sets aside her worldly wealth and once again completely embraces her worldly poverty. – Pope Benedict XVI on 25 September, 2011.

If only I could expound on these principles further! I wish I could provide more example of Benedict XVI embracing the poor, the preferential love for the poor, rejecting wealth and pleasure, and denouncing the foundations of capitalism – but time and space is short, and it will have to wait until a future post, or until Father Longenecker posts some of those goodies for us.

Always a pleasure,

Keith Michael Estrada

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