DEAR EDITOR,
An article caught my attention. It is about a billionaire in the United States who threatened to discontinue charity donations if the Pope continues his support for the poor.
According to the article, billionaire Ken Langone, the founder of Home Depot, issued a warning to Pope Francis during an interview with CNBC in which he said that wealthy people are feeling ostracized by the Pope’s messages in support of the poor and he may stop giving charity if the Pope continues to make statements criticizing capitalism and income inequality.
The Pope is absolutely correct when he called for a new global dispensation in which people are placed ahead of profits. The truth is that there is a widening gap between the rich and the poor which is fuelled by a culture of greed and accumulation, in which a person is judged not by the quality of his contribution to society, but by the size of his bank account.
Because of the stance taken by the Pope in favour of the poor and the oppressed, he has been accused in some quarters of promoting a ‘Marxist’ or ‘communist’ agenda. History will record that the PPP during the 1960s was also accused of being communistic for advocating a pro-working class approach to development.
People are poor not because they are lazy or choose to remain poor but because of a system of production and distribution which continues the favour the rich at the expense of the poor. Hydar Ally
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