Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Samuel Gregg: Pope Francis, Populism, and the Agony of Latin America
Samuel Gregg: Pope Francis, Populism, and the Agony of Latin America
Nov 8, 2024 2:40 AM

At the Catholic Workd Report, Acton Research Director Samuel Gregg observes that, as populist regimes implode across Latin America, it’s unclear that the Catholic Church in the age of Francis is well-equipped to cope with es next.

Since Pope Francis often states that realities are more important than ideas, let’s recall some basic realities about presidents Correa and Morales. Both are professed admirers of Chávez mitted to what Correa calls “socialism of the 21st century” or what Morales describes as munitarian socialism.”

Both men have also followed the classic populist playbook. This involves (1) dismantling constitutional restraints on power; (2) blaming their nations’ problems on foreigners and foreign interests; (3) following a political logic of internal confrontation with those designated as “enemies of the people”; (4) fostering a cult of personality around a charismatic leader; and (5) creating large constituencies of supporters through disbursement of state largesse. The result has not only been political oppression. The economies of Bolivia and Ecuador are now formally classified as “repressed” in the 2016 Index of Economic Freedom. That means they are among the least free, most corrupt, and statist in the world.

The fact, however, that Correa and Morales were invited to speak at a conference at the Holy See reflects the Church’s ambiguous relationship with left-populist movements and governments in recent years. The Venezuelan bishops’ willingness, for instance, to name and shame a populist regime so directly for its destructive policies is the exception rather than the rule.

Read “Pope Francis, Populism, and the Agony of Latin America” by Samuel Gregg at the Catholic World Report.

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Chicago’s teacher standoff shows the injustice of public-sector unions
At the beginning of the year, Chicago Public Schools were scheduled to reopen by the end of January. Yet just days before the launch, members of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) decided otherwise, with a sizable majority voting to delay in-person learning against the wishes of the mayor, city council, school district, local medical professionals, and countless parents and taxpayers. It’s the latest tale in a growing genre of disputes that stretches from New York City to San Fransisco, in...
Tesla’s Bitcoin buyout may end the reign of unjust money
On Monday, the automaker Tesla Inc. announced that it had acquired $1.5 billion in Bitcoin and may accept the cryptocurrency as a form of payment in the near future. The business intelligence pany MicroStrategy began purchasing large amounts of Bitcoin last August. The pany Square made a smaller but still substantial $50 million Bitcoin acquisition in last October. What is behind this trend of large institutional investments in Bitcoin, and what does it tell us about the state of the...
China’s BBC ban is a warning for those who could crack down on ‘fake news’
Shortly after the Capitol riot, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stated, “We’re going to have to figure out how we rein in our media environment so that you can’t just spew disinformation and misinformation.” This week, China put her words into action. It banished the BBC from Chinese airwaves, allegedly because of the global news service’s coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic and Uighur Muslims’ persecution amounted to “disinformation.” The BBC reported on its own silencing: China’s State Film, TV and Radio Administration...
The GameStop squeeze and the politics of envy
The GameStop squeeze is still alive, if fading. After jumping 1,500% in a matter of weeks, the stock has dropped and stalled, with some retail investors still holding out for another surge. But while the dust has not yet settled, the popular narrative already seems to be firmly fixed: This was a battle between David and Goliath, a revolution sparked by the spunky rebels of Reddit against the hedge fund know-it-alls who have long deserved euppance. Whatever the end results,...
New series on Orthodox Christian social thought
At Every Thought Captive, a blog of Ancient Faith Ministries, I’ve been writing a series on Orthodox Christianity and modern Christian social thought. In my first essay, I explore the question, “What is modern Christian social thought?” The plight of the working poor in the nineteenth century came to be called the “Social Question,” and by the end of that century Christian pastors and intellectuals refused to remain silent or continue to pine away for a bygone social order that...
How the $15 minimum wage accelerates community decline
As Congress debates the specifics of yet another stimulus bill, President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders continue to push for the inclusion a $15 federal minimum wage – a policy that is only likely to prolong pandemic pain for America’s most vulnerable businesses and workers. As if to confirm such fears, large corporations like Amazon and Walmart have been quick to voice their support for the increase. “It’s time to raise the federal minimum wage,” writes Amazon’s Jay Carney,...
‘Mental torture’? Jimmy Lai denied bail for second time
Early Tuesday morning local time, guards hurried pro-democracy and human rights advocate Jimmy Lai out of his prison transport – handcuffed, arms chained around his waist like a member of a chain gang – and inside the courthouse. Lai’s only apparent consolation came from a copy of Thomas Merton’s Seven Storey Mountain, which his wife and child had given him days earlier. The bestselling spiritual classic instructs: The more you try to avoid suffering, the more you suffer, because smaller...
Organism, institution, and the black church
Some years back, I helped put together a small, edited volume intended as a primer on some of the ways in which the relationship between the church and political life has, and ought to be, understood. In The Church’s Social Responsibility, we aimed in part to apply the Kuyperian distinction between understanding the church as a formal institution and as a dynamic, organic body to questions of social justice. “Sometimes words have two meanings,” as Led Zeppelin has put it,...
Denmark’s government wants to read your sermons
In the name of stamping out domestic subversion, politicians in Denmark have drafted a bill that would force clergy who preach in a foreign language to translate their sermons into Danish and send a copy to the government for review. Had they tried, lawmakers could not e up with a bill that is simultaneously so invasive and ineffective. The bill’s stated purpose is to “enlarge the transparency of religious events and sermons in Denmark, when these are given in a...
The gift of ‘regular old living’: Pixar’s ‘Soul’ on work and vocation
Surrounded by abounding prosperity, we are constantly told to “follow our passions,” to “look deep inside ourselves,” to “find our calling,” to “do what we love and love what we do.” And why shouldn’t we? Freedom is expanding. Opportunity is everywhere. Having mostly escaped the material deprivation of human history, our attentions have quite happily turned toward the meaning of our work, and for those resistant to peting allure of materialism, it is a e shift, to be sure. Yet...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2024 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved