In recent years, the Vatican has taken another look at some historical figures and begged "Mea culpa" for what they have viewed during the history of the Roman Catholic Church. Galileo, Charles Darwin, and Oscar Wilde have all been reappraised by the Church, and now it appears that Karl Marx has joined the list.
From the Times of London:
L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, said yesterday that Marx’s early critiques of capitalism had highlighted the “social alienation” felt by the “large part of humanity” that remained excluded, even now, from economic and political decision-making.
Georg Sans, a professor of the history of modern philosophy at Gregorian University, wrote the article for the newspaper, saying:
“We have to ask ourselves, with Marx, whether the forms of alienation of which he spoke have their origin in the capitalist system,” Professor Sans wrote. “If money as such does not multiply on its own, how are we to explain the accumulation of wealth in the hands of the few?”
Last year, the Vatican erected a statue of Galileo as a way of apologizing for trying him for his 1633 discovery that the earth moves around the sun. In February of this year, a church official declared Darwin's theory of evolution is compatible with Christian belief. And in July, the Vatican newspaper praised gay playwright Oscar Wilde as “a man who behind a mask of amorality asked himself what was just and what was mistaken”.
Though Pope Benedict XVI called Marxism a scourge two years ago, he seems to have changed his position. He now argues that global capitalism has lost its way and that Church teachings can help to restore economic health by focusing on justice for the weak and closer regulation of the market.
Professor Sans’s article was first published in La Civiltà Cattolica, a Jesuit paper, which is vetted in advance by the Vatican Secretariat of State. The decision to republish it in the Vatican newspaper gives it added papal endorsement.
I've got real issues with this, folks. While I agree with the basic tenets of the Church (the Holy Trinity, the Eucharist, etc.), since when is Darwin's theory compatible with Christian belief? In fact, it is the complete antithesis of the belief that God created the universe and everything in it as detailed in the book of Genesis.
As a practicing Catholic, I will tell you right now that I have become somewhat disillusioned with the Church. I go to worship God, but, in recent years, have gotten a politically ideological lecture during the homily. With my own ears, I've heard more and more liberal leanings coming from the pulpit. Was I sleeping during the Mass where we used to celebrate God's love for us and our love for Him? When did it all change?
For Pope Benedict XVI to use his interpretation of Church law and his power within the Church to further a seemingly global agenda is, in my opinion, a direct path to religious tyranny. It's bad enough that we've got our government leading us down that path. The Catholic Church need not follow suit.
Does that mean that I'm against helping the poor and praying for those in need? Absolutely not. In fact, that is what the church SHOULD be doing. Instead, we're getting a lesson in politics directly from the Vatican.
I will continue to pray for all of humanity, but I'm throwing in an extra one for the Catholic Church that they may find their way back to doing God's work and not the work of George Soros.
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