[Marxism] Pope goes pink?: Adopts "development of underdevelopment" line

[Greg McDonald <sabocat59@xxxxxxx>]

Pope says rich nations "plundered" Third World
Wed Apr 4, 2007 7:38 AM ET



By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Rich countries bent on power and profit have  
mercilessly "plundered and sacked" Africa and other poor regions and  
exported to them the "cynicism of a world without God," Pope Benedict  
writes in his first book.

The Pope also condemns drug trafficking and sexual tourism, saying  
they are signs of a world brimming with "people who are empty" yet  
living among abundant material goods.

One section of the book was printed in Wednesday's Corriere Della  
Sera daily before publication later this month by Italian publisher  
Rizzoli, which owns the newspaper. A Rizzoli spokeswoman confirmed  
the authenticity of the excerpts.

In the 400-page book, called "Jesus of Nazareth," the Pope offers a  
modern application of Jesus's parable of the Good Samaritan, who  
stopped to help a man who had been robbed by thieves when others,  
including a priest, had not.

"The current relevance of the parable is obvious," the Pope writes.

"If we apply it to the dimensions of globalised society today, we see  
how the populations of Africa have been plundered and sacked and this  
concerns us intimately," the Pope says in his book, which comes out  
on April 16, his 80th birthday.

He drew a link between the lifestyle of people in the developed world  
and the dire conditions of people in Africa.

STRIPPED NAKED

"We see how our lifestyle, the history that involved us, has stripped  
them naked and continues to strip them naked," he writes.

The German Pope, who has condemned the effects of colonialism before,  
said rich countries had also hurt poor countries spiritually by  
belittling or trying to wipe out their own cultural and spiritual  
traditions.

"Instead of giving them God, the God close to us in Christ, and  
welcoming in their traditions all that is precious and great ... we  
have brought them the cynicism of a world without God, where only  
power and profit count...," he writes.

The Pope says his comments were valid for other regions apart from  
Africa.

In what could be seen as a strong self-criticism of the Roman  
Catholic Church, whose missionary activities often went hand-in-glove  
with colonialism, the Pope writes:

"We destroyed (their) moral criteria to the point that corruption and  
a lust for power devoid of scruples have become obvious."







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