Pope Francis is a Marxist and it is hypocritical
of the Catholic Church to criticise capitalism when this is where it
gets its funding from. US radio talk show host and political commentator Rush Limbaugh has unleashed his usual verbal abuse sparking a new debate.
In this debate one can make out an underlying resentment felt by US conservatives towards Francis.
What triggered Limbaugh’s verbal attack was the “Evangelii Gaudium” which he criticised in a show titled “It's Sad How Wrong Pope Francis Is (Unless It's a Deliberate Mistranslation By Leftists)”.
As usual America’s most popular far right wing commentator was bold in his criticisms: "It's sad because this pope makes it very clear he doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to capitalism and socialism and so forth." Limbaugh describes Francis’ “Evangelii Gaudium” as an assault on the “new tyranny” of unfettered capitalism and an attack on the “idolatry of money”.
“I have been numerous times to the Vatican. It wouldn't exist without tons of money. But regardless, what this is, somebody has either written this for him or gotten to him. This is just pure Marxism coming out of the mouth of the pope. Unfettered capitalism? That doesn't exist anywhere. Unfettered capitalism is a liberal socialist phrase to describe the United States. Unfettered, unregulated,” Limbaugh said.
The talk show host then spoke out against the evils of socialism and the benefits of capitalism, supporting the "trickle-down" economic policies that the Pope has criticized.
He said he was “bewildered” by some of the Pope’s statements: “The Catholic Church, the American Catholic Church has an annual budget of $170 billion. I think that's more than General Electric earns every year. And the Catholic Church of America is the largest landholder in Manhattan. I mean, they have a lot of money. They raise a lot of money. They wouldn't be able to reach out the way they do without a lot of money.”
Limbaugh is as popular as he is controversial. Despite his fondness for moral lecturing, in the past he was arrested in Florida for drug abuse resulting from his addiction to painkillers.
During the last election campaign he was forced to make a public apology after he called Sandra Fluke – a student from Georgetown who supported Obama’s health care reform – a prostitute.
But the talk show host has about twenty million listeners and his show is worth $400 million. And there are others who share his opinions. Tea Party activist Jonathon Moseley, for example, published a World Net Daily column saying that Jesus is crying over the Pope’s socialist philosophy.
According to Moseley, Jesus himself had rejected the theory of redistribution when he was asked whether it was right for a brother to share his inheritance with other family members: “Jesus spoke to the individual, never to government or government policy. Jesus was a capitalist, preaching personal responsibility, not a socialist.”
At least one Catholic group, the Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, criticised Limbaugh and launched a petition denouncing him.
But US conservatives have been in turmoil since Francis’ election.
During the pontificates of John Paul II and Benedict XVI, the conservatives believed they had solid allies in the Vatican, particularly after Wojtyla helped bring down the USSR and in light of his and Ratzinger’s fight against abortion and his fervent pro-life campaign.
Scholars such as Richard John Neuhaus converted from Protestantism and philosophers like Michael Novak championed the new economic doctrine of responsibility despite the fact that John Paul II and Benedict XVI denounced the excesses of capitalism.
Catholic conservatives are now disappointed mainly by Francis’ words on life-related issues and Protestants by his theories on the economy.
Although it is radicals who are raising their voices, the debate is a more widespread one.