Pope says Church must denounce economic injustice

(February 27, 2009) Pope Benedict said on Thursday the Roman Catholic Church had an obligation to denounce economic injustice that led to the global financial crisis. During the annual question-and-answer session with more than 400 priests ministering in Rome, Pope Benedict said the Church must "denounce these fundamental mistakes that have been shown in the collapse of the great American banks". He said the crisis was the result of "human avarice and idolatry that go against the true God and the falsification of the image of God with another god - Mammon". He said, "We must denounce this (system) with courage and concreteness … in order to help in understanding what can be done concretely to change the situation." He said “the force of reason and good will are not strong enough to overcome the sins of greed and selfishness and the temptation to put one's own interests first.” "Justice cannot be created only with economic reforms, which are necessary, but it also requires the presence of just people," he said. Pope Benedict admitted that the complexity of the current situation is what has delayed the publication of his upcoming social encyclical.