Pope condemns sweatshops and unemployment in May Day message

[The Brain]

OTOH he also claims that God is real, so no sane person listens to him anyway.

[crazy canuck]

The Church employs a lot of people and does not make employment decisions based on a profit motive.  So I don't see the supposed hypocrisy here.

Maybe not on a profit motive but perhaps a wealth accumulation model...

[The Minsky Moment]

The hypocrisy lies in calling the existence of unemployment a moral failure. 

That isn't what he said.
he makes two claims:

First - on the level of an entire society, he is claiming that it wrong for the society to be organized in such a way as to deny the opportunity to work.
The implication of that claim is that there is a moral obligation to advocate for changing social rules and structures to provide greater opportunities to employment.  Which is exactly what he is doing.

Second, on the level of a firm or organization, he is claiming that it is wrong to make hiring and firing decisions only based on the profit motive.  The implication is not that a given firm or organization must spend all of its resources employing people.  The implication is that the firm or organization must include broader considerations in making employment and comp decisions other than just narrow financial profit.  Again, there is no contradiction between this and how the Church operates.

[mongers]

I'm liking the new pope, he seems, as other have pointed out, to doing the church's work. 

[Admiral Yi]

First - on the level of an entire society, he is claiming that it wrong for the society to be organized in such a way as to deny the opportunity to work.
The implication of that claim is that there is a moral obligation to advocate for changing social rules and structures to provide greater opportunities to employment.  Which is exactly what he is doing.

This is just adding another level of abstraction.  After you're done changing social rules and structures you still end up with the obligation to hire anyone who is unemployed.  The obligation could be on the part of government, business, charity, individuals, whoever, but you can't evade the obligation.

Second, on the level of a firm or organization, he is claiming that it is wrong to make hiring and firing decisions only based on the profit motive.  The implication is not that a given firm or organization must spend all of its resources employing people.  The implication is that the firm or organization must include broader considerations in making employment and comp decisions other than just narrow financial profit.  Again, there is no contradiction between this and how the Church operates.

This is the edit you wish you could have made to his speech, not what he actually said.  He said "Not giving a job goes against God's will."

[Barrister]

I'm liking the new pope, he seems, as other have pointed out, to doing the church's work.

I'm not sure he's saying anything different than JPII or Benny would have said.  He just has some extra attention right now because he is such a new appointment.

The RCC was never a believer in unbridaled capitalism.

[The Minsky Moment]

This is just adding another level of abstraction.  After you're done changing social rules and structures you still end up with the obligation to hire anyone who is unemployed.  The obligation could be on the part of government, business, charity, individuals, whoever, but you can't evade the obligation.

It matters quite a bit what level the obligation applies to.  The Pope isn't saying that each individual person or firm is obliged to solve the entire unemployment problem on their own.  That would make no sense.  He is defining the obligation as one of supplying "opportunity" for work and he is saying it is a social obligation that applies at the level of an entire society. 

This is the edit you wish you could have made to his speech, not what he actually said.  He said "Not giving a job goes against God's will."

Check the bolded quotation again.  You omitted a bunch of words.  The words you omitted are the same ones you claim to be my edits!

[frunk]

This is the edit you wish you could have made to his speech, not what he actually said.  He said "Not giving a job goes against God's will."

No, he said "not giving a job because you are only looking at balance sheets, only looking at how to make a profit — that goes against God" which is much closer to what Minky said than your interpretation.  Nowhere does he say you should hire every possible person you can.

[Admiral Yi]

Kay.

[CountDeMoney]

Yi sold his copy of Rerum Novarum at Georgetown to a freshman looking for EZ Widers.

[HVC]

Now that Marti likes the pope I'm uneasy and suspect there's something wrong with el papa.

[mongers]

This is the edit you wish you could have made to his speech, not what he actually said.  He said "Not giving a job goes against God's will."

No, he said "not giving a job because you are only looking at balance sheets, only looking at how to make a profit — that goes against God" which is much closer to what Minky said than your interpretation.  Nowhere does he say you should hire every possible person you can.

Indeed and I'm not sure what Yi is misconstruing to say something else and then criticising that reduction. 

[Sheilbh]

I'm not sure he's saying anything different than JPII or Benny would have said.  He just has some extra attention right now because he is such a new appointment.

There's no difference, there's no change of focus whatsoever - remember Benedict classified unbridled financial capitalism with international crime and terrorism as a threat to world peace. Similarly many forget JPII's warnings to Poland that having got rid of communism they didn't fall into Western consumerism.

But the story of Benedict was that he was the hard line, high camp doctrinal enforcer with a Liberace liturgical taste. So the liberal Catholics and the media and the conservative Catholics fixated on his teachings about sexual morality and the Latin mass at the cost of his teaching on basic theology (the Jesus of Nazareth books) and the world economy.

I'd say he also has extra focus because the media didn't like the last Pope, like this one and are setting up false contrasts - I think liberal and conservative Catholics tend to be doing the same (over liturgy especially) - which will probably be disappointed. This really is Rerum Novarum, but that was a seam of Catholic teaching Benedict emphasised, especially in Caritas in Veritate.

Here's Benedict in Caritas in Veritate:
'In comparison with the casualties of industrial society in the past, unemployment today provokes new forms of economic marginalization, and the current crisis can only make this situation worse. Being out of work or dependent on public or private assistance for a prolonged period undermines the freedom and creativity of the person and his family and social relationships, causing great psychological and spiritual suffering. I would like to remind everyone, especially governments engaged in boosting the world's economic and social assets, that the primary capital to be safeguarded and valued is man, the human person in his or her integrity: "Man is the source, the focus and the aim of all economic and social life"'
...
The dignity of the individual and the demands of justice require, particularly today, that economic choices do not cause disparities in wealth to increase in an excessive and morally unacceptable manner, and that we continue to prioritize the goal of access to steady employment for everyone.'
Those are the Vatican's emphases.

Edit: It does make me wonder what he'll say and do when he visits Rio though. JPII famously gave his ring to the people of the slum he visited.

[Eddie Teach]

Edit: It does make me wonder what he'll say and do when he visits Rio though.

Probably heckle them about their soccer team.

[Josquius]

I totally agree with what he's saying and don't see a problem with it.
He's not saying to go out and hire everyone, that would be stupid. He's just saying if you can afford to hire someone then do so, don't be too concerned about filing down businesses to the bare minimum of workers they need to make the most efficient profit possible. To be able to hire people who don't necessarily increase your profits too much (but of course nor do they detract from them) is something to aspire to, an example of very moral business.