printBefore I get to why Pope Benedict XVI is a disappointment, a note about standards of reporting nowadays.
The scribe reporting the story about Pope Benedict’s latest contribution to Rousseauist rubbish claims to be excerpting from the Pontiff’s “first book.” Knowing that Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger is the prolific author of many books, I was hopeful. My thinking being that the Pontiff must have been younger and less thoughtful when he indicted the West for Africa’s woes.
From this report, it appears that Philip Pullella thinks a new book the Pope has written is his first. Pullella writes:
“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.”
How likley is this, given the Pope is almost 80, exceptionally learned, and has lived an incredibly full life given over to contemplation and intellectual pursuits. A quick Google traces the origin of the error. Catholic News Agency’s headline goes so: “Pope Benedict XVI completes first book of Pontificate, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.'” In his cut and paste effort, Pullella must have caught only the first part of that sentence. Or, conversely, misunderstood the modifier.
“The Pope also condemns drug trafficking and sexual tourism,” pules Pullella. As a former AIDS counselor in South Africa, I suggest the Pope apply his brilliant mind to the problem of infection rates in Africa. In Africa AIDS is heterosexual. Rates of infection in Southern Africa would not have reached 20 to 33.7 percent of the adult population if not, very plainly, for unfathomable sexual promiscuity and brutality.
As to the Pope’s other indictment against the West, here’s what I wrote in “The Clinton and Bono Collective Unconscience:”
“The late Sir P. T. Bauer, the foremost authority on foreign aid, pointed out that a responsible demand for aid mustn’t avoid examining those ‘popular attitudes and behaviours in the poor societies’ which cause and perpetuate the misery. … rich nations were streaks ahead of sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia well before colonization. Countries like Australia and Switzerland were rich absent any meaningful ties to the undeveloped world. As Bauer proves, this was the result of the West’s human resources, not its exploitation of the backward world.”
Update: Some Catholic bashing is going on in the Comments Section. I disagree with —and dissociate from —it. Moreover, the idea that the West plundered Africa is nonsensical and is rooted in Leninist-Marxist theory. I suggest commentators on the blog acquaint themselves with capitalism, the impetus for this blog. A capitalist invests his capital in digging up useless good-for-nothing substances from the ground. He gives jobs digging up the useless stuff to locals who had no jobs before, and didn’t have the smarts and capital to do what he is doing. Then another capitalist creates goods from the previously inert stuff the first capitalist dug up. The goods are sold all over. Entire industries have arisen around useless stuff capitalists turned into useful goods. The wealth redounds to all involved, including the person being paid 50 cents an hour, for before the capitalist came along to “plunder,” he was paid NOTHING an hour. If not for this process–and Anglo American–a diamond would never have become a girl’s best friend. If you think this is exploitation, then you do pround to Leninism-Marxism.
From “Mutant Marxists in the Heart of Darkness“:
“[M]ost ‘resources’ in nature are useless lumps of nothing. If not for man, iron, aluminum, coal and oil would lie purposeless and pristine in the wildernesses. Man discovered that these elements could be used to assuage human needs. Once he identified and ingeniously matched the human need with the material thing, he devised ways to establish mastery over the resource, and came up with means to harness it. Most ‘resources’ provided by nature become goods of value only when man connects the dots. If not for man, the matter and energy abundant on earth would come to naught. The ability to discover and transform natural resources into usable goods, as well as to develop ‘resource-enhancing and sustaining technologies’ are the unique provenance of man.”
Our friend Robert Murphy has written the Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism. I suggest you purchase it, and while you’re at it, get a copy of Peter Bauer’s brilliant Dissent on Development.
Other articles about the Pope:
Well, the West did plunder Africa, or at least parts of it. I’m thinking here in particular of the Congo Free State, but I’m sure there were others similar in brutality if not death toll.
That said, the Pontiff ought to learn about modern libertarian criticisms of foreign “aid” and its pernicious effects.
Yeah, right.
As a biblical Christian, I believe that the Pope is a human authority figure, and nothing more. According to Christian Testament scriptures, no individual believer is given any authority to intercede between any other believer and Jesus Christ. A Christian truck driver out on the I-10 in Southern Arizona, who didn’t graduate from high school, has the same access to Jesus as does the highly-educated Pope in Vatican City, according to the Scriptures.
However, I realize that the Pope’s pontifications may resonate among Catholics, who consider him the intermediary between man and God. I respectfully suggest that Catholics consign the Pope’s latest pronouncements about Africa and the West to the waste bin, where they belong.
I also suggest that the Pope is correct in placing blame for the horrible conditions in Africa upon the West, but not in the manner he suggests. In retreating from Africa without ensuring that former standards of justice and right conduct be maintained, the West is indeed complicit in relegating Africa (Southern Africa, specifically) to the conditions it “enjoys� today.
Exploitation and the Catholic Church are two fleas on the same dog. The history of that orgainzation is built on exploitation and blood. The average reporter is no more a biblical scholar than I am a ballerina. They quote the Pope of the day and pretend to hang on his words because the world has a bajillion Catholics and many world leaders pay lip service for that reason. Yes, the West did plunder the third world, especially Africa. Except for the British Empire it seems to me that most of the plundering was done by Catholics. Perhaps his holiness should address that. Now that the evil West is out of most of the third world, how are the native populations getting along? Not too well it seems. To Ms. Grant. Excellent post with very good points. One thought to add though. The European powers were not in a position to set up anything upon leaving their former colonies. The native populations were not and are still not able to grasp the Western concept of justice and fair play and were so set upon ridding themselves of the European “yoke” that they weren’t interested in taking on Western attitudes and institutions. The AK47 and the machete are the usual instruments of social adjustment in Africa. I notice that the few practitioners of mercy and social conscience in the third world are still a few dogged and dedicated Westerners. Nothing in this world is simple. Especially relations between the races. The checkered history of colonialism is a case study of human nature with all it’s good and bad sides. But I get back to my earlier point: How are they getting along on their own? Not very well.
Though I am not a Catholic, it is my understanding that the present pope is one in a series of “Vatican II” popes who share a common liberalized agenda, and none of whom are consider real popes by traditional Catholics.
The present pope is not only a pseudo-pope according to trad catholics; he is downright heretical. In fact, all of the pseudo-popes are heretical in some respect. E.g., the present Pope Benedict XVI once wrote that the Old Testament is still a valid document, and that it was not superceded by the New Testament. That is, understandably, heretical and blasphemous according to traditional Catholicism.
Like you, Mrs. Mercer, I do not share some of the Catholic bashing that is going on here. If I weren’t a follower of my own philosophy, I would be a traditional Catholic.
As a non-religious capitalist, I suppose I don’t have anything very constructive to add about what the Pope himself actually says. People seizing what they want to hear out of part of a message and proclaiming their own version of absolute truth from it seems to be an ancient tradition, however.
Speaking from inexperience, I would suggest that foreign aid often ends up supporting tyrants and holding people back from progress by preventing capitalism from helping them, and thus could be considered a very effective form of exploitation. Countries can be victimized by welfare payments just as individuals can.
–John Danforth–
Now tell me what you really think about the Catholic Church, Mr. Huggins.
Thomas Sowell, in ripping apart the anti-Wal Mart crowd, writes the following in an essay called “Hollywood Economics”:
“Apparently Wal Mart doesn’t pay its employees as much as some third parties would like to see them paid. But clearly Wal Mart isn’t paying them any less than what their labor is worth to other employers, otherwise they probably wouldn’t be working at Wal Mart. Moreover, third parties who wax indignant are paying them nothing.”
I love that last zinger!
He goes on to point out that the relevant comparison in examing wages in the third world is not how third world wages stack up against American wages. The relevant comparison is between the wages paid by the “horrible, exploitive” corporations versus the wages the citizens could otherwise earn.
But I forgot…if not for the sins of Western man, all other cultures would be back in the Garden, living in harmony with nature, and enjoying Grateful Dead concerts. My bad.
In regards to the Pope & the Catholic church, one need’s to look no further than the teachings of Martin Luther.
Martin Luther was formerly a Augustinian Monk & Catholic priest.
Martin Luther was one of the GREAT reformers. He found out that being born again of God required “justifcation by faith alone, and it was not by works. If the Bible bashes the Catholic church, and it does, everything should be done to expose its glaring false doctrine. Martin Berrow……..
To Alex: At least they aren’t breaking people on the rack and burning them at the stake any more. As far as we know..
Thanks Ilana for another great essay.
And regarding African AIDS, there is absolutely no excuse for anyone to continue a promiscuious lifestyles given the knowledge that they have. I know that in America, AIDS is the #1 killer of African-Americans, and they too, like Africans, are in denial and refuse to change their lifestyle.
Or perhaps, they have a very fatalistic view of life and feel helpless about their futures. Either way, we will all pay for this and no, it’s not fair to those who practice self-discipline and restraint.
Bless this wonderful pope for speaking out against human trafficking and exploitation. I think he has a lot more to say, just give him some time.
Dear Martin Barrow,
I must respectfully disagree with your portrayal of Luther. Most historians agree that he was a flagrant anti-semite and had inflamed old hostilities against Jews and other “ethnics.” Yes, the Catholic church was corrupt, but remember, many innocent Catholics were tortured and murdered by protestants–there is blood on all hands.
He did some good things, but he is no hero to me.
The Church, and its “exploitations”, did more for Africa than concerned Westerners like Bono will ever do. The Church of Rome built a social system that was funded with “exploitation”. This raised the level of African society wherever it was tried. When the Church and Western governments ended their “exploitation”, which had more to do with the colonizers losing their asses than philanthropy, the Dark Continent began to slide back into what it always was. A hell of a lot more “exploitation” is needed if Africa is to prosper.
Many appear to believe that setting up a government-based social and legal system, with taxes and a heavy handed bureaucracy, will solve Africa’s problems. This is the preferred method of the US government. Send a thirty-year-old “expert” on trade, who’s never had a real job in his life, to bring capitalism to Russia, the Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti, and too many others to name. The zero success rates have left our government unfazed, or even remotely reflective.
All bow to the virtues of “exploitation” which is the only true path to prosperity, and its handmaiden, enlightenment.
I’m wondering also why the Pope would make the statements he has regarding Africa and the West, as he surely knows he is listened to round the world. Western civilization is being bashed the world over, and now he is piling on. Might he be setting the “spiritual groundwork” that others can use to argue for global “redistribution of wealth”? Time, perhaps, will tell.
I don’t trust this guy.
Regarding Martin Luther:
I believe that Luther was a man God used in a very powerful way, to bring the Bible to the masses in the vernacular. And I don’t think it was any accident that this was initially accomplished in the area we now call Germany, where Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press many years earlier.
However, I agree with Concha that Luther’s later writings are anti-Semitic. Again, my point is that God uses individuals in powerful ways, but it doesn’t make them great people for all time.
Same with Mel Gibson. I believe that God used him in a powerful way to produce “The Passion” which resulted in many worldwide coming to faith in Christ. Many months later, the dissolute drunk Gibson was arrested, spewing anti-Semitic remarks. Why?
Because we are all sinners. No one person should be lifted up: only God should be. That is precisely why I am in complete disagreement with the Catholic precept that elevates the pontiff beyond others. All Christian believers should open their Bibles and read them.
To Barbara Grant: Excellent observation. When a person does something grear for God he does it in the spirit, not just by his own efforts. Note David, Soloman, Elijah, Peter and others. All the great ones who ultimately fell short reverted to their own strength without God’s help. Man’s strength is nothing but weakness and produces nothing of spiritual worth.