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Cardinal blames greed for economic crisis

E-mail|Link|Comments (6) Posted by Michael Paulson October 12, 2008 05:55 PM

Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley of Boston weighs in on the nation's financial crisis in his most recent blog post. O'Malley, who has taken a vow of poverty as a Capuchin Franciscan friar, shares the misgivings about American materialism that have been voiced by Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI; in his post he blames "greed and ambition" for the nation's economic woes. His comments:

"I think it is also important to mention the great fear and anxiety many have experienced these past few days. Recent weeks have demonstrated that the greed and ambition of some in the financial world has led to a great debacle. Everyone is concerned for those affected and those who will be affected in the future. We pray for all those who have been adversely impacted by this situation, particularly those who have lost their jobs or their homes."

(Photo, by Scott Olson/Getty Images, shows a scene at the Chicago Board of Trade on Sept. 29.)

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6 comments so far...

I'm with Cardinal O'Malley on this one. GREED will always get you in the end.
Pay me now or pay me later

Posted by halfaday October 12, 08 10:34 PM

sexually abusing little children like my sister is REAL greed....

Posted by speakup October 12, 08 11:18 PM

I agree with the Cardinal. But let's note that the unfettered greedy who accomplished this great social injustice were empowered by our government for the past eight years. That government's election was supported by the single social justice focus of the Catholic hierarchy. Better to have focused the Church's public teaching on educating the populace on the full spectrum of Social Justice doctrine and having confidence that the individual could assess which political candidate would accomplish the maximum good. The Catholic hierarchy bears a measure of responsibility for the current disaster because it pointedly engaged itself in electing the past two administrations.

Posted by Quo Vadis October 13, 08 08:03 AM

Whatever has happened to our Cardinals since Cardinal Cushing passed away??

Posted by gungho-guy October 13, 08 08:08 AM

Thanks for the interesting Religion article, today. I enjoyed reading and thinking about this.

Posted by 123456 October 13, 08 08:46 AM

For those that actually read His Eminence's blog, they'll know that his entree made this point simply and without much force. He was pointing more to prayers than to pointing fingers.

Posted by Justin October 13, 08 09:21 AM

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Michael Paulson covers religion for The Boston Globe. He shared in the Pulitzer Prize in 2003, won the Mike Berger, Templeton and Supple awards in 2008, and is a four-time winner of the Wilbur Award.
E-mail mpaulson@globe.com.

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