In an address to the Council for Inclusive Capitalism in Rome on Monday, Pope Francis urged leaders to devise “more inclusive and equitable economic models.”
As reported by Breitbart News, the socialist pope said economic development should not be restricted to growth alone, “but must foster the growth of each person and of the whole person.” Making capitalism more inclusive would entail “overcoming an economy of exclusion and reducing the gap separating the majority of people from the prosperity enjoyed by the few.”
An economic system “detached from ethical concerns does not bring about a more just social order, but leads instead to a ‘throw away’ culture of consumption and waste,” the pope continued.
Pope Francis insisted that just economic systems must address “rising levels of poverty on a global scale,” although poverty is actually in decline. Breitbart notes that 2019 began “with the lowest prevalence of extreme poverty ever recorded in human history.” What brought about that worldwide rise in prosperity? Capitalism.