You don't expect to read that sort of thing in the New York Times but... it's there... and more:
The statements of Pope Francis have certainly been more spirited than we have heard for a while — complete with exclamation marks, extremely rare in papal documents — and he has found new images to drive his points home. Poor people, he said recently, have been waiting a long time for the rich man’s glass to overflow. Instead, all that seems to happen is that the glass keeps getting larger.
In many ways, though, he has simply been putting a personal stamp on traditional Catholic social teaching. “How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure,”
he asked, “but it is news when the stock market loses two points?”
Francis’ economic opinions may appear naïve to those more worried about productivity trends and price-earnings ratios than the 10,000 children who die every day from hunger. But his passion and purpose are timely. Last year, the World Bank reported that the number of extreme poor (those making less than $1.25 a day) had dropped in every region of the world, including Africa, but that the number of those living on less than $2 per day — 2.5 billion people, or 43 percent of the population of the developing world — had hardly budged in 30 years. In other words, improvements in public welfare have barely kept pace with population growth, and there is still much to be done to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor.
The educational role of the church in the developing world has been powerful and often controversial. “All we want is a labor force,” a colonial governor lamented to missionaries in Madagascar a century ago, “and you’re turning them into human beings.”
The most visible arm of the church’s social mission is a network of humanitarian and development agencies known as Caritas (Latin for “charity”), which is the largest private organization of its kind after the International Committee of the Red Cross. Its total budget, $3 billion, is barely as much as the World Bank lends to large countries like Turkey or Brazil in a single year, but its reach and impact are unmatched.
In some African countries, as much as half of basic education and health services are provided by the church. Catholic hospitals and clinics around the world distribute about a third of all the antiretroviral drugs received by people living with H.I.V. and AIDS, and in India, where Catholics are no more than 2 percent of the population, the church is the second-largest care provider in this area after the government.
As a result of its work in basic health and education — and despite its obtuse views on birth control — in the last 50 years the church has probably lifted more people out of poverty than any other civic institution in history.
he asked, “but it is news when the stock market loses two points?”H/T to RC2 at Wheat & Weeds who adds:
In an excerpt above, the author cites the fact that the Church is the second largest health care provider in India, though Catholics are only 2% of the population. Something similar is true in the U.S. Catholics are a minority, but 30% of Americans needing hospital care are treated in Catholic hospitals. 15% of hospital beds in the US are in Catholic institutions -- and of those, 1/3 are the only hospitals available in rural communities.
Think on these thngs the next time someone takes a potshot at the Church. Be bold enough to defend her. The Church has its faults, let there be no doubt as any institution filled by humans will, but this particular institution does more good than any other. If you have not yet been served by her, chances are that someone you know and love likely has, at one time or another.
She has stood for 2,000 plus years, she will stand for many more.
You're called to stand with her. Yes, I said it. I believe it. Firmly.
Carry on.
