The President of Caritas Internationalis and Coordinator of the Council of Cardinals, Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, has compared globalization to ideologies such as communism and nazism.
The cardinal made his remarks in a new book titled “Senza Etica Niente Sviluppo” (No Development without Ethics).
“Like communism and nazism, every organizational system in the world that sacrifices the reality of human existence is a blind ideology that should be condemned,” he wrote.
“Globalization has created the perception that the possibilities of consumption and enjoyment are unlimited. And when the necessary means to gather these needs lessen, feelings of resentment and frustration begin to spring up.”
The Cardinal had sharp words for developed nations and their perceived neglect of the roughly 925 million people in the world who suffer from hunger.
“In the United States alone, $50 million has been spent on pet food last year, the same number promised by the G8 in 2005 to the poorest countries, promises that as of yet have not been fulfilled,” he noted.
“In China, General Motors sells a car every 12 seconds, while every 12 seconds a child dies of hunger in the world. Globalization has many contradictions, it is complex and ambiguous. The way in which we handle it is the key to our work and our responsibility for the future.”
Cardinal Maradiaga, who is also coordinator of the so-called Group of Eight cardinals advising Pope Francis on Church governance, called the economic crisis that erupted in 2008 an “expensive lesson” that the world has yet to learn from, evidenced by the cut in aid to developing countries.
«Never let a good crisis go to waste,” he said, borrowing a famous quotation from President Barack Obama’s former chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. “Finance and business can work to the benefit of everyone, not just for shareholders. The return to a model based on the equitable duty to the community is the key to reducing the gap between rich and poor. We must make sure that globalization and capital will benefit the universal common good.» (J.A.E.)
