By CE Marshall
There was an article in the paper last week regarding Pope Leo. In the article he is said to be criticizing the rich for "living in a bubble". (This was dated October 10, 2025). In his comments the headline leads the reader to understand the Pope is being critical of rich people. So, my question is well that might be true, but was he critical of the rich in general or a specific group of rich people? I have a problem when somebody criticizes wealthy people for being wealthy. I think that form of criticism is a form of envy and is coveting you neighbor's possession. That is against Christian doctrine. However, I do know that rich people can be selfish and they can live in the bubble and that’s all true. The question is should that money be taken away from them and redistributed, which often is the next step in this conversation? Or should you simply criticize their lifestyle as being selfish which it is a lot of times? This is the favorite talking point of the leaders of the left that the rich are somehow innately bad people, but the hypocrisy is more than apparent. The pope himself lives in a palace. Shouldn't the Catholic church hand that over to the poor if that's where their heart is or is this an instruction only to the "Other" rich people? Most of the major leftist globalist in society of the ruling elite are very wealthy but they feel entitled to dictate to all of us how money should be equalized. I do believe in helping the poor, but Capitalism creates business which creates jobs which creates wealth. The left doesn’t want to look at that because it’s contrary to their belief that the government should be the source of all things. This is especially true for those whose wealth came from entertaining where they seem to have a great deal of guilt over their wealth (although they wouldn't dream of giving it all up). They'd rather force everyone to give their money up so then they can say they're "doing something" to help the poor. If government is a truly wise government, it acts as an instrument of the individual to enable us all to strive and succeed. The government is never effective at distributing wealth, in fact, it’s absolutely horrible at distributing wealth. So, while I agree, rich people can be selfish. I do not agree that that should somehow justify taking some of it away. That is a form of the "always envious" communist philosophy, and it has been shown to be a failure for a long time. Look at Cuba look at North Korea look at the Soviet Union. That is what you get with communism. Abject poverty.
So that brings up the issue of back to my original point that there is envy on a part of even the Pope regarding other people’s possessions and that I see that as being a sin. Often, Jesus Christ, Yeshua, Joshua is quoted as saying "give to the poor" and he did, but often he was referring to the spiritually poor, not necessarily the fiscally poor. God came to earth as Yeshua the Messiah to teach us to be wealthy in our spirit not that we needed to have things. He did not teach that poor people who don’t support themselves should be handed everything because "don’t you feel sorry for them?" I sinerely believe the worst thing you can do to a person is to give them things so they don't have to earn it themselves. It's demeaning and condescending. Of course, you should have sympathy for the poor and you should help them as best you can, but one should not be forced to give up money earned. That is theft. Taxation of income is theft. The men and women who build a product and/or a business that servers a need in society should be celebrated and imitated not maligned and criticized. Click your tongues and nod your head at their garish lifestyle and lack of taste all you want, but their money is not your money, and they owe you nothing, but the job given to you if you earn the place. So, with all due respect to the new "American" pope, I have a problem with talk of a group of people- in this case the rich- as all being guilty of something without regard to the good, they also do. That sort of talk foments jealousy and envy and does nothing to advance mankind, including the poor.
In my humble opinion.
