January 8, 2017
If one acquires great wealth without great labor one must share it with those who have no opportunity to make even a decent living regardless of how hard they may try. The wealth of men like Trump is and any number of CEOs so beyond what they could earn that it cannot ethically be considered their personal property. They do not even carry the responsibilities of the kings of old who did have to share.

The Church opposed Communism because it called for the even distribution of wealth without regard for the labor of the individual. At the other end of the same spectrum the medieval Church opposed lending for profit because the creditor obtained wealth without labor. That is also true of the super wealthy like Trump who hasn’t done any actual work in years. The earth’s riches belong to all people and should be fairly (though not necessarily evenly) distributed. To feel one must have a larger yacht than a Saudi prince and then rarely use it while children starve is, quite frankly, sinful. It is also against the Republican party ethics that the right wing would have us believe they hold to. Ever since capitalism took over from Christianity in the 19th century capitalists have said that they knew best how to provide for the workers and the poor. Yet that has never happened. There has been little distribution of wealth during their lifetimes unless it was forced. Since ours is a wealthy country it is not so obvious here but in Asia and the Middle East if you are not wealthy you are nothing. (Witness the Saudi employer who thought he had the right to cut off a Malaysian “slave’s” hand. Witness the Nigerian oil barons who just play golf and make deals with foreign millionaires while their people are brutalized by Boko Harem. Until the Western outrage, nothing was done and that outrage did not originate from the Western millionaires but from the working press.)

And yes, it is refreshing to have a pope who lives up to the title and shakes up the super comfortable in the Church. If that is Leftist, great.