On February 4, 2017, EWTN News published an article, selected paragraphs from which are quoted below [1]:
Pope Francis warned of the “hidden victims” of capitalism, the idolatry of money and false philanthropy, telling a Saturday gathering of entrepreneurs they must act to change a system that creates victims, not simply help people after the fact.
“An entrepreneur who is only a Good Samaritan does half of his duty: he takes care of today’s victims, but does not curtail those of tomorrow,” he told a meeting of the Focolare Movement’s Economy of Communion project Feb. 4.
...
“The principal ethical dilemma of this capitalism is the creation of discarded people, then trying to hide them or make sure they are no longer seen,” the Pope continued. “A serious form of poverty in a civilization is when it is no longer able to see its poor, who are first discarded and then hidden.”
Bergolio appears to see himself not only as the infallible pope but also as an expert in politics, religion, natural sciences, sociology, philosophy, economics (and so on) who can speak on each and every subject with authority and therefore, it would be reasonable to conclude that he could very well be a megalomaniac.
"A megalomaniac is a pathological egotist, that is, someone with a psychological disorder with symptoms like delusions of grandeur and an obsession with power. We also use the word megalomaniac more informally for people who behave as if they're convinced of their absolute power and greatness. Your garden-variety egomaniac might be self-centered and overconfident but he's a little softy compared with the megalomaniac who wants to control the world." [2]
What seems to escape Bergolio is the fact that he is not a god even though he acts and speaks as if he were one. He can only be a god (in his mind) when he is ensconced in the Vatican and trapped by his own delusions of grandeur.
When he spoke of the "discarded people" produced by the mechanisms of capitalism, he must not have thought of or read about the people of North Korea.
Below is quoted in part a UPI article by Elizabeth Shim dated September 29, 2016, entitled North Korea per capita GDP rises above $1,000, think tank says [3]:
North Korea's average income is growing despite sanctions and stalled economic reform, according to a South Korean think tank.
The country's GDP per capita for 2015 is now estimated to be $1,013, according to the Hyundai Research Institute on Thursday.
That figure is roughly equivalent to the average South Korean income in the mid- to late 1970s.
In 2013, North Korea's per capita GDP was $854, then rose to $930 in 2014.
North Korea's economy has been improving incrementally since the 2000s, when former leader Kim Jong Il called for new reforms that would bring significant changes to the economy's centralized planning system.
But the lack of substantial reform has also left North Korea's economy stuck at underdeveloped levels, according to the report.
The data provides a remarkable contrast to the wealthier South, where GDP per capita for 2015 is estimated to be $27,195.
North Korea's estimated per capita GDP for 2015 is less than 4 percent of the South's, and is well below China at $7,990, Vietnam at $2,088, and Laos at $1,779, according to the analysis.
Hyundai Research institute's senior researcher Kim Cheon-gu said, "At present it would be difficult for North Korea's economy to stand alone," according to local news service Newsis.
In order for the economy to grow, the country needs social overhead capital, energy, resource development and a proper logistics network, Kim said.
Kim's conclusion is probably correct but it also seems to touch on the kind of capitalism that would lead to "discarded people" that Bergolio spoke about to his Focolare audience on February 4, 2017. That, however, is not a concern since North Korea is at present a place without "discarded people" since capitalism does not appear to be flourishing there.
When the entire populace lives in poverty, there is no danger of anyone being left behind, "discarded" and "hidden" in Bergolio's words. Therefore, when Bergolio moves his Vatican to Pyongyang, he will have no power and will have nothing more to say, for his currency is relative poverty and with this currency he buys his power and voice to condemn anyone with wealth and to label all of them as idolaters of money, and to let them know that they will all follow the rich man to Hell in the parable the rich man and Lazarus. [4] Apparently, Bergolio has never heard of spiritual poverty and if he had, it is not in his talking points memorandum.
Bergolio had also conveniently forgotten that San Francesco d'Assisi (his namesake), was a self-indulgent kid with all the privileges of wealth when he was still Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone. [5], [6] And if the wealthy is so repugnant, why did Christ choose a spoiled rich brat instead of a poor, pious young man from Assisi, Spoleto, Italy, where San Francesco d'Assisi was from, to repair His Church? [7], [8]
Perhaps Christ wanted show the world that the complete abandonment of the riches of the world in favor of holy poverty is a direct path to Him, but Bergolio does not talk about holy poverty at all; instead, he talks about economic poverty and how it can be alleviated all the time. Based on the life of San Francesco d'Assisi [9], it can be concluded that economic poverty is the step that precedes holy poverty. That being the case, would it be correct to say that the poor are already a step closer to God than the wealthy, and all that remains for the poor to do is to go just one step further and embrace holy poverty as opposed to earthly envy and they will be next to God?
If that is correct, then why does Bergolio waste all his time talking about the redistribution of wealth, as if he himself is an idolater of money? Perhaps one who has never been wealthy will always envy the wealthy and want a piece of the wealth for themselves and others they presume to be as envious without acknowledging their quiet holiness as they embrace from day to day, however harsh the conditions may be, Saint Francis' holy poverty. And why does Bergolio not preach about dire poverty to the already-poor so each of them can be the Lazarus who sits next to Abraham in Heaven [9], and the words of Christ in the Gospel of Luke? Quoted below are some of Christ's words spoken "on a level place" to "a great number of people" in Luke [10]:
Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
Assuming the world now exists in accordance with Bergolio's dictates, and the poor are no longer poor after they have shared in the wealth of the wealthy (some of whom had spoken hypocritically of the need to help the poor while they were being clothed ornately, fed well, serviced and guarded by the working poor), then who will sit next to Abraham besides Lazarus, and to whom would the words of Christ quoted above apply?
Bergolio, who speaks with authority and in his mind with expertise across all the various disciplines, ought to enlighten this ignorant blogger with a thoughtful and comprehensive answer. Perhaps the answer will come when almost everything is free and supposedly provided for by the government, when nobody would be incentivized to work and everyone would have a life much like the lives of the North Koreans when communism arose in the middle part of the 20th century [11], and when Bergolio would be indistinguishable from the average North Korean who is without power and without a voice. Perhaps only then, in a twisted sort of way, would Catholics around the world have a chance to experience peace on earth as it is in Heaven while Bergolio lives out his days quietly in communion with the black hole of secular obscurity with the hope that he could endure the continuous torment of megalomania made unbearable by obscurity's indifference.
[1] http://www.ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/Vatican.php?id=14993
[2] https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/megalomaniac
[3] http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2016/09/29/North-Korea-per-capita-GDP-rises-above-1000-think-tank-says/3151475161041/
[4] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+16%3A19-31
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_of_Assisi
[6] http://www.biography.com/people/st-francis-of-assisi-21152679
[7] http://www.nndb.com/people/602/000114260/
[8] http://www.stfrancisuptown.com/our-parish/the-life-of-st-francis-of-assisi/
[9] http://www.stfrancisuptown.com/our-parish/the-life-of-st-francis-of-assisi/
[10] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+6%3A17-49&version=NIV
[11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communism_in_Korea
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