Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Pope and communism

"Today it is evident that Marxist ideology in the way it was conceived no longer corresponds to reality." This precursor to Cuban trip of the Pope has led to some in depth debates across economists, social scientists, theologians and random other folks.
It is evident where Pope is coming from - communism and Vatican theocracy are indeed poles apart and no one should actually be surprised at this statement of the head of Vatican church.

While church believes in spiritual up-liftment of individual humans, communism believes in material fulfillment of societies at large and especially of the downtrodden. While church postulates human freedom / liberty as important in selecting the rightful path to Jesus, Communism's central tenet is one of state being the primary institution. Historically too church has always abhorred Communism's pre-occupation with revolution, be it armed or unarmed, as a means to any acceptable end.

While Im not a fan of communism as an economic model (at least in it's original Marxist way), I'm amused at a Pope making such a comment at the start of a Papal visit. Can Vatican propose a suitable alternate economic model for countries like Cuba ? Should a religious institution be involved in economics and politics ? Which democratic nation has mixed these elements and came out successful ?

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