Pope Francis: Pathway to Peace Means Ending Inequality

In his latest effort to highlight a corrupt economic system that has produced vast global inequality, Pope Francis released his latest speech Thursday, slamming the wealth and resource accumulation of the super-rich, which he says is destroying hopes for peace, social stability and a sustainable natural environment.

The speech, written for the Roman Catholic Church’s World Day of Peace and sent to national leaders, international organizations such as the United Nations, and NGOs, points to “the grave financial and economic crises of the present time” which “have pushed man to seek satisfaction, happiness and security in consumption and earnings out of all proportion to the principles of a sound economy.”

According to Pope Francis, the system of “excessive imbalance between incomes,” Wall Street corruption, and vast economic disparities, has lead to a world in which there is a “widening gap between those who have more and those who must be content with the crumbs.”

The Pope writes:

This mentality of greed, the Pope argues, has led to an increase in wars, human trafficking, destructive migration policies, vast wealth and resource disparities between nations, and the destruction of our natural environment, which alternatively has the capacity to equitably fulfill the needs of all the world’s hungry.

“I think of the devastation of natural resources and ongoing pollution, and the tragedy of the exploitation of labor,” he writes. “I think too of illicit money trafficking and financial speculation, which often prove both predatory and harmful for entire economic and social systems, exposing millions of men and women to poverty.”